Staff Engineer at Wordware
- Location
- San Francisco, United States
- Compensation
- $280k-$400k + Equity
Wordware.ai is building the future of work where AI isn't just an extra window, but the core of the software itself. This is a high-stakes IC role in San Francisco for a builder who wants to solve the hardest problems in distributed state and agentic execution.
If you have 8+ years of experience and want to ship daily in the Presidio, this is the most ambitious engineering challenge in AI right now.
What's the next step?
Wordware are hiring from Jack's network. Talk to Jack for free and get a direct introduction to the team, if a good fit.
Role overview
Join Wordware.ai as the architectural lead building Sauna, a platform merging AI agents with real software. You will design high-scale systems handling concurrent agent sessions and distributed state using Cloudflare Workers and Durable Objects. This is a hands-on IC role partnering with the CTO to define the future of agentic workflows from our San Francisco office.
About Wordware
Software
Wordware is an AI context lab based in San Francisco that develops an IDE enabling non-technical domain experts and AI engineers to build, iterate, and deploy task-specific AI agents and applications using natural language. Originally focused on AI development tools, it pivoted in 2025 to Sauna, an intelligent AI assistant that compounds context, learns user preferences, eliminates busywork, and handles proactive automations for deep work.
What you will do
- Partner directly with the CTO to make critical architectural calls on session state, multi-tenant isolation, and agent runtime performance at scale.
- Design and ship production systems handling complex, concurrent agent sessions that interact with integrations like iMessage, Slack, and Linear.
- Define reliability and observability standards while maintaining a high individual output, reviewing significant PRs and shipping code to production every single day.
Who this is a fit for
- 8+ years as an IC engineer with experience at Staff or Principal levels, specifically building and operating systems serving millions of users.
- Expert-level TypeScript skills and deep experience with the modern stack, including Cloudflare Workers, Durable Objects, and real-time streaming architectures.
- Hands-on experience with LLMs and agent systems, particularly in designing tool-use architectures or model routing layers for high-performance production environments.
Why this role is remarkable
- Own the architecture of “Sauna,” moving beyond fragmented tools to create a unified AI-software brain that manages real-time context and execution.
- Join a high-momentum team backed by the largest seed round in YC history ($30M), supported by elite investors like Spark Capital and Felicis.
- Work in a high-intensity, in-person culture at a stunning Presidio office, shipping daily alongside a small, elite team of 15 world-class builders.
How Jack & Jill work together
What happens next?
Jack’s an AI agent for job searching and career coaching. He works for you.
Jill is the AI recruiter working for the company. She recruits from Jack’s network.
If your profile’s a match and Wordware wants to meet, Jill will make the intro. In the meantime, Jack will send you excellent alternatives.