Protocol Engineer

SOLANA FOUNDATION; Remote; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A decentralized software development company is seeking an experienced Solana Rust developer to join their team. You will be responsible for developing on-chain social graphs and solving complex problems using state-of-the-art technology. The ideal candidate has 4+ years of development experience, including expertise in Rust and Solana programming. This role offers a remote-first work environment, a competitive salary, and opportunities for professional growth. Join a diverse team that values creativity and innovation.

Benefits

Competitive salary + equity

Paid health, dental, and vision insurance

WFH technology stipend

Qualifications

• 4+ years of development experience, 1+ years of Solana development experience, 1+ year of Rust.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Deliver reliable Solana solutions throughout the stack.
• Provide technical leadership within Solana development.
• Architect robust, high-performance solutions.

Skills

Rust

Postgres

Nodejs

Typescript

Solana Programs

Metaplex

Umi

Custom Transaction Confirmation

Jito

Token Swap

DAS APIs

Job description

About Primitives

Primitives is a software company working on the frontier of decentralized social in the Solana ecosystem. We are building the onchain social layer that powers social interoperability between decentralized applications. We value out-of-the-box thinking and enthusiastic experimentation with emerging protocols and standards on Solana with the goal of delivering exceptional product experiences to our users and customers.

Primitives is currently a team of 11 full-time employees. Our team is bound by a shared interest in creativity, out-of-the-box perspective, and willingness to put in the work to support our users.

We are backed by investors including Union Square Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Harlem Capital, and Stellation Capital. To learn more about our mission, check out primitives.xyz and our most recent techcrunch feature.

What We’re Looking For

Primitives is seeking an experienced Solana Rust developer to help further develop on chain social graphs using Concurrent Merkle Trees, the same technology empowering Compressed NFTs. You will help develop a new standard, parallel to NFTs on Solana that will onboard the next billion plus people to crypto. You will also assist building out on chain governance while working on a fast paced team that prioritizes shipping. Some of the technologies you’ll use on a daily basis include state compression, cNFTs, the Solana Token Program, Metaplex Bubblegum, Umi, Jito, and Helius/Triton. At Primitives you will have the freedom to work autonomously and collaborate in a supportive, remote-first environment. Our commitment to your growth and the challenge of building on the cutting edge makes Primitives an ideal place for ambitious software engineers.

Key Responsibilities

1. Develop Solana Programs: Be able to deliver reliable Solana solutions throughout the stack. Write high quality rust code to create the best solutions possible.
2. Technical Crypto Leadership: Provide technical leadership within the domain of Solana development. Guide other engineers in helping them contribute to crypto code.
3. System Design: Partner with various teams to architect robust, high-performance solutions that are secure and align with business requirements. Ensure the components you design integrate seamlessly with the broader system architecture.
4. Rust Development Best Practices: Produce well-structured, efficient and secure Rust code that is easy to understand and maintain. Champion high standards for code quality, type safety, performance optimization, and security. Take initiative to lead code reviews and identify opportunities to refactor and enhance existing codebases.
5. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Foster a strong working relationship with other teams to diagnose and overcome technical challenges. Actively contribute ideas to drive ongoing improvements and optimize development processes.

Qualifications

• Experience: 4+ years of development experience, 1+ years of Solana development experience, 1+ year of Rust
• Backend Skills: Rust, Postgres, Nodejs, Typescript
• Solana Skills: Solana Programs, Metaplex, Umi, Custom Transaction Confirmation, Jito, Token Swap, DAS APIs
• Independent Contributor: Track record of taking ownership of complex projects and delivering high-quality solutions.
• Crypto Social Experience: While not mandatory, any experience or understanding of using popular crypto platforms is a plus.
• Problem-solving: Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Communication: Effective verbal and written communication skills.

Note: we are dedicated to building a diverse team of varied backgrounds and experiences at primitives. even if you do not check all the criteria above, we welcome your application.

Working at Primitives

• Freedom to be yourself - at primitives we value creating a space where team members feel welcome to show up to work as their full selves. our culture values inclusivity, accessibility, passion and creativity. Primitives upholds an environment of friendly and diligent go-getters. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment or any hostile behavior.
• Culture of autonomy & entrepreneurship - we trust that you can be entrepreneurial, self-driven and ambitious with the freedom to execute independently.
• Supportive, collaborative environment - we want you to feel best supported in your role and as part of the team. At Primitives, we believe that we are stronger working together as a team than operating alone.
• Remote-first – our team is distributed and maintains a remote-first culture. you will have the freedom to work from anywhere though our team operates on eastern time (et).
• We’ll invest in your growth – we want our employees to be masters in their field but to always be striving to learn, improve on their skills, expand their knowledge, and bring that growth to the company. We care a lot about creating growth opportunities and supporting professional development for all team members.

Benefits

• Competitive salary + equity
• Paid health, dental, and vision insurance
• Remote-first work environment & WFH technology stipend

Application Process

If this resonates and you’d be interested to explore working at primitives, we’d love to chat!

Please send a link to your LinkedIn profile and a copy of your resume to marcus ([e-mail]) with the subject line "Primitives Protocol Eng Role." Please signify if you are applying for the full-time position or the internship role. We will get back to you if we think there is a potential fit!

Primitives is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity, inclusion, and equity. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.