Framework Engineer at Wasp
.wasp
USD 80k-110k / year + Equity
Posted 6+ months ago
Framework Engineer at Wasp
$80k - $110k / 0.25-0.75% / Remote [GMT - 5, GMT + 3]
Hi! We are Martin and Matija, founders of Wasp - a next-generation, compiler-driven full-stack web framework. Wasp is currently in Beta - it has ~14,000 stars on GitHub and is being used by both startups and Fortune 500 companies to build and deploy web apps.
We were part of Y Combinator in 2021 and raised funds from top US & EU deep tech funds and early engineers from Facebook, Twitter, and Airbnb. We raised our first round post-YC in 2021, and more details on the most recent funding will be public soon.
We are a team of 6 and are looking to expand our team with strong, driven engineers!
TL;DR
build the future of web app development while working on a wide range of exciting topics (FE/BE/Infra, DSL design, compiler development, functional programming, ...)
work alongside experienced ex-Google and Palantir engineers and experience first-hand all aspects of building and growing a deep-tech, developer-first company
play a key role in shaping our engineering-first culture, establishing best development practices, and contributing to future hiring decisions
have fun while doing what you love (which is, of course, programming)
you are: an experienced generalist with web dev experience who is passionate about their work and wants the impact and flexibility of working in a startup
Although our Wasp compiler is written in Haskell, it's not a problem if you haven't used Haskell yet (but definitely cool if you have!). Since Wasp exists on top of several OSS projects, we put a much bigger focus on your general and web dev experience and ability to learn new technologies and concepts and to adapt quickly. Haskell is just one of the tools we use. We are followers of the Boring Haskell Manifesto and believe that an experienced engineer can become fully productive in our Haskell codebase within three months.
Come build the future of web development with us!
At Wasp, we are building the next generation of web development technology - a compiled, stack-agnostic framework/DSL for implementing full-stack web apps that interop with the existing stack (React & Node.js currently). Imagine Ruby on Rails or Laravel but not bound to the specific stack or architecture.
If you're passionate about software engineering and creating open-source technology with the potential to fundamentally impact web development, keep reading!
We are hiring only a few people at this stage, but they will be absolutely the best. We don’t believe where you live should determine your compensation, and we are paying international salary and equity rates.
The product
Based on our experiences of building complex web app platforms in different industries (fintech, biotech, edtech), we realized there is a huge need for an easier way to develop and maintain such apps. We asked ourselves: “What is the web development of the future going to look like?” and the answer was “A higher-level, stack agnostic framework, built from the ground up!”. We wanted to separate the high-level specification of a web app from the implementation: you would describe the high-level of the web app in a specialized DSL while implementing the details in the technology of your choice (e.g. React, Node, Prisma, …).
This is why we created Wasp, which is currently in Beta. Wasp has amassed over 13,000 stars on GitHub (and its SaaS starter, Open SaaS, another 8,000). It is being used by developers across the board (solo builders, startups, and Fortune 500 companies) to develop and deploy their SaaS-es and internal tools.
Having successfully launched Beta and grown Wasp from a niche, experimental stage to a full-blown solution that was one of the fastest growing full-stack frameworks in 2023 (ahead of Remix and Qwik), we’re now looking to expand our team and release 1.0 within the next year.
Key responsibilities
As a core team member, you'll collaborate closely with the founders to establish the foundations of our team and engineering culture. You'll take ownership of the product roadmap and help steer the company's direction alongside us.
You will work on every part of Wasp, especially the CLI/compiler (Haskell) and the code it generates (TypeScript) (don’t worry if you don’t know Haskell yet! We are following the Boring Haskell manifesto and you’ll catch up quickly).
You will incorporate and use the latest web app development practices and use the cutting-edge stack to do it - React, Node.js, TypeScript/Javascript, Vite, Docker, Prisma, Postgres, etc. And once the cutting edge becomes something new, you will be working on it too, since Wasp will always advance together with the web dev ecosystem.
You will engage with and support our Discord community, collaborate with OSS contributors, present your work, and become a thought leader (if you wish) in the new era of web development.
To summarise: you will be working together with us on mostly everything :): programming, brainstorming, creating, leading, and having great fun while doing it.
Who are we looking for
You are an experienced (5+ years) general/full-stack engineer who feels comfortable building production-ready systems but is also not afraid of tackling more foundational Comp Sci problems (e.g., building a compiler).
You have significant web dev experience and have experienced first-hand the pain of web and distributed systems development. The bonus is having experience with battery-included web frameworks like RoR / Laravel / Django and/or modern JS web dev technologies like NextJS, Remix, Svelte,…
You are passionate about the code you write - for you it is not just work, it is a craft.
You mentored engineers & peer-reviewed code.
You are curious about how things work, enjoy looking under the hood, and are not afraid to challenge the existing solutions.
You are proactive, a self-starter, and love taking initiative.
You could go work for Google or Facebook but want the impact and flexibility of a startup.
Why you should join Wasp
Besides the typical benefits of working at a startup (flexibility, sense of ownership, impact, high equity compensation, rapid learning curve, and exposure to all parts of building a company), working at Wasp is different from the majority of the opportunities out there for engineers. You will get an opportunity to:
Design the future of web development while tackling foundational engineering problems such as building a compiler and defining abstractions of modern web app development (and asking yourself, on a daily basis, cool questions like: “What is really a web app?”)
Work with top-tier engineers from Google and Palantir (us :D), constantly learn from each other, and co-design our engineering-first culture.
Use and employ the cutting-edge stack - from compiler and web application to deployment and testing suite.
Create a product that you can immediately use yourself - we are engineers, and we are building a product for other engineers. Grow our community together with us and immediately get feedback on the features you release.
Contribute to OSS and collaborate with engineers from around the world. Put your name on the technology that will be used daily by millions of engineers to come.
Other than the solution we are building, we see our workplace and culture as another product of our company. We want to create an environment for engineers to continually grow, hone their craft, and feel proud of their work. We believe engineering is an art applied to practice and we treat it as such. Although a startup, we care a lot about clean code and treat software engineering as a craft. For us, it is not just work or a tool - it is a passion.
Who we are
The founders
We are twin brothers (Matija being older! :D), computer scientists, software engineers, and ex-algorithmic competitors. We worked in places from SF, New York, Zurich, and London to Singapore - from developing and publishing research papers on OSS bioinformatics algorithms and engineering at Google and Palantir to founding/leading teams at startups. Wasp is the second company we started together.
To give you a better image of our team and mentality, here is our very modest selection of the coolest facts about us :
Fun facts about us
The team
Location
The team operates fully remotely, with Discord being the main means of communication. We have a small office in Zagreb, Croatia where a few of us happen to be from and you are welcome to visit whenever. We are hiring in a time range of GMT - 5 to GMT + 3.
We'd love to meet you
If all this sounds fun and what we are doing resonates with you, reach out at founders@wasp-lang.dev. We would love to meet you!