About the role

Location: We are a fully remote team, and although we hire globally, there is a preference for this role to be based in Europe or remote +/- 4 hours CEST time

Position: Full-time contractor

We are looking for an enthusiastic, self-motivated backend engineer to help us build the next generation of decentralised trading protocols. As a dedicated backend engineer, you will gain ownership of our existing backend services and can influence the creation, design, and execution of future features and products. You will work on technically challenging aspects of our off-chain services and our developer-facing APIs and ensure we deliver reliable and performant features to improve the core CoW protocol.

What you will do

• Develop new functionality for both our off-chain services (optimising transaction execution, scaling order throughput, increasing protocol decentralisation) as well as our APIs (price estimation & order placement, real-time blockchain state monitoring, server-client communication channels)
• While your focus will be writing concurrent backend systems in Rust, you will also interact with our Smart Contracts written in Solidity and develop your understanding of auction mechanisms and DeFi protocols
• 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 our production systems)
• Help our engineering team maintain and improve the reliability of the existing features
• Give thoughtful and in-depth code reviews of your colleagues’ contributions to our open-source codebase

Our 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

Who you are

• You have 3+ years of experience with system programming, preferably in Rust (C++ or similar)
• You have excellent computer science, programming, and algorithmic skills
• 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, a strong communicator, and gladly share your expertise with others
• You collaborate effectively with a remote-first team on a large, open-source codebase
• Excited to explore and gain experience with Ethereum

It’s a plus if you bring:

• Understanding of the Ethereum blockchain and ecosystem, general finance and/or game theory, and mechanism design
• Experience with operating, maintaining, and architecting complex software systems

What we can offer you

• Flexible work environment: Join our hub in Lisbon or work remotely
• Token Plan: Have a stake in our 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 our conference budget
• Learning budget: Use our Learning budget to support your higher ambitions
• Hardware budget: Benefit from a hardware budget for acquiring the necessary equipment
• Make an impact: You are joining a startup where you can make a huge difference. Your work matters!
• Flat hierarchies mean fewer processes and bureaucracy - see more of your ideas come to life!
• Flexible work and vacation times: Prioritize work-life balance through our robust flexible work policy and vacation allowance
• Growth: If you're someone who loves taking the initiative and getting things done, there are a lot of opportunities for your individual growth