Rust Backend Engineer (Ibadan Nigeria)

Job Title: Rust Backend Engineer (Ibadan Nigeria)Location: Ibadan, Nigeria (Hybrid)About UsWe're on a mission to build a time tracker that people actually love to use.Forget the slow, bloated, "creepy" surveillance software. We are building the "anti-TimeDoctor"—a tool built on trust and speed. We're a bootstrapped, product-led startup building a lightweight, fast, and beautiful app that helps agencies, lawyers, and freelancers bill their clients accurately.We have made a deliberate choice to build our entire backend in Rust. We believe reliability, memory safety, and raw performance are not just features; they are our foundation. We are building a system that will be blazing fast, handle massive concurrency, and will not crash.This is a rare opportunity to be one of our first two engineers, architecting the entire backend from the ground up as part of a pure Rust stack (a Rust backend with a Rust-based Tauri desktop client).What You'll Be DoingBuild the Core API: You will architect, build, and maintain our high-performance, memory-safe API using Rust.Handle High Concurrency: This is the core of the job. You will use async/await and a modern framework (like axum, actix-web, or tokio) to handle thousands of simultaneous connections from our desktop clients flawlessly.Embrace "Fearless Concurrency": You will write code that is free from data races and safe by default, ensuring our users' time data is always processed with perfect integrity.Own the Database: You will design our PostgreSQL database schema and use a Rust-native library (like sqlx or sea-orm) to write efficient, type-safe queries.Manage Authentication & Billing: You'll build the secure systems for user authentication and integrate with payment processors like Stripe.Collaborate & Define: You will work directly with the founder and our frontend (Svelte/Tauri) engineer to define API contracts and shape the product's technical roadmap.We're Looking For Someone WhoLoves Rust: You have professional or significant personal project experience in Rust. You can show us code you've written and are proud of.Understands Rust's Core: You are comfortable with Rust's key concepts: ownership, borrowing, lifetimes, and traits.Is an async Expert: You have experience building asynchronous applications in Rust, ideally with tokio.Is a Backend Generalist: You are a product-minded engineer who can take an idea, architect a solution, and build it, from the database to the API endpoint.Cares About Reliability: You're the kind of person who believes in the compiler and thinks that a bug is a failure of the type system, not just a mistake.Bonus Points (We'll Be Really Excited If You)Have contributed to open-source Rust projects or crates.Have strong experience with axum, sqlx, or sea-orm.You embrace AI tools such as Claude Code + Cursor.Have tinkered with Tauri and can collaborate with our frontend engineer on the Rust side of the desktop app.Have experience building and scaling high-concurrency, real-time systems.Have a strong opinion on Rust's web framework ecosystem.Why You'll Love Working With UsUse Rust. Every. Single. Day. This is not a side project. This is a 100% Rust-first company.Build a "Pure Rust" Stack: You'll be working on a Rust backend that communicates with a Rust-based Tauri desktop client. It's the stack you've been dreaming of.Build From Scratch: No legacy code, no C++ bindings (unless you want to), no technical debt. You will build it right from day one.Solve a Hard, Rewarding Problem: High-concurrency is a perfect problem domain for Rust. You will get to use the language to its full potential.Massive Impact: You are not a cog in a machine. As a founding engineer, your work will define the technical foundation of the company for the next 10 years.Flexible & Focused Team: We're a small, hybrid team based in Ibadan. No bureaucracy, no pointless meetings. Just building.How To ApplyYour CV or a link to your LinkedIn.A link to your GitHub or any project you've built in Rust.please briefly tell us why you believe Rust is the right choice for a high-concurrency backend.