Open Source Engineer
Firecrawl is looking for a high-agency engineer to own our open source work. That starts with the main Firecrawl repo (180k+ stars and counting, top 50 repositories of all time), which should stay the easiest thing in the category to self-host. It extends to the context primitives we're open sourcing now, starting with anydoc, our document parsing engine. You'll keep the core repo healthy and growing, build out the primitives, and think about what makes each one spread on its own.
This is not a developer relations role. We want an engineer who ships the code, reviews the PRs, and makes the repos better every week. Community instincts help, but engineering quality, shipping velocity, and a track record of work people actually use matter most.
Salary Range: $235,000–$260,000 USD/year (SF) / $217,000–$233,000 CAD/year (Toronto)
Equity Range: Competitive equity. Details shared during the process.
Location: San Francisco, CA (SF HQ) or Toronto, ON (Toronto Hub). On-site, five days a week.
Job Type: Full-Time
Experience: 5+ years
Work Authorization: Must be authorized to work in the United States or Canada. We're not able to sponsor US visas right now. For Canada, we'll consider sponsorship on a case-by-case basis through our Toronto Hub.
About Firecrawl
Firecrawl is the easiest way to turn the web into data AI agents can use. One API call converts any URL into clean, LLM-ready markdown or structured data. It's the boring-hard problem everyone building with LLMs eventually hits, solved.
We hit 8 figures in ARR in year one and more than doubled it in year two. We have 180k+ GitHub stars, putting us in the top 50 repositories of all time, and developers, agents, and category-defining AI companies build on us every day. Growth like this is rare, and we're just getting started.
We're a small team punching far above our weight, working out of SF HQ and our new Toronto Hub. Everyone here owns a real piece of the product and company, end to end, and runs it themselves. No hiding behind process or headcount.
This is a place for people who want to work at the frontier: an AI company building the infrastructure other AI companies run on, not one bolting AI onto an existing product. We move fast, go deep, and are building the tools superintelligence will rely on to gather data from the web.
What You'll Do
Own the main Firecrawl repo end to end: triage issues, review PRs, cut releases, write docs
Keep the self-host experience easy: clone it, run it, keep it running, no surprises
Build out new context primitives, starting with anydoc, our document parsing engine
Make the calls on scope and API design for what belongs in a primitive and what doesn't
Think about what makes an open source project spread on its own, and build toward that
Ship code and review PRs every week. This is an engineering seat, not a community seat
What We're Looking For
A real open source track record: maintaining a popular repo, or landing significant contributions to one
You care about the self-host experience and know what makes a repo easy to clone, run, and keep running
Comfortable owning a repo end to end, from triaging issues and reviewing PRs to cutting releases and writing docs
You've built parsers, crawlers, browser tooling, or developer libraries, and have taste in what belongs in a primitive and what doesn't
You understand how open source turns into adoption and pay attention to why some projects take off
High agency. Happy to make calls on scope, API design, and what gets merged
Often a maintainer, ex-founder, early startup engineer, or builder with impressive public work
What We're NOT Looking For
Someone looking for a developer relations role. This is an engineering seat first
Someone who wants community work to substitute for shipping code
Someone who needs a mapped-out roadmap before they'll make a scope call
Someone who's used open source but never maintained or owned a repo of real scale
A Note On Pace
We operate at an absurd level of urgency because the window for what we're building won't stay open forever. If that excites you, keep reading. If it doesn't, no hard feelings, but this role probably isn't for you.
Benefits & Perks
Available to all employees
Salary that makes sense: $235,000–$260,000 USD/year (SF) / $217,000–$233,000 CAD/year (Toronto), based on impact, not tenure
Own a piece: Gain competitive equity in what you're helping build
Generous PTO: 15 days mandatory, anything after 24 days, just ask (holidays excluded). Take the time you need to recharge
Parental leave: 12 weeks fully paid, for all parents
Wellness stipend: $100 USD/month for the gym, therapy, massages, or whatever keeps you human
Learning & Development: Expense up to $1,000 USD/year toward anything that helps you grow professionally
Team offsites: A change of scenery, minus the trust falls
Sabbatical: 3 paid months off after 4 years, do something fun and new
Available to US-based full-time employees
Full coverage, no red tape: Medical, dental, and vision (100% for employees, 50% for partner and kids). No weird loopholes, just care that works
Life & Disability insurance: Employer-paid basic life and AD&D, short-term disability, and long-term disability. Coverage for life's curveballs
Virtual care and a health guide: Teladoc for the couch doctor visit, plus Rightway to answer coverage questions and fight billing errors for you
Mental health: Talkspace, therapy and psychiatry on your schedule
Fertility and family building: Carrot, covering you and your partner
EAP: Free confidential counseling, legal and financial consults, and online will prep through Guardian
401(k) plan: Retirement might be a ways off, but future-you will thank you
Pre-tax benefits: HSA, FSA, and commuter benefits to help your wallet out a bit
Supplemental options: Extra life and AD&D, accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, plus pet, legal, and identity protection through MetLife
Available to Canada-based full-time employees
Full coverage, no red tape: Extended health, dental, and vision through Manulife (Diamond, the top tier), 100% employer-paid for you, your partner, and your kids
Life & Disability insurance: Employer-paid life, AD&D, short-term disability, and long-term disability. Coverage for life's curveballs
Virtual care: Dialogue Premium, so you can see a doctor or nurse from your couch, any hour
Mental health: Talkspace Elite, therapy and psychiatry on your schedule
Fertility and family building: Carrot, covering you and your partner
Retirement: Group RRSP through Wealthsimple, so future-you can thank you
Available to SF-based employees
SF HQ perks: Snacks, drinks, team lunches, intense ping pong, and peak startup energy
E-Bike transportation: A loaner electric bike to get you around the city, on us
Available to Toronto-based employees
Toronto Hub perks: Snacks, drinks, team lunches, glass-walled views down University Avenue, and a home base steps from Union Station
Transit, covered: A PRESTO card loaded for GO Transit, subway, and streetcar, plus station parking if you drive to the train. Winter-proof, on us
Interview Process
Application Review: Send us your resume and a link to something you've built. Repos you maintain, contributions you've landed, libraries people actually use. We care about what you've actually shipped, not where you went to school.
Intro Chat (~25 min): A quick conversation to get to know each other before we go deep. We'll talk about what you've been working on, what drew you to Firecrawl, and what you're looking for in your next role. Time for your questions too.
Technical Chat (~45 min): We'll walk through a repo you've maintained and a real problem from ours: a self-host path that's gotten fragile, a scope call on what belongs in a primitive, or a PR queue that's outgrown one reviewer. Come ready to think out loud. We care how you reason about maintainership, not whether you know our codebase yet.
Founder Chat (~25 min): Culture, pace, ownership, and how you like to work. Time for your questions too.
Paid Work Trial (~40 Hours): Ship something real on one of our open source repos, paid at a contractor rate. It's the truest signal for both sides. You see what maintaining Firecrawl's open source work actually feels like, and we see how you operate. Remote-friendly, and we'll flex around your current commitments.
Decision: We move fast after the trial.
If you want to own the open source surface of one of the fastest-growing AI companies in the world, you should join us.
👉 Apply now.
