Staff Engineer, Desktop (macOS)

Wispr Flow; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Wispr is an AI research and product company building the voice interface for computing. You will own the architecture of our macOS platform and build its screen-context engine, the foundation that helps every feature understand what is happening on a user’s screen.

You will set technical direction across accessibility, memory, state, and background behavior, and solve challenging performance and cross-application issues while protecting user privacy.

Qualifications

• Enterprise-grade system design experience across desktop platforms.
• Deep knowledge of macOS platform and desktop app architectures.
• Experience shipping production code for desktop applications.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture of the macOS platform and its screen-context engine.
• Set technical direction across accessibility, native integrations, memory, state, and background behavior.
• Solve performance, correctness, and cross-application issues.
• Expand Flow understanding while protecting performance and user privacy.
• Turn OS-specific knowledge into durable foundations for other engineers.

Skills

System design

macOS

Desktop apps

Performance tuning

Privacy

Tools

Electron

OS APIs

Job description

About Wispr

Wispr is an AI research and product company building the voice interface for computing. AI can now reason, code, and act. Yet, humans still do the work of the interface. We think that’s backwards.
Our first products are Flow, which lets you speak naturally in any application, and Notetaker, which builds context across conversations. We’re building toward an interface that can perceive, understand, and take action with earned trust. That means solving hard problems across models, systems, and product - and caring about the final human experience as deeply as the technology underneath it.

We’re a talent-dense team that holds strong opinions, tests them quickly, and builds technology that sparks joy. Our goal is to build the first voice interface used every day by a billion people.

About the role

You’ll own the architecture of our macOS platform and build its screen-context engine - the foundation that helps every feature understand what is happening on a user’s screen. You’ll solve the hardest desktop systems problems and create primitives that improve Wispr's products on macOS.

What you’ll do

• Build a reliable screen-context engine for dictation, Notetaker, Instruct Mode, and future products

• Set technical direction across accessibility, native integrations, memory, state, and background behavior

• Solve difficult performance, correctness, and cross-application failures

• Expand what Flow can understand while protecting performance and user privacy

• Turn OS-specific knowledge into durable foundations other engineers can extend

You may be a fit if

• You’ve designed a system or platform other engineers successfully built on

• You’ve recently shipped meaningful production code for a desktop application

• You debug unfamiliar systems from first principles

• You’ve owned a quality or UX metric, not only a feature roadmap

• You turn ambiguous technical problems into clear direction for a team

Prior experience with voice, ML, Electron, accessibility APIs, or macOS is not strictly required if you bring exceptional platform depth.

Get to know us

• Our Series B

• Advancing HCI

• Introducing Wispr Advanced Interfaces Lab

• Technical challenges behind Flow

Logistics

We sponsor H1B, O1, EB1, L1, STEM OPT, and more. We can't guarantee sponsorship for every role, but if we make you an offer we'll make every reasonable effort, with help from our immigration law firm.
We strongly encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every qualification. The strongest candidates we meet rarely do, so don't exclude yourself prematurely. We're rethinking how humans interact with AI, and doing that well demands diversity of perspective and experience.
We're committed to a fair and accessible interview process. If you need any accommodations or adjustments, please let us know.