How to hire freelance Rust developers in 2025

Introduced in 2012, the Rust programming language quickly won a passionate following among early adopters. The successful deployment of many software solutions written with the language has led to higher demand for Rust developers.

What Rust Developers Do?

Naturally, the heart of a Rust developer’s mission is writing code in the Rust language. Rust hits a sweet spot among programming languages. It preserves many of the virtues of C++ while liberating developers from onerous memory management chores. This memory safety is a boon for end users. Applications compiled in Rust present a smaller attack surface to cybercriminals.

Rust’s compiled code runs nearly as fast as C++ and much quicker than Java. Rust squeezes maximum performance out of hardware, making it ideal for the fast-growing Internet of Things market. The language also shines for applications that work with massive databases. As systems administrators have discovered Rust’s virtues, demand for top Rust developers has grown. SlashData reports that Rust adoption tripled from 2020 to 2022.

How To Hire Rust Developers

Hiring a remote worker allows your business to tap worldwide developer talent. The options for your hiring process fall into three categories:

• Full-Time: With a full-time hire, you gain exclusive access to a developer’s services. To retain the best Rust developers, you will need to offer a competitive benefits package on top of salary. With a full-time employee, your business will likely need to handle income tax withholding.
• Part-Time: If your business needs occasional programming advice on short notice, hiring a consultant on a part-time basis is a cost-efficient solution. With this arrangement, a well-defined non-compete clause is essential in the employment contract.
• Freelance: When you need to hire Rust developers and you need flexibility, tapping the freelance pool solves the problem. Worldwide (not only in the Silicon Valley), freelancers run the gamut from computer science students to systems engineers with a half-century of experience. Typically, freelancers handle health insurance and income tax issues by themselves.

While freelancers and consultants typically quote an hourly rate, this number usually applies to the estimated time necessary to achieve a programming milestone — a defined task for an application. The back-and-forth process of setting these milestones lets the company andthe remote rust developer set interim fees for the duration of a project.

What Skills To Seek When Hiring Rust Developers

Rust is a computer language that works in harmony with other programming languages. This feature has helped drive Rust’s recent growth spurt, and you may need a Rust programmer with extensive knowledge of other languages.

Nearly every Rust developer has command of C++, JavaScript, MySQL and Node.js. One of the sources of Rust’s recent momentum is refactoring existing Java code into Rust. This conversion process sometimes slashes execution time by as much as 90%. If your business aims to take advantage of this capability, you will want to hire a Rust developer with strong Java skills.

Here are a few other factors to consider:

• For server-side projects, look for proficiency in MySQL databases.
• With IoT projects, look for proven experience in writing compact code for embedded systems.
• If your project needs multiple front-end Rust developers, ensure that all members have proficiency with your preferred programming framework.
• Does the developer have experience working with a project manager or he can self manage

The Cost To Hire Rust Developers

In its 2021 survey of United States and United Kingdom developers, O’Reilly found salaries for full-time Rust developers ranging from $100,000 to $150,000. For remote Rust developers, ZipRecruiter pegs average annual pay at $124,000, just under $60 per hour.

Thanks to the language’s recent surge and a scarcity of developers, Rust coders are among the highest paid of all developers. If your business has recently hired PHP, Ruby or Python developers, expect to pay at least 20% more to land comparable Rust talent.

Choosing the Right Site To Hire Rust Developers for Your Project

With so many hiring sites and a bevy of developers with varied skill sets, plucking the needle from this haystack may seem overwhelming. Some common sense steps will bring focus to your search.

Hiring a Rust developer empowers your business to harness two valuable advantages of the language. First, a Rust application’s execution speed makes for responsive applications. Snappy performance gives your application a measurable competitive advantage.

Second, Rust yields highly secure code, making it far less likely that your business’s name will become associated with a high-profile cyber breach. Considering these practical advantages, it pays to hire a top Rust developer before your competitor does.

Things To Consider Before Hiring

• Understand Rust’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Nail down your budget.
• Formulate a vision of your software’s use case.

How To Find Great Freelance Rust Developers

Our top 15 list comprises sites with solutions for a variety of programming missions and budgets. With several sites, you’ll work with a program coordinator, while others will put you in direct communication with developers. If your programming task requires a managed team, working with a coordinator makes enormous sense.

Conversely, if your business faces a narrow and well-defined task, working directly with a single remote developer is the way to go. This approach is more cost-efficient and makes it easier to hit interim milestones. Every programming situation is unique, but here are basic principles to follow:

• Eliminate sites that exceed your budget.
• Build a required skill set list for developer candidates.
• Define a bi-weekly milestone list for the project’s duration.

Using our top 15 list as a starting point, you can hire Rust developers able to deliver a compact, fast and secure software solution.