Software Engineer (Contract)

Remote Type: Contract / Freelance Term: Approximately three months Want to be at the cutting edge of tech and government accountability work, while helping empower workers to speak up and out?

Interested in building a unique tech-for-good tool designed by leading engineers, including those at Berkman Klein’s Applied Social Media Lab?

This contract is for you!

About Psst…https://psst.org/ Psst is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization reimagining how people can safely speak out against concentrated power.

As the personal, professional, and legal risks of whistleblowing continue to grow, Psst builds collective structures that make it safer—and more effective—for individuals to raise concerns about wrongdoing in Silicon Valley, Washington DC, and beyond.

At the core of Psst’s approach is collectivising whistleblowing to reduce isolation and diffuse risk.

Through its secure repository, Psst Safe, tech and government insiders can confidentially record concerns—large or small—about abuses of power while protecting their identities.

Rather than requiring individuals to stand alone, Psst enables people to contribute to a shared body of information, where deposits can be analyzed together to identify patterns, strengthen claims, and support collective action.

When stories or legal pathways emerge, contributors can choose whether and how to participate, with legal, digital, and personal safety measures prioritized at every step.

Beyond Psst Safe, Psst provides hands-on support across the whistleblowing journey.

Psst Protect offers direct guidance and resources for individuals considering more traditional disclosure routes.

Psst Story helps people organize, contextualize, and publish information— either independently or in partnership with journalists.

Through Psst Advocate, Psst works to ensure disclosures lead to sustained accountability and structural change, rather than fleeting attention.

Psst is built on the belief that speaking out should not require extraordinary personal sacrifice.

By combining collective infrastructure with individualized care, Psst strengthens the ability of the public to understand and challenge powerful institutions.

Psst is seeking a highly skilled and motivated Software Engineer to oversee the next generation build of the Psst Safe.

Development specs, based on prototypes developed by Berkman Klein’s ASML and opsec expert Micah Lee, include applications leveraging hardware-based trusted execution environments (TEE), improved authentication process for depositors, and an improved user interface.

The Safe utilizes the open source Hush Line platform.

• Develop secure software system utilizing secure enclave technologies, such as Intel SGX, TD, AWS Enclaves, confidential containers or secure library OS.
• Write reliable and well-tested code.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate features into Safe platform.
• Research and prototype solutions that leverage trusted computing environments.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of secure software, protocols, and hosting environments.
• Document technical designs, architecture decisions, and code effectively. Required technical skillset:
• Proficiency in Rust or C++ with a strong understanding of systems programming concepts.
• Familiarity with private, attested software development for Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), Intel SGX and TDX, AWS Nitro Enclaves, Azure or Google Confidential Computing, or a demonstrated ability to quickly learn new low-level technologies.
• Experience with secure software development practices and principles.
• Solid understanding of memory management, concurrency, and performance optimization.
• Comfortable contributing to open source projects. Preferred skills and hardware:
• Experience with private, attested software development for Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), Intel SGX and TDX, AWS Nitro Enclaves, Azure or Google Confidential Computing.
• Knowledge of cryptographic primitives and secure protocol design.
• Familiarity with Linux development environments and toolchains.
• Proficiency in Python.
• Contributions to open source projects related to security or systems programming.
• Access to hardware for SGX build: https://github.com/ayeks/SGX- hardware?tab=readme-ov-file#sgx-hardware-list Application Process:
• Please send a CV and information around daily rate expectations and the number of hours available per week for this project, to [email protected]. We are looking to fill the process as soon as possible and will review applications on a rolling basis.