At a Glance
- Tasks: Design, build, and maintain core components of the OpenClaw platform while engaging with the community.
- Company: Join the OpenClaw Foundation, a leader in open-source AI innovation.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible work environment, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Collaborative culture focused on community engagement and impactful technology.
- Why this job: Be part of a mission to shape the future of AI with an open-source community.
- Qualifications: 5+ years in software engineering, strong skills in modern development practices, and a passion for open source.
The predicted salary is between 80100 - 97900 £ per year.
About the Foundation
The Open Claw Foundation is the steward of the world's largest open source AI agent project.
Its mission is grounded in a foundational conviction: that AI must be open, safe, and ultimately owned by the individuals and communities who use it.
About the Foundation
The Open Claw Foundation is the steward of the world's largest open source AI agent project.
Its mission is grounded in a foundational conviction: that AI must be open, safe, and ultimately owned by the individuals and communities who use it.
The Foundation operates across three core mandates
- Advancing research into the human-agent relationship while continuously evolving the Open Claw platform;
- Maintaining and hardening the codebase to ensure security, reliability, and long-term sustainability;
- Establishing interoperability standards for the emerging agent era, defining how agents configure, communicate, establish trust, transact, and represent user identity across ecosystems.
Modeled after the governance structures that shaped the open web and modern computing infrastructure, the Foundation serves as a neutral, multi-stakeholder convening body — the equivalent of W3C or the Linux Foundation for the agentic AI era.
Major laboratories and infrastructure providers collaborate under its umbrella on shared, vendor-neutral infrastructure, with no single organization controlling the roadmap or direction.
The Open Claw Foundation believes that individuals should have full sovereignty over their AI: their data, their interactions, and the behavior and personality of their agents.
Open source is not incidental to this mission but central to it — code must remain free to use, modify, and build upon.
The future of agentic AI will be defined by a broad, developer-driven community, not prescribed by any single commercial interest.
The Role
The Open Claw Foundation is seeking exceptional
Members of Technical Staff (MTS) to serve as full-time maintainers, builders, and stewards of the Open Claw ecosystem.
This is not a traditional software engineering role.
You will operate as both an open-source maintainer and product engineer, responsible for designing, building, maintaining, and evolving core components of the Open Claw platform while supporting the broader contributor community that helps shape it.
The Foundation's technical staff are responsible for the long-term health of the ecosystem.
They ship production code, review community contributions, guide architectural decisions, improve developer experience, maintain infrastructure, and help establish the technical standards that will underpin the future of agentic AI.
Unlike engineers at traditional startups, success is measured not only by what you build yourself, but by how effectively you enable an entire community to build alongside you.
This role is ideal for engineers who love open source, enjoy engaging with contributors, and want to work on infrastructure that may become foundational to the next generation of AI systems.
What You'll Do
- Build Core Open Claw Technology
- Design and implement new platform capabilities across the Open Claw ecosystem
- Develop production-quality software used by developers, researchers, enterprises, and end users
- Build systems that support large-scale AI agent deployment and orchestration
- Improve platform reliability, performance, scalability, and usability
- Contribute across the stack as Foundation priorities evolve
- Maintain Open Source Projects
- Serve as a maintainer for one or more Open Claw repositories
- Review pull requests and provide technical guidance to contributors
- Manage issue triage and community requests
- Help define technical roadmaps and project priorities
- Ensure code quality, maintainability, and long-term sustainability
- Uphold governance and contribution standards across Foundation projects
- Collaborate with the Community
- Engage directly with developers and contributors
- Support community members through design reviews, technical discussions, and mentorship
- Participate in working groups and ecosystem initiatives
- Help create a welcoming and productive contributor experience
- Encourage external contributions and community ownership
- Advance Agent Infrastructure
- Help define how agents configure, communicate, establish trust, transact, and represent identity
- Contribute to interoperability initiatives and standards development
- Build vendor-neutral infrastructure that can be adopted across the ecosystem
- Collaborate with industry partners and researchers on emerging agent technologies
- Improve Developer Experience
- Build tooling that makes Open Claw easier to use and contribute to
- Improve APIs, SDKs, documentation, testing frameworks, and developer workflows
- Reduce friction for both users and contributors
- Help establish best practices for building and deploying AI agents
- Support Foundation Research & Innovation
- Collaborate with researchers exploring the human-agent relationship
- Prototype and evaluate new capabilities
- Translate research findings into production-ready systems
- Explore emerging technologies that can strengthen the Open Claw ecosystem
- Areas of Ownership
- AI Agent Runtime Systems
- Distributed Systems & Infrastructure
- Identity & Trust Frameworks
- Open Standards & Protocols
- Agent Communication Systems
- Security & Privacy
- Developer Tooling
- SDKs & APIs
- Product Engineering
- Platform Architecture
- Research Prototyping
- Community Tooling & Governance Systems
Candidates are not expected to have expertise in all areas.
Who You Are
- Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of professional software engineering experience
- Strong proficiency in modern software development practices
- Experience building and maintaining production systems
- Strong understanding of distributed systems, APIs, backend systems, or developer platforms
- Experience working with Git and modern software development workflows
- Excellent technical communication skills
- Ability to work independently in highly ambiguous environments
- Passion for open source and developer ecosystems
- Preferred Qualifications
- Prior experience as an open-source maintainer or major contributor
- Experience building AI, machine learning, or agent-based systems
- Experience with developer platforms, infrastructure products, or SDKs
- Familiarity with standards development or protocol design
- Experience operating large-scale distributed systems
- Security, identity, or privacy expertise
- Experience supporting developer communities
- Previous involvement in open-source foundations or standards organizations
- #J-18808-Ljbffr
Member of Technical Staff employer: The OpenClaw Foundation
The OpenClaw Foundation is an exceptional employer for those passionate about open-source technology and AI, offering a collaborative work culture that prioritises community engagement and innovation. Employees enjoy opportunities for professional growth while contributing to a mission that empowers individuals with sovereignty over their AI interactions. Located in a vibrant tech ecosystem, the Foundation fosters a supportive environment where your contributions directly impact the future of agentic AI.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Member of Technical Staff
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at The OpenClaw Foundation or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to The OpenClaw Foundation.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like The OpenClaw Foundation.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like The OpenClaw Foundation that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Member of Technical Staff
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at The OpenClaw Foundation.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at The OpenClaw Foundation and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at The OpenClaw Foundation
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If The OpenClaw Foundation uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
