Jito Labs is looking for a Senior Systems Engineer to enhance low-latency infrastructure, optimize networking performance, and troubleshoot complex issues across systems, hardware, and software layers.
Jito Labs is architecting the future of high-performance distributed systems on Solana. We’re the team behind Jito-Solana, the leading MEV Solana client, and the Jito Block Engine, which has generated roughly 4.5 million SOL for validators and stakers over the past year.
Our latest product, BAM, reimagines Solana market structure and the transaction supply chain with a heavy emphasis on performance, reliability, and transaction privacy. We are building systems that operate at the edge of what modern hardware and networks can sustain.
We're looking for a senior engineer who is comfortable working across application code, operating systems, hardware behavior, and network protocols — someone who enjoys debugging the kinds of problems where the root cause might live anywhere in the stack.
About the Position:
We build latency-sensitive infrastructure where microseconds matter and root causes are rarely obvious. This role is for someone who can move comfortably between application code, kernel internals, hardware behavior, and network protocols — debugging a TCP retransmission anomaly one day and reasoning about memory contention the next.
You should be as comfortable reading kernel source and packet captures as you are writing production Rust. Much of the work involves ambiguous, cross-layer problems where existing tools and playbooks are insufficient and new ones must be created.
This is a senior role for someone who has previously been the person others escalate to when nobody else can find the root cause.
You'll work across:
Networking
- Debug and optimize network performance end-to-end: NIC tuning, congestion control, packet pacing, queueing disciplines
- Analyze traffic using tcpdump, Wireshark, and custom tooling; reason about protocol behavior under load
- Work with protocols beyond TCP/UDP when required (e.g., ICMP, IGMP, multicast)
- Experience with high-performance I/O and kernel-bypass techniques such as DPDK, XDP, io_uring, or similar
Linux Systems
- Read and reason about Linux kernel source when debugging requires it
- Understand networking stack internals (socket buffers, congestion control, netfilter, scheduling interactions)
- Build bespoke tooling when existing observability is insufficient
- Work fluently with kernel interfaces used by performance-sensitive systems
Hardware & Performance
- Use hardware performance counters, perf, eBPF, and flamegraphs to locate real bottlenecks
- Reason about practical CPU behavior: cacheline contention, branch misprediction, NUMA effects, memory ordering
- Understand IRQ affinity, scheduling behavior, paging, and TLB effects under real workloads
- Willing to read assembly when the situation calls for it
Software Development
- Strong low-level systems programming background
- We work primarily in Rust, but strong experience in C or C++ is equally relevant
- Solid understanding of algorithms, data structures, and writing correct concurrent code
- Contribute to infrastructure, tooling, and occasionally upstream projects
Requirements
- 10+ years of experience in systems programming, networking, or performance-critical infrastructure
- Deep Linux expertise, including kernel behavior, networking internals, and performance tuning
- Proficiency with packet analysis and network debugging tools
- Experience with performance profiling and tracing (perf, eBPF, flamegraphs, etc.)
- Strong programming fundamentals; depth matters more than language
- Track record of diagnosing complex issues spanning application, OS, and hardware layers
- Clear, direct communication
Strong Plus
- Experience in domains where latency and performance are first-order constraints (e.g., HFT, real-time systems, low-latency networking, kernel-adjacent infrastructure, high-performance distributed systems)
- Custom memory allocators or deep memory subsystem optimization
- Virtualization internals and passthrough networking (SR-IOV, vDPA, etc.)
- Kernel-adjacent work (eBPF programs, driver debugging, custom modules)
- olana or blockchain infrastructure experience
Why Jito
We’re a small, profitable company with real product-market fit. That means:
-High ownership: you drive major technical decisions and shape the direction of the system
-Fast execution: we ship quickly and iterate on real-world behavior
-Technical depth: the problems are real, complex, and intellectually demanding
-Sustainable: strong financials allow us to focus on long-term impact, not runway
Top Skills
C
C++
Dpdk
Ebpf
Flamegraphs
Icmp
Igmp
Io_Uring
Linux
Perf
Rust
Tcp
Tcpdump
Udp
Wireshark
Xdp
Similar Jobs
AdTech • Cloud • Digital Media • Information Technology • News + Entertainment • App development
The Cyber Security Manager leads NBCUniversal's Cyber Security strategy, engaging with key business leaders to manage security risks and oversee operational security efforts across various departments.
Top Skills:
Cyber SecurityInformation TechnologyMicrosoft Tools
AdTech • Cloud • Digital Media • Information Technology • News + Entertainment • App development
The Senior Engineering Project Manager leads engineering projects, ensuring alignment with business strategies while managing cross-functional teams and delivering solutions.
Top Skills:
MS OfficeMicrosoft ProjectPower BIPowerPointSmartsheets
Fintech • Information Technology • Insurance • Financial Services • Big Data Analytics
The consultant is responsible for developing and managing training programs for new hires, collaborating with business leaders, and improving service delivery through training and coaching.
What you need to know about the Los Angeles Tech Scene
Los Angeles is a global leader in entertainment, so it’s no surprise that many of the biggest players in streaming, digital media and game development call the city home. But the city boasts plenty of non-entertainment innovation as well, with tech companies spanning verticals like AI, fintech, e-commerce and biotech. With major universities like Caltech, UCLA, USC and the nearby UC Irvine, the city has a steady supply of top-flight tech and engineering talent — not counting the graduates flocking to Los Angeles from across the world to enjoy its beaches, culture and year-round temperate climate.
Key Facts About Los Angeles Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 375,800; 5.5% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Snap, Netflix, SpaceX, Disney, Google
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, adtech, media, software, game development
- Funding Landscape: $11.6 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Strong Ventures, Fifth Wall, Upfront Ventures, Mucker Capital, Kittyhawk Ventures
- Research Centers and Universities: California Institute of Technology, UCLA, University of Southern California, UC Irvine, Pepperdine, California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, Center for Quantum Science and Engineering
