Senior Staff Rust Developer

Zscaler; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

Retirement options

Education reimbursement

In-office perks

Job summary

Zscaler is seeking a Senior Staff Rust Developer to join the Platform Convergence Team in a hybrid San Jose, CA role. You will design and implement distributed infrastructure, focusing on low latency and high reliability, collaborating with multiple teams to deliver scalable security solutions.

You will contribute to data-forwarding planes, gRPC services, and Kubernetes-based environments while mentoring engineers and driving architectural best practices across the organization.

Qualifications

• Foundational understanding of AI/ML technologies and AI-driven solutions in your domain.
• Extensive experience coding with Rust, especially 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.

Responsibilities

• Design and build a low-latency, high-throughput data forwarding plane using Rust and async I/O.
• Develop distributed, scalable systems focusing on concurrency, fault tolerance, and messaging.
• Implement and maintain gRPC-based APIs and services to connect forwarding plane with control layers.
• Optimize system performance through profiling across kernel-space and user-space.
• Engage in code reviews, system design discussions, technical documentation, and mentoring junior engineers.

Skills

Rust

Distributed systems

Linux fundamentals

CI/CD

Git

Tokio/async-std

gRPC/Protobufs

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

eBPF

DPDK

gRPC

Protobufs

Job description

Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) accelerates digital transformation so customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform protects thousands of customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location. Distributed across 200+ public data centers globally and thousands of private sites at the edge, the SASE-based Zero Trust Exchange is the world’s largest in-line cloud security platform.

We believe the future of work is Human + AI and are building an AI-native enterprise where human potential is amplified by machine intelligence to solve the world’s hardest security challenges. Driven by deep customer obsession, we are committed to the mission, outcome, and to each other. We bring these commitments to life through three core behaviors: ownership and collaboration, trust through outcomes and impact, and a challenge culture with ongoing feedback. Ready to make an impact at the company pioneering security transformation in the AI era? Join us at Zscaler.

Role

We are looking for a Senior Staff Rust Developer to join our Platform Convergence Team. This is a hybrid role based in San Jose, CA 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)

• Foundational understanding of AI/ML technologies and experience leveraging, securing, or positioning AI‑driven solutions to optimize outcomes within your functional domain

• 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)

• Proven ability to leverage AI technologies and workflows to drive measurable operational efficiency

• 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

Base Pay Range

$180,000—$225,000 USD

At Zscaler, we are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve and the customers we work with. We foster an inclusive environment that values all backgrounds and perspectives, emphasizing collaboration and belonging. Join us in our mission to make doing business seamless and secure.

Our Benefits program is one of the most important ways we support our employees. Zscaler proudly offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families throughout their life stages, including:

• Various health plans

• Time off plans for vacation and sick time

• Parental leave options

• Retirement options

• Education reimbursement

• In‑office perks, and more!

Learn more about Zscaler's hybrid working model and benefits here (https://www.zscaler.com/candidate-resource-hub).

By applying for this role, you adhere to applicable laws, regulations, and Zscaler policies, including those related to security and privacy standards and guidelines.

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, or local laws. See more information by clicking on Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal (https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/22-088_EEOC_KnowYourRights6.12ScreenRdr.pdf) link.

Pay Transparency

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

Zscaler is committed to providing reasonable support (called accommodations or adjustments) in our recruiting processes for candidates who are differently abled, have long term conditions, mental health conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs, or who are neurodivergent or require pregnancy‑related support.