Principal Rust Engineer – Language Runtime
IndiaFull-Time Regular EmployeePosted Jul 31, 2026
We are Progress (Nasdaq: PRGS) - the trusted provider of software that enables our customers to develop, deploy and manage responsible, AI-powered applications and experience with agility and ease. We’re proud to have a diverse, global team where we value the individual and enrich our culture by considering varied perspectives because we believe people power progress. Join us as a Principal Rust Engineer and help us do what we do best: propelling business forward. Know more about us.
We are building a production language runtime in Rust — compiler, virtual machine, wire protocol client, and application server. You will join as a long-term technical owner of this system, working alongside experienced platform architects and a second FTE Rust engineer.
In this role, you will:
Runtime & VM
- Implement and optimize an async register-based virtual machine with cooperative scheduling and built-in function dispatch.
- Translate language semantics from a reference C implementation into idiomatic, correct Rust.
Compiler
- Extend a multi-stage compiler pipeline (lexer, parser, AST, IR, codegen).
- Deliver new language features end-to-end with conformance and property-based tests.
Protocol & Data Layer
- Extend a binary wire protocol implementation reverse-engineered from C source.
- Own TLS, authentication, and connection pooling.
Async & Networking
- Maintain a Tokio-based async runtime handling thousands of concurrent requests with shared state and admission control.
- Contribute to HTTP, WebSocket, and gRPC server layers.
Engineering & Build
- Manage a large multi-crate Cargo workspace — dependency hygiene, CI performance, and release engineering.
Team Enablement
- Mentor senior engineers (20+ years platform experience) adopting Rust — teaching-oriented code reviews, pair programming, and progressive ownership handoff.
- Document architecture decisions and maintain design docs as first-class deliverables.
Your background:
- Overall 10+ years of Software Engineering Experience
- 5+ years production Rust in systems software (runtimes, compilers, databases, or networking).
- Compiler or language runtime experience — at least one of: parser, AST/IR, bytecode compiler, VM, or interpreter.
- Async Rust at scale — Tokio, shared-state concurrency, cancellation safety.
- Large multi-crate workspace fluency.
- Ability to read large C codebases and derive correct Rust implementations.
- Mentorship mindset — patience, clear communication, progressive handoff.
- Long-term ownership orientation — multi-year commitment.
- Excellent written and verbal English.
- CS degree or equivalent (data structures, algorithms, OS, compilers)
Additionally, it would be beneficial if you have:
- VM design — opcode dispatch, cooperative scheduling, register allocation.
- Binary protocol reverse-engineering and zero-copy parsing.
- Property-based testing (proptest, quickcheck).
- Concurrent data structures — DashMap, Moka, lock-free patterns.
- Axum / Tower / WebSocket server experience.
- Developer tooling protocols (LSP, DAP).
- Observability — tracing, OpenTelemetry, Prometheus.
- Database connectivity — pooling, transactions, schema resolution.
- Experience onboarding engineering teams into Rust.
- AI-assisted development tools (Copilot, Claude).
- Competitive remuneration package
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan Enrolment
- 30 days of earned leave
- An extra day off for your birthday
- Various other leaves like marriage leave, casual leave, maternity leave, and paternity leave
- Premium Group Medical Insurance for employees and five dependents, personal accident insurance coverage, and life insurance coverage
- Professional development reimbursement
- Interest subsidy on loans - either vehicle or personal loans.