25 open positions

First Principles Jobs with a Great Work-Life Balance

Browse 25+ first principles jobs at companies offering generous PTO and unlimited PTO—for a better work-life balance. Hiring companies include Helion, Panthalassa, and Basis.

Schedules on this page

generous PTO 9
flexible hours 1
unlimited PTO 11
best places to work 1
generous parental leave 2

Updated September 11, 2026

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Director, Paid Marketing (Subscriptions)

1mo

DuckDuckGo · Remote · USA

61 · GoodFlexible Hours$244k

Staff Platform Architect, Data & AI

1mo

Experian · Remote · USA

57 · GoodBest Place to Work$137k – $247k

Staff Software Engineer, Applied AI

4mo

HackerOne · Hybrid · Seattle, WA +3 more

62 · GoodUnlimited PTO$230k – $280k

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Principal Product Manager, Unified Service Platform

1mo

Gusto · Hybrid · Denver, CO +2 more

61 · GoodUnlimited PTO$179k – $260k

Strategy

2mo

Aurelian · Onsite · Seattle, WA, USA

61 · GoodUnlimited PTO$150k – $250k

Mechanical Engineer, Vacuum Systems

1mo

Helion · Onsite · Everett, WA, USA

59 · GoodGenerous PTO$182k – $214k

Senior Mechanical Engineer, Vacuum Systems

1mo

Helion · Onsite · Everett, WA, USA

59 · GoodGenerous PTO$182k – $214k

Senior Process Engineer, Fuel Cycle

1mo

Helion · Onsite · Everett, WA, USA

59 · GoodGenerous PTO$182k – $214k

Software Engineer

2mo

Opendoor · Hybrid · Toronto, ON, Canada

59 · GoodUnlimited PTO

Senior Hardware Engineer, Radar

18d

Latitude AI · Hybrid · Pittsburgh, PA +3 more

57 · GoodUnlimited PTO

Head of Design

1mo

Mesh · Hybrid · San Francisco, CA, USA

57 · GoodUnlimited PTO$229k – $300k

Member of Technical Staff - Atlas FDE

1mo

Basis · Onsite · New York, NY, USA

56 · GoodUnlimited PTO$100k – $300k

Member of Technical Staff - Atlas

1mo

Basis · Onsite · New York, NY, USA

56 · GoodUnlimited PTO$100k – $300k

Member of Technical Staff

4mo

Basis · Onsite · New York, NY, USA

56 · GoodUnlimited PTO$100k – $300k

Product Manager, Research

1mo

Anthropic · Hybrid · San Francisco, CA, USA

55 · GoodGenerous Parental Leave$305k – $385k

Product Management, Research

2mo

Anthropic · Hybrid · San Francisco, CA, USA

55 · GoodGenerous Parental Leave$305k – $385k

Senior Thermal Engineer

1mo

Panthalassa · Onsite · Portland, OR, USA

54 · DecentUnlimited PTO

Naval Architect

2mo

Panthalassa · Onsite · Portland, OR, USA

54 · DecentUnlimited PTO$160k – $200k

Senior Mechanical Engineer, Structures

3mo

Panthalassa · Onsite · Portland, OR, USA

54 · DecentUnlimited PTO$160k – $210k

Manager, Fusion Test & Operations

1mo

Helion · Onsite · Everett, WA, USA

59 · GoodGenerous PTO$147k – $220k

Showing 20 of 25

Got questions?

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know about 4-day week jobs

Employers hiring for First Principles on this page include Helion, Panthalassa, and Basis. First Principles roles appear most frequently in engineering, data, and platform teams at companies that have adopted a reduced-hours schedule. Each listing indicates the seniority level and whether First Principles is a primary requirement or one of several preferred skills — expand any role above to see the full stack and responsibilities.

First Principles roles span the full seniority range — we list 24 open roles requiring First Principles across entry-level, mid-level, senior, lead, and staff/principal positions. Senior and above tend to dominate because employers offering reduced-hours schedules often lean toward experienced individual contributors who can deliver consistently in fewer hours. Filter by level in the sidebar to narrow the list above.

Lead with measurable outcomes over time spent — First Principles hiring managers at reduced-hours companies care about delivered value, not hours worked. Highlight projects where you shipped at a steady cadence, collaborated asynchronously, or reduced engineering toil through automation or tooling. Include concrete metrics (latency improvements, adoption numbers, cost reductions) rather than vague duty descriptions. Expand listings above to see the exact framing each employer uses in their job descriptions.

For the full-pay schedules here — 4-day weeks and 9-day fortnights — yes: you keep a full-time salary for a shorter week. Part-time and pro-rata roles instead scale pay to hours, and each listing makes the arrangement clear. First Principles roles in tech and data typically command premium rates at both reduced-hours and traditional employers; specific ranges depend on seniority, location, and sub-specialty (e.g. backend vs frontend, infra vs ML). Individual listings above show exact bands where the employer publishes them.

Depends on the role, but First Principles candidates who also demonstrate async communication, clean documentation, and cross-functional collaboration are typically strong fits for reduced-hours employers — those companies rely on written-first communication and high-context handoffs to operate on a compressed schedule. Technical-adjacent skills vary by stack. Browse the top skills shown in the sidebar to see which tags co-occur most often with First Principles on current listings.