Senior Software Engineer, CLI

Stellar Development Foundation • San Francisco, California, United States • Full-time

$170,000

per year

Python FinTech Blockchain Node.js Mentorship Go Open-source Senior Software Engineer Smart Contracts Rust developer tools Backend Cryptography Stellar Network CLI

Job Description

Interested in working on cutting-edge blockchain technology and creating equitable access to the global financial system? Since 2014, the mission-driven team at the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has helped fuel the tremendous growth of the Stellar blockchain network, an open-source platform that operates at high-scale today. Developers and companies around the world build on it, and the SDF team is expanding to support the rapidly growing and changing Stellar ecosystem.

As a part of the Developer Experience Team, you will work on the products that help developers onboard and create applications on the Stellar Network. Our team builds a few applications, some of them being Stellar Laboratory, Stellar CLI and the Stellar Javascript SDK. You will play a pivotal role as a visionary technical leader, shaping and innovating the tools that serve as the backbone of our customers' experiences. This role has a direct impact in making the Stellar tooling the best in the industry and will be working very closely with our Product and Developer Relations teams. In this role, you will join our Developer Experience team, focusing on Stellar CLI development for the Stellar Network. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with a passionate, mission-driven team dedicated to empowering developers and advancing open financial infrastructure worldwide.

In this role, you will:

Lead the design, development, and maintenance of the Stellar CLI
Collaborate closely with Product and Developer Relations teams to enhance developer experience
Innovate and improve existing tools for all projects under the DevX umbrella
Develop and enhance smart contract tooling capabilities within the Stellar ecosystem to support secure, scalable decentralized application development
Contribute to making Stellar tooling the best in the industry
Mentor junior engineers and provide technical leadership
Collaborate with Platform, DevRel and Ecosystem engineering teams to ensure we are shipping pragmatic solutions
Engage with the developer community to gather feedback and implement improvements

You have:

6+ years of professional software engineering experience with a focus on developer tools or infrastructure
Proficiency in Rust with a track record of developing and maintaining production-grade systems
Experience building and maintaining client applications or libraries
Sound backend development skills, including expertise in application development best practices and hands-on experience with at least one server-side language (e.g., Go, Python, Node.js)
Exposure to smart contract development ecosystems, including tools, frameworks, and security best practices (experience with platforms like Solana, Ethereum, or Stellar smart contracts is a plus).
Familiarity with blockchain technology and cryptography concepts
Exceptional problem-solving abilities paired with clear, collaborative communication skills
A passion for simplifying complex technical concepts into intuitive, developer-friendly tools and workflows

Bonus Points if:

Experience with open-source project management
Knowledge of the Stellar Network and its ecosystem
Familiarity with other programming languages (e.g., Python, Javascript, Go)
Understanding of financial technology and decentralized systems
Bonus: Has written smart contracts in Rust or Solidity (Rust preferred)

We offer competitive pay with a base salary range for this position of $170,000 - $260,000 depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, we offer lumen-denominated grants along with the following perks and benefits:

USA Benefits/Perks:

Competitive health, dental & vision coverage with most plans covered at 100% for the employee + any dependents
Flexible time off + 15 company holidays including a company-wide holiday break
Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for both non-birthing and birthing parents, as well as up to 14 weeks of paid pregnancy leave for birthing parents
Gym reimbursement ($80 per month)
Life & ADD (up to $50K)
Short & Long term disability
401K with 4% match
Health & Dependent Care FSA Accounts
Commuter benefits with $250/month employer contribution
Health Savings Account (HSA) with monthly employer contribution
Family building benefits through Kindbody
Wellbeing benefits (One Medical, Rightway, Headspace)
L&D budget of $1,500/year
Daily lunch and snacks in office
Company retreats

#LI-Hybrid

About Stellar

Stellar is more than a blockchain. Powered by a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network made for financial products and services and a thriving and passionate ecosystem that includes a non-profit organization driven by a mission, Stellar is paving the path to unlock the world’s economic potential through blockchain technology. Built with speed and low costs in mind, the Stellar network provides builders and financial institutions worldwide a platform to issue assets, and to send and convert currencies in real time creating real world utility. Founded in 2014, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) supports the continued development and growth of the Stellar network and also serves the ecosystem of NGOs, corporations, universities, small businesses, governments, and solo entrepreneurs building on the Stellar network through tooling, funding and strategic collaborations. Together, Stellar is where blockchain meets the real world.

About the Stellar Development Foundation

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization focused on working with and supporting changemakers to create equitable access to the global financial system through blockchain technology. SDF provides grants, investments, funding, and other awards to builders and organizations. SDF also develops resources and tooling on the Stellar network to help unlock real world utility. As a nonprofit foundation, SDF puts the health of the Stellar network and the Stellar ecosystem and its mission above all else.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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SDF is committed to diversity in its workforce and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. SDF does not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other basis protected by applicable local, state or federal law.