Staff Backend Engineer (Rust)
Location: Remote (France, Germany, Portugal, United Kingdom)
Employment Type: Full time
Location Type: Remote
Department: Engineering — Backend
About CoW DAO
CoW DAO is on a mission to build the most robust, user-protective, and efficient trading infrastructure in DeFi. CoW DAO is the creator behind CoW Protocol (the engine behind CoW Swap). Operating as a dominant player in DeFi, CoW Protocol recently crossed a massive milestone of over $200 Billion in lifetime trading volume and consistently ranks as a top-two DEX aggregator by market share.
Through combinatorial batch auctions, a competitive network of "solvers," and a unique Coincidence of Wants (CoW) matching engine, CoW Protocol protects traders from MEV bots and secures the absolute best execution prices on the market.
Learn more
About the Role
Location: Fully remote team, and although hiring is almost global, there is a preference for this role to be based in Europe or remote +/- 4 hours CEST time.
Not hiring from the US, Australia, or New Zealand.
Position: Full-time contractor
CoW DAO is looking for an enthusiastic, motivated Staff Backend Engineer to help build the next generation of decentralised trading protocols. As a dedicated backend engineer, the candidate will gain ownership of existing backend services and influence the creation, design, and execution of future features and products. The engineer will work on technically challenging aspects of off-chain services and developer-facing APIs and help ensure the delivery of reliable and performant features to improve CoW Protocol.
Tech Stack
- Backend Code: Rust, Tokio, Cargo, Git (https://github.com/cowprotocol/services)
- Infrastructure: Pulumi, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, Grafana, Prometheus, Elasticsearch
- Other codebases: Typescript, Python, Solidity
What You Will Do
- Architect and design off-chain services (core auction protocol as well as the orderbook) to support feature growth and the rapidly changing requirements that come from being an application on a constantly evolving blockchain.
- While the focus will be writing concurrent backend systems in Rust, the engineer will also interact with Smart Contracts written in Solidity and develop an understanding of auction mechanisms and DeFi protocols.
- Participate in the on-call rotation to help ensure the reliability of production systems (on-call work is additionally compensated).
- Work closely with researchers and the product team to ship features and come up with new solutions for challenging technical problems.
- Deliver high-quality code for features from concept until production (including state-of-the-art monitoring of production systems).
- Give thoughtful and in-depth code reviews of colleagues’ contributions to the open-source codebase.
Who You Are
- You have 8+ years of production experience with systems-level programming languages, with at least 3+ years of hands-on production experience using Rust.
- You have practical experience working in web3 (ideally in DeFi and the Ethereum ecosystem).
- You have excellent computer science, programming, and algorithmic skills.
- Experience with operating, maintaining, and architecting complex software systems.
- You care deeply about the quality, readability, observability, and testability of your code.
- You proactively give technical direction to improve performance, prevent issues, optimise data usage, and refactor the codebase.
- You are a team player, strong communicator, and gladly share your expertise with others.
- You collaborate effectively with a remote-first team on a large, open-source codebase.
- Ideally, someone senior who can mentor colleagues and provide direction.
- You are excited to explore and gain experience with Ethereum.
What CoW DAO Can Offer You
- Flexible work environment: Join the hub in Lisbon or work remotely.
- Token plan: Have a stake in the mission and shape the future of CoW DAO.
- Periodic gatherings: Enjoy opportunities to connect with the rest of the team through regular trips.
- Conference allocation: Stay up-to-date with ecosystem advancements using a conference budget.
- Learning budget: Use the learning budget to support higher ambitions.
- Hardware budget: Take advantage of a hardware budget for acquiring necessary equipment.
- Make an impact: Joining a startup where candidates can make a huge difference. Work matters!
- Flat hierarchies mean fewer processes and bureaucracy — see more ideas come to life!
- Flexible work and vacation times: Prioritize work-life balance through a robust flexible work policy and vacation allowance.
- Growth: For candidates who love taking the initiative and getting things done, CoW offers lots of opportunities for individual growth.
Referral Program
Earn 6.000 USDC or USD with the refer-to-earn program.
Culture
Life within CoW DAO is an incredible adventure! They take pride in a collaborative approach, embracing autonomy and fostering a culture of big thinking and continuous growth. CoW DAO values impact, ownership, simplicity, and team spirit, and is all about feedback, coming together, and enjoying the journey along the way!
At CoW DAO, the team strives to create a space where everyone feels included and empowered, believing that products and services benefit from diverse backgrounds and experiences. All qualified applicants are considered for positions regardless of race, ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, marital status, gender identification, sexual orientation, or physical ability.
