Bottom line: Microsoft is increasing the company-wide effort to adopt Rust as a first-class citizen for internal software development. A new job offering would be perfect for Rust experts interested in converting large amounts of C# code to the newer, memory-safe programming paradigm.
According to a recently posted job offering for a position at its Prague-based offices, Microsoft is looking to hire a Principal Software Architect for the Microsoft 365 platform. The ideal candidate is proficient in both C# and Rust, the posting states, and has experience in shipping "large scale," high-volume services. Their main duty involves adopting the Rust programming language as a new foundation for the core M365 organization known as the Substrate App Platform (SAP).
The SAP group is responsible for writing the code Microsoft's cloud services run on, which means that Redmond has decided to accelerate its previously announced Rust adoption initiative. The company is forming a new team focused on making the language the foundation of a modernization effort for its "global scale platform services" and beyond, the job offering says.
The Rust expert will have significant responsibilities within the SAP group, including technical guidance, design and implementation of Rust libraries, SDKs, and more. According to Microsoft, this highly-skilled engineer will also need to converse with stakeholders and senior managers, as they will have to understand the company's business needs beyond the technical challenges.
Rust is a recent, general-purpose programming language created by software developer Graydon Hoare as a personal project while he was working at Mozilla. Programs written in Rust can provide higher protection levels against memory-related bugs and security vulnerabilities, with entire classes of dangerous flaws eradicated during binary code compilation.
Initially released in 2015, Rust is growing in popularity among major technology companies. Linus Torvalds accepted Rust code into the Linux kernel, and Google started using the language within the Chromium project. Microsoft began rewriting important parts of Windows in Rust in 2020, bringing additional security and even noticeable performance improvements to the decades-old patchwork of different code languages that is Windows.
Microsoft is also a founding member of the Rust Foundation, a non-profit organization which includes the likes of Amazon, Huawei, Google, and Mozilla. Before leaving room for the new kid on the programming block, the C# language was designed by Turbo Pascal original creator and Microsoft employee Anders Hejlsberg in 2000.
