Founding Engineer (Fullstack)

Since launching, Onlook hit #1 on Hacker News, was the #1 trending repo on GitHub—above DeepSeek + Anthropic—and has earned over 19,000 GitHub stars. We’re looking to bring on Onlook’s first Founding Engineer. You’re a full-stack engineer who is ready to build a generational design-led company.

This role requires autonomy - you’ll be setting standards for one of the fastest-growing open source projects backed by YC ever. You’ll help design and build an uncompromising visual IDE loved by tens of thousands of designers and engineers around the world.

The most important things we look for:

• Olympic-level dedication – you want to be the best in the world at what you do.
• Ownership – you like autonomy and control over the destiny of the company.
• Speed – you’re comfortable shipping and iterating quickly with feedback.
• Craft – you’re opinionated and are willing to defend your opinions.

Ideally, you:

• Are looking for a fast-paced, intense startup environment.
• Are willing to put in long hours and go the extra mile.
• Are comfortable with any part of the stack, front-end, back-end, or database.
• Believe in open source and are ok with your work being very public.

If you’d like to stand out, please share a project or piece of work that you’re most proud of. We love seeing people’s work.

Working at Onlook

We’re based in San Francisco, the startup capital of the world, and work closely together in person. Your day-to-day involves working directly with the founders on implementing state-of-the-art techniques for code generation, collaborating with over 80 contributors across the world, answering user feedback, etc. You’ll be working across various parts of the stack and taking full ownership over large projects or features.

We have a very cool office near South Park – it has ultra tall ceilings, tons of natural light, great restaurants and groceries stores just a block away, a full-kitchen, and even a shower. Employees get bespoke black bomber jackets with the Onlook crest embroidered on them, their own standing desk, monitor, budget for tech, and more.

You must be willing to move to San Francisco if you are not already here.

Onlook’s values are a reflection of our founding team and the cultures of the companies we’ve come from. Speed, technical excellence, brand, and attention to detail are what uniquely set Onlook apart.

• Two separate 30 minute to 1 hour screening calls – one for each of the founders.
• We’ll ask for two references for people you’ve worked with or reported to.
• 1-5 day paid work trial or invitation to open-source contribution.
• Offer or rejection within the week following the work trial.