Solana Program Engineer

Solana; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Solana is looking for talented Solana Program Engineers passionate about building cutting-edge DeFi protocols. This is an open application opportunity, with roles varying from full-time to grant-based. Ideal candidates should have 2+ years of experience with Solana, a strong grasp of Rust, and a passion for DeFi. The position offers the chance to work with some of the smartest people in a fast-paced, impact-driven environment based in the United States.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience building and shipping Solana programs.
• Strong familiarity with Solana’s runtime (SVM), SPL tokens, PDAs, and Anchor.
• Hands-on experience building or contributing to DeFi protocols.

Responsibilities

• Build high-performance production grade Solana programs in Rust.
• Iterate quickly on ideas with real users.
• Contribute to open source and improve developer tools.

Skills

Rust programming

DeFi protocols

High-performance production systems

Technical trade-offs and system design

Open source contribution

Job description

Who We Are

The Solana Foundation is a non‑profit based in Zug, Switzerland, dedicated to the adoption, decentralization, and security of the Solana network. Solana is a high performance blockchain that can deliver a fast and friendly user experience, without sacrificing security. The Solana Foundation is working to realize a world where individuals own their data, use permissionless networks, and transfer information and value freely around the world. We are looking for talented people who are willing to jump right in and use their expertise to help the ecosystem build.

What We Do

The Foundation collaborates with both internal contributors and external ecosystem teams to solve key technical challenges and accelerate the development of core infrastructure, developer tooling, and open source standards. This includes everything from on‑chain protocols to growth tooling, smart contract frameworks, and new developer experiences. We work closely with many of the most ambitious teams in crypto — including those building next‑generation DeFi, payments, gaming, DePIN, and Real‑World Asset platforms.

The Opportunity

We’re looking for talented Solana Program Engineers, with a strong emphasis on developers who have built — or want to build — cutting‑edge DeFi protocols on Solana. This is an open application to express your interest in working on one of several high‑impact teams across the Solana ecosystem. Depending on your background and interests, we may connect you with projects building:

Advanced DeFi Protocols

• Central Limit Order Books (CLOBs)
• On‑chain AMMs and hybrid liquidity models
• Lending markets, margin trading, and perps
• Bonding curves and structured products
• Oracle integrations and liquidation engines
• Governance, fee sharing, and staking mechanisms

Core Infrastructure & Tooling

• Smart contract wallets and programmable access
• Gasless relayers and session keys
• Indexers and custom RPCs
• Anchor / Pinocchio contributions

On‑chain Applications & Middleware

• Token launch frameworks and fair distribution tooling
• Real‑world asset registries and payment rails
• DePIN coordination systems

Selected candidates will be matched with ecosystem teams (and in some cases, the Foundation’s internal contributors) based on your skills, interests, and availability. Roles vary from full‑time to grant‑based, depending on the team.

You’ll Be Great at This If You…

• Build high‑performance production grade Solana programs in Rust (Anchor or Native)
• Are passionate about DeFi and familiar with on‑chain mechanics
• Love taking ideas from 0→1 and iterating quickly with real users
• Can reason about technical trade‑offs and system design under constraints
• Enjoy contributing to open source and improving developer tools
• Thrive in startup‑like environments: fast‑paced, independent, and impact‑driven
• Looking for entrepreneurial, founding opportunities with the smartest people and skin in the game early on.

Desired Background

• 2+ years of experience building and shipping Solana programs
• Strong familiarity with Solana’s runtime (SVM), SPL tokens, PDAs, and Anchor
• Hands‑on experience building or contributing to DeFi protocols
• Understanding of state compression, account metering, and program optimization
• Bonus: Familiarity with Solana‑native DeFi protocols like OpenBook, Jupiter, MarginFi, Orca, or Meteora

Ready to build the next generation of DeFi? If you’re a Rust engineer excited to work on the bleeding edge of Solana — whether you’ve already deployed programs or are looking to level up — we want to hear from you. Submit your info and we’ll reach out as opportunities arise across the Solana ecosystem.