We are Progress (Nasdaq: PRGS), a company that builds software enabling our customers to develop, deploy, and manage responsible, AIโpowered applications and experiences with agility and ease. Join us as a Principal Rust Engineer โ Language Runtime in a hybrid role between a home office and our Burlington, MA headquarters.
Overview
We are building a production language runtime in Rust that includes a compiler, virtual machine, wire protocol client, and application server. As a longโterm technical owner, you will work alongside experienced platform architects and a second Rust engineer.
Responsibilities
- Implement and optimize an async, registerโbased virtual machine with cooperative scheduling and builtโin function dispatch.
- Translate language semantics from a reference C implementation into idiomatic, correct Rust.
- Extend a multiโstage compiler pipeline (lexer, parser, AST, IR, codeโgen) and deliver new language features with conformance and propertyโbased tests.
- Extend a binary wire protocol implementation reverseโengineered from C source; own TLS, authentication, and connection pooling.
- Maintain a Tokioโbased async runtime handling thousands of concurrent requests with shared state and admission control.
- Contribute to HTTP, WebSocket, and gRPC server layers.
- Manage a large multiโcrate Cargo workspaceโdependency hygiene, CI performance, and release engineering.
- Mentor senior engineers (20+ years platform experience) adopting Rust through teachingโoriented code reviews, pair programming, and progressive ownership handoff.
- Document architecture decisions and maintain design docs as firstโclass deliverables.
Qualifications
- Overall 10+ years of software engineering experience.
- 5+ years of production Rust in systems software (runtimes, compilers, databases, or networking).
- Experience with a compiler or language runtime (parser, AST/IR, bytecode compiler, VM, or interpreter).
- Async Rust at scaleโTokio, sharedโstate concurrency, cancellation safety.
- Fluency with large multiโcrate Cargo workspaces.
- Ability to read large C codebases and derive correct Rust implementations.
- Mentorship mindsetโpatience, clear communication, progressive handoff.
- Longโterm ownership orientationโmultiโyear commitment.
- Excellent written and verbal English.
- CS degree or equivalent (data structures, algorithms, OS, compilers).
Desired Qualifications
- VM designโopcode dispatch, cooperative scheduling, register allocation.
- Binary protocol reverseโengineering and zeroโcopy parsing.
- Propertyโbased testing (proptest, quickcheck).
- Concurrent data structuresโDashMap, Moka, lockโfree patterns.
- Axum/Tower/WebSocket server experience.
- Developer tooling protocols (LSP, DAP).
- Observabilityโtracing, OpenTelemetry, Prometheus.
- Database connectivityโpooling, transactions, schema resolution.
- Experience onboarding engineering teams into Rust.
- AIโassisted development tools (Copilot, Claude).
Compensation & Benefits
- Base Salary Range: $170,000 โ $189,000.
- Eligibility to participate in performanceโbased annual corporate bonus plan.
- Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life & disability, and financial benefits (including 401(k) retirement savings plan).
- Tuition reimbursement program.
- Voluntary benefits: crucial illness/hospital indemnity, identity theft protection, auto & home insurance, legal, and pet insurance.
- Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP) with 27โmonth lookback.
- Flexible paid vacation, paid day off for birthday, and company holidays.
- Various leave plans, including parental leave.
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and wellโbeing program focusing on physical, mental, and financial health.
#J-18808-Ljbffr