Rust Software Engineer

KO2 Embedded Recruitment Solutions Ltd; Glasgow; Hybrid; GBP 59,000 - 72,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible hybrid working (50/50)

Career growth in a small, growing team

Collaboration with international teams

Meaningful scientific software

Job summary

KO2 Embedded Recruitment Solutions Ltd in Glasgow is seeking an experienced Rust Software Engineer to join a small, growing team. You will build high-performance Rust components and turn complex scientific algorithms into safe, efficient code, integrating with the company\'s established C++ codebase.

You\'ll collaborate with chemistry SMEs and colleagues in Germany and France, mentor junior developers, and help define the architecture and testing strategies for robust software in a hybrid

Qualifications

• Significant commercial Rust experience, especially in performance-sensitive or systems-level work.
• A deep understanding of Rust ownership, lifetimes, and type system.
• Ability to design clean APIs using traits, generics and modular crate design.
• Strong code review skills and attention to detail in safety-critical code.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain high-performance Rust libraries and services for cheminformatics.
• Implement new cheminformatics algorithms as specified by SMEs.
• Review algorithm specifications for feasibility and clarity before implementation.
• Integrate Rust components with existing C++ code via safe FFI boundaries.
• Serve as a primary code reviewer to protect architectural consistency.
• Own the test strategy including unit, integration and property-based tests.
• Mentor junior developers on idiomatic Rust and clean architecture.
• Collaborate with Glasgow, Germany and France teams.

Skills

Rust programming

Ownership model

Concurrency in Rust

Code review

Linux development

FFI with C++

Rust toolchain

Performance-focused

Tools

C++

Python

Docker

FFI tooling

Job description

Rust Software Engineer

Location: Glasgow, hybrid (50/50 split between home and office)

Salary: Up to £65,000 DOE

KO2's client develops advanced cheminformatics software that helps scientists understand and work better with chemical data. They're looking for an experienced Rust Software Engineer to join their small, growing team in Glasgow. You'll build robust, high-performance Rust components and turn complex scientific algorithms into safe, efficient, well-tested code. You'll also help integrate that work with the company's established C++ codebase.

The company is international and close-knit. The Glasgow team works closely with colleagues in small offices in Germany and France, so you'll be part of a collaborative, multicultural engineering group.

You'll work closely with chemistry subject-matter experts and implement their algorithms using idiomatic Rust and sound design principles. You'll be one of the main code reviewers, protect the quality and consistency of the architecture, and mentor junior developers as they continue to grow.

Key responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain high-performance Rust libraries and services for cheminformatics applications
• Implement new cheminformatics algorithms specified by the SMEs
• Review algorithm specifications for feasibility and clarity before implementation
• Integrate Rust components with the existing C++ codebase through safe, well-designed FFI boundaries
• Act as a primary code reviewer, protecting the team's architectural consistency and code quality
• Own the test strategy for your work, covering unit and integration tests, property-based tests, edge cases and regression protection
• Maintain Cargo workspaces, build tooling and related Linux infrastructure
• Mentor junior developers on idiomatic Rust, ownership and borrowing, clean code and architecture
• Work with colleagues in Glasgow, Germany and France
• Document your implementations clearly, including public API docs with rustdoc

Essential skills and experience

• Significant commercial Rust experience, ideally in performance-sensitive or systems-level work
• A deep understanding of Rust's ownership model, lifetimes and type system, and how to design clean APIs around them
• An architectural mindset. You use traits, generics and modular crate design to build maintainable, extensible systems
• Strong code review skills. You give thorough, constructive feedback and can spot subtle logic errors, unnecessary unsafe and design drift
• A solid understanding of concurrency in Rust, including Send and Sync, synchronisation primitives, and data-parallel libraries such as Rayonn
• Experience writing and reviewing unsafe code responsibly, with clear safety invariants
• Familiarity with the Rust toolchain and quality tools: Cargo, Clippy, rustfmt, Miri and sanitisers
• Experience developing on Linux

Desirable skills

• Commercial C++ experience, and confidence working across a mixed Rust/C++ codebase
• Rust-C++ interoperability using tools such as cxx or bindgen
• Python bindings with PyO3 and maturin, plus Python testing with pytest
• Experience of AI-assisted development, such as using Claude Code and directing coding agents on architectural decisions
• Implementing algorithms from specifications, and reasoning about their efficiency and complexity
• Async Rust (e.g. Tokio) and network programming
• Benchmarking and profiling with tools such as Criterion and perf
• Docker and containerised build environments
• Maintaining CI/CD pipelines

What's on offer

• A competitive salary, depending on experience
• Flexible hybrid working, split 50/50 between home and the Glasgow office
• A small, growing Glasgow team that you can help shape
• Working with international colleagues in Germany and France
• Challenging, meaningful work on scientific software
• A senior role with real influence over architecture and code quality