What is Willow?
Willow is a voice dictation app that lets you type anywhere on your computer using your voice. People rely on Willow every day to write emails, respond in Slack, prompt AI, and move faster in their work.
But dictation is just where we're starting. We're building the voice operating system. A system that writes for you today, takes actions for you tomorrow, and eventually anticipates what you need before you ask. Your voice becomes the primary way you create, communicate, and control your computer.
We've proven adoption, from individual power users to enterprises like Uber, Gusto, and Heidi Health. We're backed by Y Combinator, Box Group, and founders from Instacart, Reddit, Shopify, and HubSpot.
We're scaling quickly, and you'll be joining early.
The Role
We're looking for a Founding Engineer to help us build Willow across platforms: Mac, Windows, and iOS.
You'll work directly with the founders to ship product fast. You'll own features end-to-end, support users, squash bugs, and make decisions that shape how people interact with their computers.
Thousands of people use Willow every day, which means no shortage of feedback, edge cases, and real problems to solve.
You'll:
- Build and ship core product features across desktop and mobile
- Work across the stack: Electron/React for desktop, Swift/SwiftUI for iOS
- Support users, fix bugs, and solve problems quickly
- Move fast, ship often, and iterate based on real feedback
- Own app performance, reliability, and user experience
- Work closely with the founding team and designers to build a world-class product
What We're Looking For
You've built things. Projects, startups, apps that you've taken from zero to one, especially if they've scaled to real users.
You care about craft. You care about design, about the details, about building things the right way. You're thoughtful about architecture and user experience. You take pride in your work.
You learn fast. You pick up new frameworks, languages, and tools quickly. You're not afraid of unfamiliar territory. You love learning.
Strong signals:
- Experience with Electron/React or similar cross-platform frameworks
- Experience with Swift/SwiftUI and native iOS development
- Founding team member or early employee at a startup
- Side projects or apps you've built and shipped, ideally with real users
- 0β1 experience. You've built something from nothing.
- Passion for productivity, AI, or voice technology
- In-person in San Francisco (we're building in-person)
The Opportunity
The first major computer interface was the keyboard. The second was touch. The third is voice.
This is your chance to help build it. You'll shape the product that changes how people use computers. If we get this right, voice becomes the interface for decades to come.
To Apply
- Research the product. Download Willow, try it, and understand why this matters. We want people who already get it.
- Know what you're signing up for. We're an intense environment. We optimize for learning, achievement, and career growth, but that means we work very hard. If you want to be challenged and grow fast, we'd love to hear from you.
- Reach out proactively. Don't just submit an application. Show us how you think.
