Junior R&D Engineer

Our client - a new Silicon Valley based profitable B2C product startup building innovative mobile solutions for the planet, is now looking for a Junior R&D Engineer

Type: Remote, full-time
Start date: ASAP
About project and role:

The product VPN - Super Unlimited Proxy is a Virtual Private Network that provides users online privacy and anonymity by creating a private network from a public internet connection.

The company has over 44M MAUs (and growing) with a solid customer base in the US and worldwide. In iOS, Out of the top markets we track worldwide, upon searching for the keyword VPN in the App Store, they are the #1 product in 32 out of 40 countries follow (including in the US, all of Western Europe, etc.) and in the top 3 for all 40 countries. In addition, they have been consistently ranked in the top 10 productivity apps in the US, right up with Google Docs, Google Sheets, etc.
The product has >1.6M very high-quality ratings in iOS alone.

We are hiring a Junior R&D Engineer to join a small, focused team building VPN and privacy technology. You will work alongside experienced engineers on real production systems from day one, not on a separate intern project or a training sandbox.
This is a hands-on role. You will write code that ships, contribute to tools and infrastructure that the business depends on, and learn how VPN protocols, server infrastructure, and security tooling work.

Responsibilities:

• Write and ship code in Python, Rust, Go, or similar, contributing to real tools and services from day one
• Help build and maintain the custom VPN tooling and services that power our server infrastructure
• Learn and work with VPN protocols, tunnelling technologies, and network security tooling
• Contribute to internal tools and automation that the business relies on
• Harden and test server configurations with guidance from senior engineers
• Participate in technical research, prototyping, and evaluating new approaches
• Develop your Linux, networking, and security skills through hands-on production work
• Use AI tools as part of your daily workflow — we treat them as standard development tooling, not a novelty

Requirements:

• Programming ability in at least one of: Python, Rust, Go. Show us code you have written, not just courses you have completed
• Comfortable with Linux (you can navigate the command line, understand basic system administration, and are willing to go deeper)
• Basic understanding of networking (TCP/IP, DNS, how the internet actually works)
• Curiosity about how VPNs, protocols, and security tooling work under the hood
• The ability to read unfamiliar code and documentation and work things out independently
• Drive to own problems rather than wait for detailed instruction
• A security-conscious mindset, you think about what could go wrong, not just what should go right
• English - Intermediate+

Highly Valued:

• Personal projects, home labs, or CTF experience that shows genuine interest in systems, networking, or security
• Familiarity with VPN technologies or tunnelling protocols (WireGuard, OpenVPN, or similar) Even from personal use or tinkering
• Experience with infrastructure tooling (Ansible, Terraform, Docker, or similar)
• Contributions to open-source projects
• Experience with Linux beyond the basics (systemd, networking stack, kernel tuning)
• Understanding of cryptography or TLS concepts

Why Join:

• Fast-Paced, Innovative Environment: 
• Be part of a fast-growing company in the digital privacy and connectivity space.
• Remote Work: Enjoy the flexibility of working from anywhere.
• Collaborative Culture: Work with a passionate, creative, and motivated team that values ownership, experimentation, and results. 
• Small team, high autonomy, real ownership
• Work on privacy and security technology that people actually use
• Direct line between what you build and business outcomes
• Influence over technical direction and engineering culture from day one