Openclaw Hacker (early stage deep tech)
Gentle Weapons, Phoenix, AZ, United States
NOTE: This role is only available candidates with US citizenship at this time
Gentle Weapons is a stealth startup building high-performance, systems-level infrastructure to power next-generation AI and compute workloads for defense. This is an opportunity to help build out the operational tooling to support the company and the chance to own a meaningful piece of something big from day one.
Our small team is already moving fast with early partnerships with noteworthy names in tech, and we’re advised by experts from Nvidia, Meta, Anduril, and Rice University. This is an opportunity as early as it gets for someone hungry to learn, build, and grow. Our team hails from Meta and has raised funding and built startups from zero to one before.
Role Overview
As part of the founding team, you’ll help design and implement the systems that make our small team punch above its weight. We’re seeking a builder who’s excited by hacking together local and cloud-based AI systems, rapid iteration in uncertain environments, and is capable of learning quickly.
We’re looking for a software engineer who is deeply familiar with AI agent tooling — particularly OpenClaw — and excited about using it to automate real business operations at an early-stage company. That being said, we touch a lot of spaces, so if you don\'t fit neatly into a common engineering archetype, you may belong here.
You will be filling the role of a critical new class of engineer – the "backward deployed engineer." https://x.com/lmushin/status/2022713903013146795?s=20
Key Responsibilities
Spin up, configure, and maintain OpenClaw/Goose agents for specific business functions: outreach, research, scheduling, content workflows, CRM management, and more
Optimize existing Claws for cost, reliability, and security — managing API spend, prompt efficiency, model selection, and sandboxing
Build and maintain the infrastructure these agents run on — Mac infra, Nvidia hardware, with proper isolation and monitoring
Explore and integrate local AI models (Ollama, llama.cpp, Whisper, etc.) for tasks where privacy, cost, or latency make local inference the better option
Develop standard operating procedures for agent deployment: SOUL.md templates, tool configurations, security boundaries, and escalation rules
Monitor agent behavior, catch failure modes, and build guardrails so nothing goes off the rails
Evaluate new AI tools, MCP servers, and automation frameworks as they emerge and recommend what’s worth adopting
Stay up to date on the latest context around agentic tooling and implement it as part of the team
Qualifications
We prioritize mindset and potential over a perfect resume. Evidence of what you have shipped helps you stand out.
Skills you have
Hands-on experience with OpenClaw or similar autonomous AI agent frameworks — you’ve set one up, broken it, and fixed it
Comfort working in the terminal, writing shell scripts, and managing infrastructure (even if it’s just a Mac Mini under your desk)
Familiarity with LLM APIs (Ollama, OpenAI), prompt engineering, and model cost/performance tradeoffs
Interest in local AI inference — running models on consumer hardware for specific tasks
Security-minded thinking: you understand why giving an AI agent access to your email requires careful boundaries
Self-directed and curious — this role has no playbook; you’ll be figuring out what works and documenting it as you go
Bonus: experience with n8n, Zapier, or other workflow automation tools
Bonus: familiarity with defense tech, robotics, or edge computing
This is a role for someone who treats AI tooling the way a DevOps engineer treats infrastructure, not as a novelty but as systems that need to be reliable, observable, and cost-effective. You’ll work directly with the founder and have significant autonomy in shaping how the company operates day-to-day while getting to build bleeding-edge operational AI systems.
Attributes we value
Customer speed: we build and iterate quickly because our customers depend on our work.
Assertive kindness: we know what we are doing, and aren\'t afraid to disagree. But we always do so with an attitude of care.
AI-native hypergeneralism: we are willing to step out of our specialties for a common goal, leveraging AI tooling to do with one the work of ten.
Drive and ambition: we will our accomplishments into existence and work incredibly hard to make it so.
What We Offer
Meaningful equity stake as a true founding team member (with a fair, standard vesting schedule). At this stage, you will receive an outsized equity grant that will result in substantial upside if we succeed.
Direct, hands-on mentorship from the founding team + access to advisors from leading organizations.
Early technical partnerships that give us early momentum and validation.
Freedom to experiment and learn at warp speed in an extreme-ownership environment.
Flexible hybrid setup (based in the Phoenix metro area).
The rare thrill of zero-to-one building: ship something groundbreaking before anyone else knows it exists.
#J-18808-Ljbffr
Gentle Weapons is a stealth startup building high-performance, systems-level infrastructure to power next-generation AI and compute workloads for defense. This is an opportunity to help build out the operational tooling to support the company and the chance to own a meaningful piece of something big from day one.
Our small team is already moving fast with early partnerships with noteworthy names in tech, and we’re advised by experts from Nvidia, Meta, Anduril, and Rice University. This is an opportunity as early as it gets for someone hungry to learn, build, and grow. Our team hails from Meta and has raised funding and built startups from zero to one before.
Role Overview
As part of the founding team, you’ll help design and implement the systems that make our small team punch above its weight. We’re seeking a builder who’s excited by hacking together local and cloud-based AI systems, rapid iteration in uncertain environments, and is capable of learning quickly.
We’re looking for a software engineer who is deeply familiar with AI agent tooling — particularly OpenClaw — and excited about using it to automate real business operations at an early-stage company. That being said, we touch a lot of spaces, so if you don\'t fit neatly into a common engineering archetype, you may belong here.
You will be filling the role of a critical new class of engineer – the "backward deployed engineer." https://x.com/lmushin/status/2022713903013146795?s=20
Key Responsibilities
Spin up, configure, and maintain OpenClaw/Goose agents for specific business functions: outreach, research, scheduling, content workflows, CRM management, and more
Optimize existing Claws for cost, reliability, and security — managing API spend, prompt efficiency, model selection, and sandboxing
Build and maintain the infrastructure these agents run on — Mac infra, Nvidia hardware, with proper isolation and monitoring
Explore and integrate local AI models (Ollama, llama.cpp, Whisper, etc.) for tasks where privacy, cost, or latency make local inference the better option
Develop standard operating procedures for agent deployment: SOUL.md templates, tool configurations, security boundaries, and escalation rules
Monitor agent behavior, catch failure modes, and build guardrails so nothing goes off the rails
Evaluate new AI tools, MCP servers, and automation frameworks as they emerge and recommend what’s worth adopting
Stay up to date on the latest context around agentic tooling and implement it as part of the team
Qualifications
We prioritize mindset and potential over a perfect resume. Evidence of what you have shipped helps you stand out.
Skills you have
Hands-on experience with OpenClaw or similar autonomous AI agent frameworks — you’ve set one up, broken it, and fixed it
Comfort working in the terminal, writing shell scripts, and managing infrastructure (even if it’s just a Mac Mini under your desk)
Familiarity with LLM APIs (Ollama, OpenAI), prompt engineering, and model cost/performance tradeoffs
Interest in local AI inference — running models on consumer hardware for specific tasks
Security-minded thinking: you understand why giving an AI agent access to your email requires careful boundaries
Self-directed and curious — this role has no playbook; you’ll be figuring out what works and documenting it as you go
Bonus: experience with n8n, Zapier, or other workflow automation tools
Bonus: familiarity with defense tech, robotics, or edge computing
This is a role for someone who treats AI tooling the way a DevOps engineer treats infrastructure, not as a novelty but as systems that need to be reliable, observable, and cost-effective. You’ll work directly with the founder and have significant autonomy in shaping how the company operates day-to-day while getting to build bleeding-edge operational AI systems.
Attributes we value
Customer speed: we build and iterate quickly because our customers depend on our work.
Assertive kindness: we know what we are doing, and aren\'t afraid to disagree. But we always do so with an attitude of care.
AI-native hypergeneralism: we are willing to step out of our specialties for a common goal, leveraging AI tooling to do with one the work of ten.
Drive and ambition: we will our accomplishments into existence and work incredibly hard to make it so.
What We Offer
Meaningful equity stake as a true founding team member (with a fair, standard vesting schedule). At this stage, you will receive an outsized equity grant that will result in substantial upside if we succeed.
Direct, hands-on mentorship from the founding team + access to advisors from leading organizations.
Early technical partnerships that give us early momentum and validation.
Freedom to experiment and learn at warp speed in an extreme-ownership environment.
Flexible hybrid setup (based in the Phoenix metro area).
The rare thrill of zero-to-one building: ship something groundbreaking before anyone else knows it exists.
#J-18808-Ljbffr