# Senior Software Engineer, Networking

**Company:** [Ditto](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/ditto)
**Location:** Remote
**Role:** Backend Engineering
**Salary:** $223k – $305k/yr
**Experience:** 5+ years
**Skills:** Rust, C++, Tcp, Udp, Quic, Ble, Wi-Fi Aware, Awdl, Linux Networking, Async I/O, Mesh Networking, Routing Protocols, Gossip Protocols, Apple Core Bluetooth, Android Wifi Aware
**Posted:** 2026-01-14

> Designs, implements, and optimizes core networking and transport stack components for peer-to-peer sync in unreliable networks. Requires 5+ years systems experience with 3+ in networking and strong Rust or C++ proficiency.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Design, implement, and own core components of Ditto's networking and transport stack, spanning **overlay networking** (routing, virtual connections, channel lifecycle) and underlying physical transports and protocols (**BLE**, **LAN**, **Wi-Fi Aware**, **AWDL**, etc.).
- Drive the re-architecture of the networking stack toward a more **modular, scalable, and high-performance** design, establishing clear interfaces and ownership boundaries between transport layers and mesh abstractions.
- Debug and systematically improve real-world connectivity issues including **data transfer reliability**, **MTU negotiation**, **pairing instability**, **throughput ceilings**, and cross-platform data sync behavior.
- Build and optimize transport mechanisms with explicit attention to **flow control**, **backpressure**, **congestion handling**, **retries**, **connection lifecycle management**, and **failure recovery**.
- Identify and eliminate performance bottlenecks across **latency**, **memory footprint**, **CPU utilization**, and tail behavior in highly concurrent, asynchronous systems.
- Design **protocol state machines**, **wire formats**, and transport abstractions that remain correct under unreliable networks, intermittent connectivity, and constrained environments.
- Establish meaningful **observability** through targeted logging, metrics, and diagnostics to enable rapid production debugging and root-cause analysis.

## Requirements
- 5+ years of professional experience building systems software, with at least **3 years focused on networking, transport protocols, or routing**.
- Strong proficiency in **Rust** or **C++**, including ownership and borrowing semantics, async runtimes, concurrency primitives, and profiling/optimization techniques.
- Understanding of key mesh networking topics such as **TCP**, **UDP**, and **QUIC** semantics and tradeoffs, including connection establishment, congestion and flow control, retransmission behavior, MTU/fragmentation, and practical implications for latency, throughput, and reliability.
- Exposure to or experience working with networked services and protocols. Demonstrated ability to debug complex behavior in networked and concurrent systems (**race conditions**, **deadlocks**, **resource leaks**, **latency spikes**).
- Experience designing **modular APIs** and abstractions that scale across multiple implementations and evolve safely over time.
- Clear written and verbal communication skills in a distributed, asynchronous team environment.
- Passion to learn new networking technologies, APIs, and approaches to build at the bleeding edge of mesh networking.

## Nice to Haves
- Experience with **mesh networking protocols**, **routing algorithms**, or **gossip protocols**.
- Understanding of **mobile platform constraints** including background execution models, battery optimization, OS suspension/resume cycles, and their impact on persistent connections.
- Experience with **Apple Core Bluetooth** or **Android WiFi Aware APIs**.
- Experience with **Linux networking**, sockets, async I/O, or low-level systems programming.
- Willingness to travel once per quarter for in-person team gatherings.

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