Lead Systems Engineer (Rust) - AI Platform

Alignerr Corp.; United States; Remote; GBP 96,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Alignerr is seeking a senior Lead Systems Engineer (Rust) to design and optimize high-performance Rust architectures powering AI data pipelines and evaluation workflows in production environments.

This fully remote hourly contract offers 20–40 hours per week, collaboration with AI labs, and the autonomy to shape distributed systems across research and engineering teams.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of production-grade Rust experience.
• Strong system architecture and API design.
• Expertise with FFI and unsafe Rust.
• Deep knowledge of asynchronous runtimes and concurrency.
• Excellent written and spoken English.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize high-performance Rust systems for AI data pipelines at scale.
• Develop tooling and backend services for data annotation and quality control.
• Improve reliability, performance, and safety across Rust codebases.
• Identify bottlenecks and implement scalable fixes.
• Collaborate with data, research, and engineering teams to speed up model training.
• Lead system design reviews and drive architectural decisions.

Skills

Rust

FFI

Concurrency

English communication

Tools

Cargo

Async runtimes

Job description

Lead Systems Engineer (Rust) - AI Platform

About The Role

What if your deep expertise in Rust could directly shape the infrastructure powering the next generation of AI? We're looking for a senior Rust engineer to build, optimize, and lead the systems that make cutting-edge AI research and production workflows possible - working alongside world-class teams at leading AI labs.

Lead Systems Engineer (Rust) - AI Platform

About The Role

What if your deep expertise in Rust could directly shape the infrastructure powering the next generation of AI? We're looking for a senior Rust engineer to build, optimize, and lead the systems that make cutting-edge AI research and production workflows possible - working alongside world-class teams at leading AI labs.

This is a fully remote contract role with flexible commitment. You'll be embedded in real production environments, solving hard problems at the intersection of systems engineering and AI infrastructure.

• Organization: Alignerr
• Type: Hourly Contract
• Location: Remote
• Commitment: 20-40 hours/week

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and optimize high-performance systems in Rust that power AI data pipelines and evaluation workflows at scale
• Develop full-stack tooling and backend services for large-scale data annotation, validation, and quality control
• Own and improve reliability, performance, and safety across existing Rust codebases
• Identify bottlenecks, edge cases, and failure modes in complex systems - then implement scalable, elegant fixes
• Collaborate closely with data, research, and engineering teams to accelerate model training and evaluation
• Lead synchronous system design reviews and drive architectural decisions with clarity and confidence

Who You Are

• Native or fluent English speaker with strong written and verbal communication skills
• 5+ years of professional experience writing production-grade Rust, with a focus on system architecture and API design
• Deep expertise in FFI (Foreign Function Interface) and unsafe Rust, with a strong understanding of how to manage boundaries between Rust and other languages safely
• Advanced command of asynchronous runtimes and multi-threaded environments - you understand concurrency deeply and write code that proves it
• Confident leading system design reviews and articulating complex technical tradeoffs to cross-functional teams
• Able to commit 20-40 hours per week with reliability and professionalism

Nice to Have

• Prior experience with data annotation, data quality pipelines, or evaluation systems
• Familiarity with AI/ML workflows, model training, or benchmarking infrastructure
• Experience building or maintaining distributed systems or developer tooling
• Exposure to working with research teams or in fast-moving AI environments

Why Join Us

• Work on real, high-impact production systems alongside some of the best AI research teams in the world
• Fully remote and flexible - structure your work around your life, not the other way around
• Freelance autonomy with the depth and significance of meaningful engineering work
• Get direct exposure to next-generation AI infrastructure at the frontier of the field
• Potential for ongoing engagement and expanded scope as new projects launch