Staff Rust Engineer

ZeroTier’s leads the world in next-generation connectivity and cybersecurity. Our platform provides highly secure, peer-to-peer virtual networks, relied upon by millions of users and businesses - from individual users and startups to mid-scale enterprises and Fortune 500 companies. We’re backed by awesome investors including Battery Ventures, Bonfire Ventures, and Anorak Ventures.

The Role

We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer with deep experience in Rust, networking, and secure systems development to lead efforts in building and optimizing our next-generation networking agent. This is a senior technical role with significant ownership and impact. You’ll help drive architectural decisions, ensure security best practices, and work closely with engineering leadership to deliver software that directly supports strategic business outcomes.

• Design and implement critical components of a high-performance, secure networking agent in Rust.
• Develop low-level systems code, including operating system APIs and protocol handling.
• Ensure customer security with best practice protocol designDrive initiatives to improve observability, telemetry, and runtime diagnostics.
• Lead performance profiling and tuning for reliability and throughput across platforms.
• Collaborate with product, infrastructure, and executive stakeholders to align technical efforts with business priorities.
• Provide technical mentorship and contribute to engineering best practices across the team.
• Play a key role in shaping the architecture and software development lifecycle (SDLC) of ZeroTier’s core platform

• Deep proficiency in Rust and low-level systems programming.
• Experience in network and operating system APIs and networking primitives.
• Experience with encryption, secure coding practices, and threat modeling.
• Knowledge of networking protocols and concepts (TCP/IP, UDP, NAT traversal, etc.) - professional or hobbyist experience welcome.
• Proven experience driving cross-functional outcomes at a staff-plus level.
• Experience with telemetry, performance measurement, and production observability tools.
• Familiarity with the full software development lifecycle in modern product environments.
• Excellent communication skills and a collaborative mindset.
• Experience in a startup or fast-paced environment is a strong plus

• Hybrid office / remote work environment
• High growth equity compensation package
• Generous employer-paid health insurance, including preventative dental care for adults
• 401K Plan
• Flexible PTO policyFlexible work hours (subject to management approval)
• Career Enhancement Funds
• Employee Referral Bonus

More About ZeroTier

Founded in 2013 by Adam Ierymenko, ZeroTier’s mission is to make peer-to-peer networking with strong encryption so simple, secure, and intuitive that it becomes the default for the internet. To do this ZeroTier simplifies complex networking across physical boundaries, unifying cloud and edge environments. Our network virtualization platform offers enterprise-grade software-defined networking for every device, service, and applications, whether at the edge or in the cloud. It's powerful enough for large businesses and defense applications, yet easy for individuals to use for tasks like gaming or remote access. Our team is the best of the best, working diligently to solve the hard technical challenges underlying high-performance decentralized networking. We help our customers run networks free of handcuffs and endless minutiae. Come join us! To find out more, please check us out at: www.zerotier.com  

PLEASE NOTE:  Individuals seeking employment at ZeroTier are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation.  Direct applicants ONLY.  Any recruiter/3rd party submissions we receive will be considered a gift.  Written CV’s and Cover Letters are encouraged.  No calls please.