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As the first Lead Smart Contract Engineer, you'll architect, implement, and own the lifecycle of the Solana programs that power next-generation on-chain products. You'll partner closely with the CTO and mentor junior developers while driving both greenfield protocol launches and iterative upgrades of production programs.

Responsibilities Design & architect Solana programs and their on-chain account structures from ideation to mainnet. Implement & test high-performance programs in Rust using the Anchor framework. Own deployments across Solana clusters (mainnet-beta, devnet, testnet) and manage the program lifecycle. Maintain & upgrade existing programs: oversee Solana's native upgradeability, manage Program Derived Addresses (PDAs), and ensure stable account data layouts across versions. Harden security: write comprehensive unit and integration tests, run static analyzers, coordinate external audits, and remediate findings. Collaborate daily with frontend and product to ship end-to-end DeFi features on Solana. Mentor & lead: set best practices for junior Rust/Anchor engineers and help shape our on-chain architecture roadmap. Requirements 5+ years of experience as a software engineer, with 2+ years of hands-on experience architecting and deploying Solana programs in Rust. Successfully launched Solana protocols through to mainnet-beta and ensured the underlying programs have passed third-party audits. Deep knowledge of the Solana Program Model, the Sealevel runtime, Program Derived Addresses (PDAs), account validation, and common Solana-specific attack vectors (e.g., account confusion, missing ownership checks, type cosplay). Proficiency with the Anchor framework, solana-cli, and @solana/web3.js. Comfortable with Solana's Cross-Program Invocation (CPI) model and familiar with cross-chain communication protocols like Wormhole. Strong testing cultureunit, integration, and fuzz tests baked into CI pipelines. Excellent written & verbal communication; you're able to write concise technical specifications and audit reports. Ability to thrive in a high-ownership, fast-moving startup environment and set technical direction.