Updated August 3, 2026

22 open positions

First Principles Jobs with a Great Work-Life Balance

Browse 22+ first principles jobs at companies offering generous PTO and unlimited PTO—full pay and a better work-life balance. 12 new this week. Hiring companies include Helion, Basis, and Anthropic.

Jobs

New This Week

Companies

Updated Daily

Mechanical Engineer, Vacuum Systems

Helion

OnsiteEverett, USA

59 · Good5 day weekGenerous PTO$182k – $214k

Senior Mechanical Engineer, Vacuum Systems

Helion

OnsiteEverett, USA

59 · Good5 day weekGenerous PTO$182k – $214k

Senior Data Scientist

Amgen

HybridMadison, USA

59 · Good5 day weekGenerous PTO$134k – $182k

Process Engineer, Fuel Cycle

Helion

OnsiteEverett, USA

59 · Good5 day weekGenerous PTO$138k – $182k

Product Manager, Research

12d

Anthropic

HybridSan Francisco or New York City

55 · Good5 day weekGenerous Parental Leave$305k – $385k

Software Engineer

1mo

Opendoor

HybridSeattle, USA

59 · Good5 day weekUnlimited PTO

Software Engineer

1mo

Opendoor

HybridToronto, Canada

59 · Good5 day weekUnlimited PTO

Staff Commercial Product Manager, Trucking

1mo

Waabi

HybridSan Francisco, USA

58 · Good5 day weekUnlimited PTO$175k – $240k

Innovation Lead (Intrapreneur)

2mo

Celonis

HybridMunich, Germany

57 · Good5 day weekBest Place to Work

Member of Technical Staff - Atlas

17d

Basis

OnsiteNew York, USA

56 · Good5 day weekUnlimited PTO$100k – $300k

Member of Technical Staff

2mo

Basis

OnsiteNew York, USA

56 · Good5 day weekUnlimited PTO$100k – $300k

Narratives & Communications Lead

2mo

Basis

OnsiteNew York, USA

56 · Good5 day weekUnlimited PTO$100k – $300k

Product Management, Research

25d

Anthropic

HybridSan Francisco or New York City

55 · Good5 day weekGenerous Parental Leave$305k – $385k

Design Engineer - Turbomachinery

2mo

Arbor Energy

OnsiteEl Segundo, USA

54 · Decent5 day weekUnlimited PTO$110k – $135k

Senior Process Engineer, Fuel Cycle

Helion

OnsiteEverett, USA

59 · Good5 day weekGenerous PTO$182k – $214k

Manager, Fusion Test & Operations

Helion

OnsiteEverett, USA

59 · Good5 day weekGenerous PTO$147k – $220k

Mechanical Engineer

Helion

OnsiteEverett, USA

59 · Good5 day weekGenerous PTO$120k – $182k

Senior Mechanical Engineer, Thermal

Helion

OnsiteEverett, USA

59 · Good5 day weekGenerous PTO$182k – $214k

Senior Mechanical Engineer

Helion

OnsiteEverett, USA

59 · Good5 day weekGenerous PTO$182k – $214k

Senior Manager, Electrical Engineering

Helion

OnsiteEverett, USA

59 · Good5 day weekGenerous PTO$230k – $270k

Manager, Electrical Engineering

Helion

OnsiteEverett, USA

59 · Good5 day weekGenerous PTO$200k – $240k

R&D Hardware Test & Development Manager

Helion

OnsiteEverett, USA

59 · Good5 day weekGenerous PTO$162k – $192k

Every role is a genuine reduced-hours position, manually curated and refreshed daily. How we curate

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, Basis, and Anthropic. 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 22 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.