Mindfeeder — Part-time to start, full-time soon (scaling fast)
Mindfeeder is a 1-year startup building practical, production-grade software across WordPress/WooCommerce, Next.js, and GCP—with heavy use of AI endpoints and structured outputs. We’re small, moving fast, and we care about craftsmanship, systems thinking, and shipping.
This role is for a developer who can live in both worlds:
• WordPress + WooCommerce (PHP) realities
• Modern cloud + AI + web app systems on GCP
• Python for scripts, APIs, automation, and MCP server work
You’ll work directly with the founder and help shape our engineering foundation as we scale.
What you’ll build
• WordPress/WooCommerce plugins and integrations (clean, maintainable PHP)
• Next.js frontends (dashboards, internal tools, customer-facing experiences)
• GCP services on Cloud Run (autoscaling APIs, workers, webhook receivers)
• AI integrations using structured outputs (JSON schema/function calling patterns, validations, retries, observability)
• Python services + scripts (APIs, CLI tools, automation, data utilities, MCP servers)
• Firebase / Firestore / Cloud Storage patterns for app data + files
• BigQuery pipelines for analytics, reporting, and “what’s actually happening?” truth
Responsibilities
• Design and implement features end-to-end (frontend → API → storage → deployment)
• Build/maintain WordPress plugins with good architecture (hooks, REST endpoints, admin UI, security)
• Create Cloud Run services that are observable, secure, and scalable
• Work with AI endpoints safely (structured outputs, tool calling, error handling, cost controls)
• Use Python for automation, integrations, lightweight services, and tool servers (MCP)
• Participate in lightweight planning, estimation, and clear communication
• Leave things better than you found them (docs, tests, refactors when needed)
• (Plus) if you've worked with sites that use elementor / ACF / standard stand / and know normal managed hosting type work.
Must-have skills (you can be stronger in some than others)
• Strong PHP and real WordPress/WooCommerce experience (hooks/actions/filters, REST API, plugin structure, WP security practices)
• Solid JavaScript/TypeScript fundamentals; comfortable in Next.js
• Comfortable building APIs/services and deploying to GCP Cloud Run
• Practical experience with Firebase/Firestore and/or similar document DB patterns
• Familiarity with AI integrations (calling endpoints, structured outputs, schemas, validation, rate limits, logging)
• Python proficiency for scripts, API work, automation, and/or tool servers
• You can read docs, debug production issues, and explain tradeoffs like a grownup
Nice-to-haves (big bonus)
• MCP servers (building or consuming tool servers / agent tooling patterns)
• BigQuery experience (modeling, queries, scheduled jobs, event tracking)
• CI/CD familiarity (GitHub Actions, Cloud Build, container workflows)
• IaC (Terraform) or solid “repeatable deploy” discipline
• Experience hardening webhooks, OAuth, secrets management, and multi-tenant setups
• Located within Missouri/Kansas area - we are remote first but get together once a month as a team.
Tooling + collaboration expectations
You don’t need to be a fanatic about tools, but you do need to operate in a modern dev workflow:
• GitHub (PRs, reviews, branching, issues)
• Jira or Linear (or similar) for task tracking
• Notion (or similar) for documentation and specs
• Comfortable writing clear updates, keeping tickets moving, and documenting decisions
How we work
• Small team, high trust, direct communication
• Nerd-friendly, human, and curious (we like people who build cool things for fun)
• We care about: speed + correctness, not “move fast and break everything”
• AI is a tool here—not a substitute for understanding
Contract details
• Starts part-time (paid), expected to become full-time shortly as fit is proven and workload expands
• Remote-friendly (or add your preference: “US only / Central time overlap / onsite in Missouri, etc.”)
• Compensation depends on skill + scope (add your range if you want more qualified applicants)
Anti-bullshit application (read carefully — we actually enforce this)
We’re seeing a lot of AI-generated applications. If you want to stand out, prove you can think and build.
To apply, send the following (no exceptions):
A short note (max 200 words): what kind of systems you like building and why.
Two links:
• One to code you’ve written (GitHub / repo / gist)
• One to something you shipped (site/plugin/app) and what you owned
Answer these 5 questions (each max 150 words, direct + specific):
• A) Describe a time you debugged a production issue. What was the root cause?
• B) If Cloud Run is autoscaling, what are 2 failure modes you still design for?
• C) In WordPress, what’s your default approach to security for a REST endpoint?
• D) When using AI structured outputs, what do you validate, and where?
• E) What’s one opinionated engineering practice you follow that improves quality?
Important: Start your message with the word “ABym@lNothingN3SS” so we know you read the posting.
Applications that ignore the above (or feel copy/pasted/generic) will be rejected.
Hiring process (transparent)
• Screen (your answers + links)
• Interview #1 (30–45 min): fit, communication, how you think
• Interview #2 (60 min): technical deep dive (we’ll discuss your code)
• Simulation (take-home, 48 hours): realistic mini-project (details below)
• Final conversation + offer