Solana Protocol Engineer at Pike

About us

Organized in 2018, NUTS Finance is a blockchain development lab focused on building secure, composable and open source technology to enable financial applications on the blockchain. Backed by industry leading investors and and partners, our goal is to deliver the working elements that shape the emerging crypto economy.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Solana Protocol Engineer to help build the next generation of high-performance decentralized protocols. If you’re deeply familiar with Solana’s architecture, Anchor, Rust, and on-chain scaling solutions, this role is for you.

You’ll work at the protocol level, designing, deploying, and maintaining secure, efficient, and scalable smart contracts. You’ll collaborate closely with our team members, to ensure our smart contracts are robust, efficient, and battle-tested.

This is a high-impact, high-autonomy role in a small but fast-moving and deeply technical team.

What you’ll do

• Architect & Build – Design, develop, and optimize Solana smart contracts & dApps with Anchor & Rust.
• Own the Protocol Layer – Maintain and upgrade on-chain programs in a backward-compatible way.
• Lead the Tech Stack – Be the go-to expert on Solana’s latest features, including V0 transactions & Address Lookup Tables.
• Ensure Security & Performance – Optimize for speed, scalability, and security, while proactively avoiding common smart contract pitfalls.
• Align Teams & Priorities – Act as a key contact for internal & external stakeholders, ensuring smooth coordination on integrations, deployments, and roadmap execution.
• Scale & Maintain Infrastructure – Work with DevOps to run 24/7 high-scale infrastructure with monitoring, incident response, and performance tuning.
• Collaborate with Security Auditors – Ensure contracts are secure, tested, and reviewed, without delaying timelines.
• Expand Ecosystem Reach – Coordinate cross-chain deployments and new integrations to expand our product offerings.

What we’re looking for

• Deep expertise in Rust & Solana smart contract development – You’ve built and shipped production-grade dApps on Solana.
• Hands-on experience with Anchor Framework – You understand Solana’s latest protocol features and how to leverage them.
• Deep knowledge of Solana’s architecture – You know how Proof of History, BPF Upgradeable Loaders, and parallelized transaction execution work under the hood.
• Strong track record in production – Experience developing, deploying, and maintaining smart contracts for respected Solana projects.
• Security-first mindset – You know how to avoid smart contract vulnerabilities before they happen.
• Startup mentality & high agency – You take ownership, move fast, and thrive in a high-responsibility environment.
• Familiarity with DevOps – Experience running scalable blockchain infrastructure, working with CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and debugging.
• DeFi power user – You use DeFi protocols and understand how they work from both a technical & economic perspective.

Nice to haves

• Experience contributing to Solana core development or other L1 blockchain protocols.
• Exposure to MEV, program optimization, or advanced Solana performance tuning.
• Background in formal verification or smart contract security audits.
• Experience deploying to multiple blockchain networks.

Details that matters

• We’re a startup, not a corporate – if you require rigid processes or layers of management, we’re not for you. We move fast, adapt quickly, and value impact over process.
• High agency – no one is here to micromanage. You are expected to take ownership, solve problems, and drive things forward with minimal guidance.
• Execution over theory – ideas are great, but getting things done and shipped is what actually matters.
• Adaptability – Things change quickly, and we need people who can pivot, iterate, and embrace the unknown.
• Remote-friendly, but highly collaborative – plan your own schedule, up to 2 team off-sites per year and work-sponsored travel opportunities.
• Competitive Token Incentives – We believe in skin in the game—you’ll be rewarded with a meaningful token allocation aligned with your impact and contributions.