Senior Developer (Fully Remote)

Senior C++ Developer Permanent | Fully Remote | Negotiable Salary + Significant Equity From Oxford research to securing the connected world Nine years ago, a small UK technology team working alongside researchers at the University of Oxford set out to solve a problem most of the world didn’t yet realise it had. Billions of machines were beginning to talk to each other — across factories, power grids, transport systems, defence networks and smart cities. But much of that communication depended on architectures built for a different era: centralised, vulnerable and increasingly exposed. So they built something different. Today, the company holds patented cryptographic technology that enables fully decentralised, post-quantum secure interoperability between devices — operating at the edge without relying on always-on central connectivity. It can operate across untrusted environments, enable real-time communication and support narrow AI across full-scale industrial systems. What started with academic research has evolved into commercially relevant security technology with the potential for global application. Now the team is growing again, and we are looking for two exceptional Senior C++ Developers who can operate where this technology really lives — deep in the network stack. The Role: Where Packets Become Trust This isn't application-layer C++. It isn't framework-driven development. This is low-level, network-centric C and C++ engineering, working primarily around OSI Layers 2 and 3, where packet behaviour, routing decisions and tunnelling strategies determine whether distributed systems can communicate securely at scale. You'll design and build technology intended ultimately to operate across millions of industrial edge devices, enabling secure cloud-to-edge communication, device-to-device authentication, decentralised routing and interoperability, secure communication across potentially untrusted networks, and robust deployment and configuration for edge environments. You'll be close enough to the technology to influence how it develops — shaping architecture, solving complex networking problems and contributing to security infrastructure that could eventually underpin critical systems around the world. And because this remains a relatively small, specialist engineering team, your contribution won't disappear into a huge development organisation. You'll see the impact of what you build. What the Director of Engineering Needs in This Role This is a tall order — intentionally so. First and foremost, you must have genuine depth in network programming with C and C++. We're particularly interested in engineers with strong working knowledge of Layer 3 OSI protocols, low-level packet analysis and routing, OSPF, TAP/TUN devices and UDP tunnelling, UDP hole punching and STUN technologies, IPTables and packet routing strategies, code threading and multitasking, IPC and shared-memory communication, and Linux kernel-level development. You'll ideally also be comfortable with several of the following areas: compilers and static libraries, cross-compiling and porting across iOS, Android, Windows and Linux, containerised microservices using Docker and Kubernetes, CI/CD and GitLab environments, distributed cloud platforms including AWS, Azure and OVH, and development environments including VS Code, GitLab and Nexus. We don't expect one person to tick every box. What we do need is someone who can demonstrate a high level of competence in networking, packet routing and packet analysis, together with meaningful experience across at least three or four of the areas above. That networking foundation is important. Without it, the learning curve into the technology will simply be too steep. The Kind of Engineer Who Will Thrive Here You'll probably have 10+ years' experience designing, architecting and developing sophisticated C++ systems, although depth of expertise matters more than an arbitrary number. You'll be comfortable operating in Linux environments, including Debian, CentOS and embedded variants, and ideally understand symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, hashing and secure distributed systems. More importantly, you'll be someone who enjoys getting underneath a problem. Someone who wants to understand what is actually happening to the packet, rather than simply calling an abstraction several layers above it. You'll document clearly, automate where it makes sense, challenge assumptions constructively and be comfortable working in an environment where engineers are expected to think rather than simply execute tickets. Previous start-up, IoT, edge computing, GPU/AI or blockchain experience would be useful, but isn't essential. Why This Matters Nine years in, this is no longer an academic experiment. It isn't a concept. It isn't a slide deck. And it isn't another IoT start-up promising to change the world with an idea. There is patented technology, years of engineering behind it and a platform being prepared for much wider adoption. The next stage is about scale. The successful engineers won't simply be writing C++ code. They'll be helping determine how machines authenticate, communicate and establish trust across industrial systems, critical infrastructure and other highly secure environments. You'll receive a competitive base salary plus significant equity, reflecting the opportunity to join at a stage where your contribution can still materially influence both the technology and the company's future. The role is permanent and fully remote. If you're a serious low-level C++ engineer who understands packets, routing, tunnelling and network behaviour — and the idea of taking technology from Oxford research roots towards global security infrastructure sounds more interesting than another conventional development role — I'd like to hear from you. Edison Hill Search are operating and advertising as an Employment Agency for permanent positions and as an Employment Business for interim / contract / temporary positions. Edison Hill Search are an Equal Opportunities employer and we encourage applicants from all backgrounds