Solana Program Engineer

Job description

**This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Solana Program Engineer based in Canada.** Join a high-impact engineering opportunity focused on building the next generation of decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain infrastructure on Solana. As a Solana Program Engineer, you will develop production-grade programs and contribute to innovative protocols, developer tools, and on-chain applications. Depending on your expertise and interests, you may work on advanced trading systems, lending markets, liquidity mechanisms, smart contract infrastructure, payment solutions, or decentralized physical infrastructure networks. You will collaborate with ambitious ecosystem teams in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment that values technical excellence, independent thinking, and open-source contributions. This opportunity is designed for engineers who enjoy turning early-stage ideas into reliable products and solving complex challenges across the blockchain ecosystem. Engagements may vary by team, with opportunities ranging from full-time positions to grant-based projects. ### Accountabilities: As a Solana Program Engineer, you will help design, build, optimize, and maintain blockchain programs that address real-world challenges across decentralized finance, core infrastructure, and on-chain applications. Depending on the team and project, your responsibilities may include: - Build and deploy high-performance, production-grade Solana programs using Rust, with Anchor or native development approaches. - Design and contribute to advanced DeFi protocols, including central limit order books, automated market makers, lending markets, margin trading, perpetuals, bonding curves, and structured financial products. - Develop and improve oracle integrations, liquidation engines, governance systems, fee-sharing mechanisms, and staking solutions. - Contribute to core infrastructure and developer tooling, including smart contract wallets, programmable access systems, gasless relayers, session keys, indexers, custom RPCs, and Anchor or Pinocchio. - Support the development of token launch frameworks, fair distribution tools, real-world asset registries, payment infrastructure, and DePIN coordination systems. - Optimize program performance, resource usage, account management, and on-chain execution. - Evaluate technical trade-offs and make sound system-design decisions under performance and resource constraints. - Contribute to open-source projects, developer tools, and standards that strengthen the broader Solana ecosystem. - Iterate quickly on new ideas, incorporate feedback from real users, and help transform early-stage concepts into production-ready solutions. - Collaborate with ecosystem teams and internal contributors, with project assignments aligned with your skills, interests, and availability. **Requirements:** The ideal candidate is a technically strong Rust engineer with hands-on Solana development experience and a genuine interest in DeFi and decentralized applications. You should be comfortable working independently, navigating complex technical challenges, and contributing in a fast-moving environment. The following experience and skills are particularly relevant: - At least 2 years of experience building and shipping Solana programs. - Strong proficiency in Rust and experience developing production-grade on-chain programs using Anchor or native Solana development. - Solid understanding of the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), SPL tokens, Program Derived Addresses (PDAs), and Anchor. - Practical experience building or contributing to decentralized finance protocols. - Understanding of on-chain mechanics, account metering, state compression, and program optimization. - Ability to reason about system architecture, performance constraints, and technical trade-offs. - Interest in developing innovative products from the early stages and iterating quickly based on user feedback. - Familiarity with Solana-native DeFi protocols such as OpenBook, Jupiter, MarginFi, Orca, or Meteora is an advantage. - Enthusiasm for open-source development, improving developer tools, and contributing to shared blockchain infrastructure. - An independent, entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, impact-driven environment. - Interest in founding-stage or entrepreneurial opportunities and collaborating closely with ambitious technical teams. **Benefits:** - Remote, international work opportunity. - Potential to contribute to high-impact projects across DeFi, blockchain infrastructure, developer tooling, and on-chain applications. - Opportunities to collaborate with innovative teams across the Solana ecosystem. - Exposure to early-stage product development, open-source initiatives, and technically challenging blockchain projects. - Flexible project matching based on skills, interests, and availability. - Engagement options that may include full-time employment or grant-based projects, depending on the team. - Compensation details, healthcare coverage, paid time off, equipment allowances, and other benefits are not specified in the job description and may vary by team.