Staff Engineer (Solana)

About the role

This position involves developing core components of Lightcone's new impact markets infrastructure. The work centers on the Solana blockchain, specifically using Anchor and potentially Pinocchio programs, to establish the foundational product definitions. Additionally, the role includes building the backend exchange infrastructure in Rust, ensuring it reliably and efficiently supports the Solana programs.

Candidates will be responsible for key parts of both the Solana stack and the backend exchange infrastructure. This means contributing to the fundamental architecture of a novel market structure that bridges prediction markets and traditional finance. Success in this role requires delivering robust, low-latency, and correct systems that form the backbone of the exchange product.

The role offers a direct collaboration with co-founders in a pre-product, seed-stage environment, implying minimal process overhead. This setup is ideal for engineers who thrive on defining new systems from the ground up and are comfortable working with evolving specifications to create innovative solutions in a fast-paced setting.

The salary for this full-time remote Staff Engineer position ranges from $225,000 to $250,000 USD.

Skills that matter here

• Rust: This role requires comfort writing production systems in Rust for both Solana programs and backend exchange infrastructure.
• Solana: Experience building on Solana is essential, as the role involves developing programs that define the product's foundations.
• Anchor: Anchor is a mandatory skill for developing Solana programs within the impact markets infrastructure.

Who this role suits

• A person who is comfortable with incomplete specifications and enjoys solving complex problems from scratch.
• Someone with a background in latency-sensitive, correctness-critical infrastructure or products.
• An individual who is passionate about markets and understands their intricacies.
• A self-starter who thrives in a seed-stage environment with direct collaboration and minimal process.

From the employer

Responsibilities

• Take ownership over parts of the Solana stack (Anchor / Pinocchio programs) and parts of the backend exchange infrastructure (Rust).
• Work directly on Solana programs that define the foundations of impact markets as a product category.
• Develop backend infrastructure that wraps around the programs to create a robust, reliable and fast exchange product.
• Collaborate closely with the cofounders with minimal process overhead.

Requirements

• Very comfortable writing production systems in Rust.
• Experience building on Solana (Anchor is a must; Pinocchio a plus).
• Worked on latency-sensitive, correctness-critical infrastructure or products.
• Comfortable working in an environment with incomplete specifications.
• Enjoy thinking about complex problems from scratch.
• A markets nerd.