Rust Developer Salary: How Much Do the Top-Paid Tech Experts Earn?

Despite new programming tools and technologies appearing frequently, only some of them become trendy and largely adopted by the tech community. Recently, Rust has emerged as a popular programming language with a huge potential for blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) development. 

Being one of the leading tech talent sourcing companies, we at Bridge were among the first to notice this trend. Another thing we noticed is that the Rust progammers’ salaries started growing exponentially, making it harder for companies to find and hire experts that will fit their budget. 

That’s why in this article we want to provide expert insights into the Rust developer salary landscape and offer a proven way to hire Rust programmers at a competitive cost.

The hidden value of Rust — why are companies ready to pay high to hire Rust developers?

Before discovering the average Rust developer’s salary, let’s find out why the Rust programming language is so hyped up, in the first place. 

• Rust is a modern alternative to C++. According to the Stack Overflow survey 2021, Rust has been the most beloved programming language for six years already. As for C++, it gradually loses its position, with only 49% of surveyed developers showing their commitment to C++. While Rust isn’t always the best and the only alternative to C++, at least in the developers’ opinion, this programming language is considered to be more performant, less buggy, and has a more elegant syntax compared to C++. In addition, Rust is easier to learn from scratch than C++. 
• Rust comes with improved security. Rust guarantees memory safety, making it harder for attackers to exploit security vulnerabilities. This can help businesses to protect sensitive data and prevent cyber-attacks.
• Rust promises increased performance. Rust is designed to be one of the fastest languages. And since Rust often outranks C++ in terms of performance and speed, companies are more eager to hire Rust developers — and pay good money to them. 
• Rust can be used to create various applications. Last but not least, Rust is a versatile programming language. It can be used to create web applications, develop operating systems and device drivers, design games, and build networking apps. But the main thing that makes Rust stand out is sure thing its security, which makes this language one of the top choices for blockchain solutions development. What’s more, it is a good match for developing machine learning (ML) libraries, while ML and blockchain make a powerful duo when combined. 

Given the advantages above, there is no surprise that Rust is on the rise and companies are willing to leverage the full potential of this programming language. Such companies as Google, Amazon, Dropbox, and Microsoft already use it for strengthening their security features. In their opinion, hiring Rust developers is a worth-making investment — even if the cost to hire them is high. 

Why do Rust developers expect higher salaries compared to other programmers?

As researched by Zip Recruiter, Rust developers are among the highest-paid programmers with an average salary of $125,500 per year. To find out why these professionals expect higher wages compared to their colleagues, we have closely monitored and carefully analyzed the trends in Rust development, defining three core factors that bring Rust programmers’ wages to sky-high levels. 

Rust developers shortage

The global tech job market is fluctuating. On the one hand, big companies are announcing massive layoffs. According to a report by Layoffs.fyi, a tracker of job losses in the tech sector, 503 tech companies have laid off 139,165 employees so far in 2023. Some of the biggest companies to announce massive layoffs include Amazon, Salesforce, Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft. 

At the same time, other companies are struggling with a tech talent shortage, claiming that their vacancies remain open for months or even years. Rust developers are also in short supply, which explains why companies are ready to pay higher for acquiring them. 

IT Workers Are the Real Unicorns or Tech Talent Shortage 2022

Blockchain and IoT growth

Another trend that triggers Rust developers’ salaries growth is the rising popularity of IoT and blockchain solutions, where Rust is a perfect fit. The IoT’s total annual revenue worldwide is projected to double from 2023 to 2026, reaching an unprecedented $425 billion. The blockchain global market size, on the other hand, is expected to hit $162 billion by 2027. 

As stated by Gartner, 47% of organizations plan to invest in IoT in the near future — therefore, hiring skilled software developers, including but not limited to Rust programmers becomes a priority in their to-do lists. Those prioritizing hiring top-notch talent are more likely to make Rust developers better offers, increasing the competition and leveling their salary ranges up. 

Highly-specific skill set

The thing is that while being less difficult to master compared to C++, Rust comes with a unique ownership and borrowing system, meaning that the developers should be able to handle memory allocation and deal with a borrower checker. The list of Rust developers’ skills also goes beyond writing code. Here are the core competencies these specialists should have: 

• Proficiency in Rust syntax
• Knowledge of Rust’s ownership and borrowing system
• Familiarity with Rust’s standard library
• Understanding of Rust’s concurrency model
• Experience with Rust development tools
• Knowledge of common Rust frameworks and libraries, such as Rocket, Actix, and Diesel
• Familiarity with web development

As you can see, the list of the must-have skills for entry-level Rust developers is already impressive. Furthermore, the more complex your project is, the longer the list of competencies becomes. So it’s safe to conclude that Rust developers’ salary is pretty much justified.

Now, how much do companies actually offer in exchange for having these specialists on board? Let’s take a look at several job descriptions and offered salary ranges. 

What companies expect from Rust developers — and what do they offer in exchange? 

Let’s review some sample job descriptions for Rust developers to better match the required skills with the offered wages, while also paying attention to the ways companies approach writing Rust programmers’ job descriptions. 

As we can see on the screenshot, a London-based company specializing in Bitcoin exchange is looking for a Rust developer. After some analysis, we may conclude that the company is using the services of a tech recruitment company. While the salary wage is considerably lower than the market average, we may also notice that the job description itself is somewhat generic. It specifies neither the necessary experience level nor the specific tasks the developer will deal with.

To create a job ad that will attract more candidates, our talent sourcing experts recommend getting started with presenting the employer, proceeding with the project’s specifics, listing the candidates’ main responsibilities in a concise manner, and highlighting the skills and competencies the companies expect to have. Concluding the job description with benefits and perks will also be a plus. 

Since the salary range is significantly lower than the market average, it is also necessary to justify why. For example, the company may be looking for a developer for a part-time job or open to considering entry-level specialists. Whatever the reason is, the job ads should specify it, and when you encounter offers like the one provided, it remains somewhat hard to conclude why the offer is different from the market average, and whether following the same practice will be suitable for your case.   

This remote Rust engineer position offers a significantly higher salary compared to the previous one and equals $176,842 per year. Like the previous example, this company also uses tech talent sourcing services but in this case, the job description sounds more profound. It lists the main responsibilities, and we also can notice that the company is looking for a highly-responsible person preferably with a background in the fintech industry. The only point it lacks is a detailed description of the skills and competencies required, which plays a crucial role when talking about winning applicants’ attention. 

If you also need help with hiring Rust developers, we can source them for you using our internal database. Instead of competing for the best candidates on job boards, share your job requisition with us and meet the perfect-fit Rust programmers in several days! 

Now, let’s compare the previous two posts with the one created by the employer specifically. As we can see, there’s no Rust engineer salary range specified, but the responsibilities of a Rust engineer, in this case, are described very precisely. And since the US-based company is open to considering global candidates, there is a probability that the actual salary will be tailored to the job market average the candidate comes from. 

At the same time, as stated by Indeed, the average Rust developer salary for a similar position is $107,000-135,000 per year in the Remote category. Feel like this figure is too high for your project budget? You are definitely not alone — but it’s not time to throw the towel yet!

Despite Rust developers being among the top-paid specialists, their actual salary will still depend on several factors, such as their seniority and location. So, let’s compare the figures and get an idea of what kind of budget you need to hire Rust programming specialists.

Average Rust developers’ salaries depending on their seniority in the US

First, let’s compare how the Rust developer salary in the US changes along with their professional growth.   

So, mastering the skill of Rust programming actually opens the way to higher salaries, even for entry-level specialists. The cost to hire Senior Rust specialists exceeds $130,000 annually making them one of the highest-paid programmers to date. But note, the numbers provided cover the market’s average, while project specifics may affect the candidate’s salary expectations.

Rust developers’ salary in different countries 

One of the main reasons why modern companies switch to global hiring is the opportunity to get the same value for a more reasonable price. Hiring Rust developers isn’t an exception, so let’s discover how Rust dev salary changes in different parts of the globe. 

So, the cost to hire Rust developers varies from $2000 per month in India to $10,000 in the USA. The gap is significant, right? So how can you choose the right location for hiring Rust programmers and match their salary expectations with your development budget? Bridge can help in this regard. 

Hire Rust developers at a competitive cost with Bridge

At Bridge, we are dedicated to matching your business with the right talent worldwide. Whether you are looking to hire Rust developers in the US, Mexico, or Romania, we can do all the heavy lifting of navigating local job markets, shortlisting suitable candidates, and pre-vetting them before suggesting them for your consideration. 

Our team has created a proprietary data-driven engine that allows our sourcers to find the required talent, based on their skills, experience, location, and salary expectations with ease. We have access to 900k developers from all over the world who are ready to get started with your project in days—not months. 

The cost to hire Rust developers becomes even more competitive with us. Thanks to our soucing-as-a-service you can save up to 60% of your hiring budget compared to hiring Rust developers on your own and getting engineers with the same level of expertise.

It’s also easy to get started with us: just fill out the contact form and get the first candidates for your opening in no more than five days!