Wordware is an IDE for building AI agents using natural language.

It looks and feels like Notion, but lets you design, test, and deploy AI systems in real time - without writing code.

Our mission is to bring structure and joy to human–AI collaboration.

We’re building a generational company that empowers the next billion knowledge workers to create with AI - not by writing code, but by expressing intent.

We’re backed by Spark Capital, Felicis, and Y Combinator ($30M seed round - the largest in YC history).

We work hard, move fast, and don’t take ourselves too seriously. It’s intense, but it’s also fun - at Wordware, you’ll do the best work of your life alongside people you genuinely like.

what’s it going to be like

in Shackleton's famous words: “people wanted for hazardous journey. low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. safe return doubtful. honour and recognition in the event of success.”

risk + excitement + hard work = startup life

sure, you could join a big company and make big money, but there's something about that constant thrill of hope, that addictive energy that makes us keep coming back to startups 😵‍💫

to thrive here, you need to embrace our delulu universe, where victories give us hope and failures make us want it even more. yes, it can be intense, but you'll have direct impact on everything we build.

you're ready to roll up your sleeves, identify your own features to build and find your own problems to solve? grab a beer and a slice of pizza. let's build the future of AI development together.

who thrives here:

we're not just looking for technical skills. we need people who push limits in life, whether that's:

• skiing down a gnarly double black diamond
• speaking in front of crowds
• starting companies
• pushing through fear
• tackling impossible problems

building a company trying to define a market takes a certain type of person:

• you stay cool when everything's on fire
• you take smart risks (and learn from dumb ones)
• you adapt fast when plans explode
• you have the grit to power through setbacks
• you see obstacles as puzzles to solve

if you've ever looked at something terrifying and the first thought that comes is "LFG" - we should talk. at wordware, we're redefining how the world builds with ai. it's scary, exciting, and we are delusional

p.s. yes we have crossbow competitions and do sauna+cold plunges in the sea together

don't see your role? apply anyway

tl;dr if you're exceptional, we'll create a role for you. simple as that.

how to stand out:

• build something cool with wordware and, even better, join our discord server to show us
• show us how to improve our product before we even talk
• prove you're proactive (we're really busy!)

if you're truly excellent, just drop your linkedin to lucy [at] wordware.ai

ps: seriously, if you're great at what you do but don't fit the roles above, reach out anyway. we're always looking for exceptional people who get what we're building.

pps: we judge you on what you build, not when you build it. weekends are sacred, burnout is stupid. we're looking for people who want to create something generational and know when to push hard and when to recharge.

⚠️ Please read first

• This is a full-time, in-person role based in San Francisco (Presidio) - we work from the office 5 days a week.

• You must be based in the Bay Area or willing to relocate before starting.

• We require US work authorisation , but are open to O-1 visa sponsorship for truly exceptional candidates.

About Wordware

Wordware is an IDE for building AI agents using natural language.

It looks and feels like Notion, but lets you design, test, and deploy AI systems in real time - without writing code.

Our mission is to bring structure and joy to human–AI collaboration.

We’re building a generational company that empowers the next billion knowledge workers to create with AI - not by writing code, but by expressing intent.

We’re backed by Spark Capital, Felicis, and Y Combinator ($30M seed round - the largest in YC history).

We work hard, move fast, and don’t take ourselves too seriously. It’s intense, but it’s also fun - at Wordware, you’ll do the best work of your life alongside people you genuinely like.

Backend Engineer

What You’ll Do

You’ll design, build, and scale the backend systems that power Wordware — from real-time execution infrastructure to LLM orchestration and API integrations.

We’re still a small team, and the product is early — you won’t just be optimizing endpoints; you’ll help shape the foundation of the platform and how AI is built for the next decade.

Here are a few examples of the kinds of things you might work on:

• Extend our executor: the runtime that turns natural language into live, traceable, long-running agent workflows — with pause/resume, retries, and real-time responsiveness.

• Contribute to the Wordware programming language — our internal DSL for expressing logic, control flow, and agent interactions in plain English.

• Design infrastructure for running thousands of concurrent AI agents, scaling from zero to high traffic in seconds.

• Integrate external APIs like Slack, Notion, and Google Sheets — handling schema validation, error handling, and auth flows.

• ${your ideas}.

Stack

Node.js, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Cloudflare Workers, Durable Objects, Redis.

Who You Are

Minimum

• You have 4+ years of engineering experience , with a strong track record of shipping production systems.

• You’re fluent in TypeScript or Node.js , and have experience designing and maintaining APIs, databases, and infrastructure.

• You’ve built systems that scale and know how to handle load, retries, and observability in the real world.

• You have a deep understanding of SQL — not just queries, but schema design, migrations, and performance tuning.

• You’re comfortable with ambiguity , unblock yourself, and make thoughtful architecture decisions quickly.

• You thrive in a fast-paced, high-trust startup environment and enjoy owning complex technical challenges.

Bonus (but not required)

• You’ve worked on execution engines, compilers, or custom DSLs.

• You’ve built or manipulated ASTs , interpreters, or schema-based transformation pipelines.

• You’ve worked with Cloudflare Workers, Durable Objects, or other serverless compute platforms.

• You’ve integrated deeply with third-party APIs and built robust systems around external failures.

• You’ve been a founder or early team member and know what it means to build under pressure.

The Process

We keep our process simple. Exceptional candidates go from first touch to offer within 2 weeks.

1. Application

2. 15-minute intro call

3. 45-minute technical interview

4. System design interview

5. Final conversation

6. Work trial

• Full-stack Typescript, Next.js, React and SST serverless on AWS/Cloudflare
• Using TipTap as the core of our IDE with Y.js for collaboration
• PartyKit (Cloudflare Durable Objects) for Y.js websockets and likely for future orchestration of pipelines
• Open source LLMs hosted by Together AI (we’re a customer story on their website) + Groq + OpenAI/Anthropic/Mistral/Google/Cohere/Perplexity for proprietary LLMs