Principal Rust Developer

Zscaler; San Jose, Bellevue (CA, WA); On-site; USD 182,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Time off plans

Parental leave options

Retirement options

In-office perks

Job summary

A leading cybersecurity company is seeking a Principal Rust Developer to join their Platform Convergence Team in San Jose. This hybrid role involves designing a new platform to support millions of users, focusing on building low-latency data forwarding systems. The ideal candidate will have extensive Rust experience, knowledge in distributed systems, and Linux fundamentals. Exceptional problem-solving skills and customer obsession are essential. Competitive salary range of $182,000 - $260,000 USD offered.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience coding with Rust.
• Proven expertise in building resilient, observable, distributed systems.
• Strong understanding of Linux networking, namespaces, and sockets.

Responsibilities

• Design and build a low-latency, high-throughput data forwarding plane using Rust.
• Develop scalable systems focusing on concurrency and fault tolerance.
• Implement and maintain gRPC-based APIs and services.

Skills

Rust programming

Systems programming

Async frameworks like Tokio

Building distributed systems

Linux fundamentals

Tools

Git

CI/CD workflows

gRPC

Kubernetes

Job description

Zscaler accelerates digital transformation so our customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. Our cloud native Zero Trust Exchange platform protects thousands of customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location.

Here, impact in your role matters more than title and trust is built on results. We believe in transparency and value constructive, honest debate—we’re focused on getting to the best ideas, faster. We build high-performing teams that can make an impact quickly and with high quality. To do this, we are building a culture of execution centered on customer obsession, collaboration, ownership and accountability.

We value high-impact, high-accountability with a sense of urgency where you’re enabled to do your best work and embrace your potential. If you’re driven by purpose, thrive on solving complex challenges and want to make a positive difference on a global scale, we invite you to bring your talents to Zscaler and help shape the future of cybersecurity.

We are looking for a Principal Rust Developer to join our Platform Convergence Team. This is a hybrid role based in San Jose, reporting to the Sr. Director, Software Engineering. Join us to build a new platform from the ground up that can scale hundreds of millions of users with high reliability and low latency. You will design and implement distributed system and core infrastructure components while collaborating closely with various stakeholders.

What you’ll do (Role Expectations)

• Design and build a low-latency, high-throughput data forwarding plane using Rust, leveraging its async/await model for efficient I/O and service-oriented infrastructure
• Develop distributed, scalable systems with a focus on concurrency, fault tolerance, and messaging
• Implement and maintain gRPC-based APIs and services to integrate forwarding plane capabilities with control and orchestration layers
• Optimize system performance through profiling tools across kernel-space and user-space
• Engage in code reviews, system design discussions, technical documentation, and mentoring junior engineers

Who You Are (Success Profile)

• You act like an owner, fueling your bias for action with a passion for the mission and navigating seamlessly between high-level strategy and hands-on execution.
• You are a problem-solver who seeks out challenges and is energized by finding solutions to hard problems that deliver the biggest impact.
• You are customer-obsessed, building deep empathy for internal and external customers and anchoring every decision in solving their real-world problems.
• You are driven by innovation and technical curiosity, constantly looking for better, more secure, and scalable ways to accelerate transformation.
• You think at scale, connecting your work to the larger company mission and building solutions that support a high-growth, global organization.

What We’re Looking for (Minimum Qualifications)

• Extensive experience coding with Rust, particularly in systems programming and async frameworks like Tokio or async-std
• Proven expertise in building resilient, observable, and horizontally scalable distributed systems
• Strong understanding of Linux fundamentals, including networking, namespaces, sockets, and kernel-user space interaction
• Proficiency in container-based environments, Git, CI/CD workflows, and performance instrumentation

What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)

• Experience with systems languages like C/C++ or Go, particularly in performance-critical environments
• Familiarity with Linux networking stacks, kernel-space technologies such as eBPF or DPDK, and Kubernetes networking or service meshes
• Hands‑on experience with gRPC, Protobufs, and L2–L4 networking protocols including TCP/IP, QUIC, or routing encapsulations

Pay Transparency

Zscaler complies with all applicable federal, state, and local pay transparency rules.

Base Salary Range: $182,000 - $260,000 USD

Benefits

• Time off plans for vacation and sick time
• Parental leave options
• Retirement options
• In‑office perks, and more!

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Zscaler is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals. We strive to create a workplace where employees are treated with respect and have the chance to succeed. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy or related medical conditions), age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, and local laws.