Role description
Crazy Maple StudioCrazy Maple Studio is a rapidly growing entertainment and technology company with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. We specialize in mobile gaming, digital reading, and streaming, bringing together a global team to create innovative, engaging entertainment experiences for audiences worldwide.
Our flagship platform, ReelShort, is a leading vertical streaming app in the U.S., with more than 8 million daily active users (DAU). Through its short-form episodic content, ReelShort delivers compelling stories designed for today’s mobile-first audiences. Our portfolio also includes Chapters, an interactive storytelling platform featuring immersive drama, fantasy, and romance experiences, and My Fiction, a platform dedicated to discovering and creating serialized romance stories.
In 2025, Crazy Maple Studio was recognized as one of the Global Most Loved Workplaces, reflecting our commitment to fostering a culture that values creativity, innovation, collaboration, and employee well-being.
At Crazy Maple Studio, we’re passionate about pushing creative boundaries, exploring new possibilities in digital entertainment, and building experiences that connect with audiences around the world.
Position Overview:
We’re looking for builders. We don’t want ticket-closers, and you won’t need a 40-page spec. We’re putting together a small vanguard team, led directly by our executive team, with one mission: find out what AI can really do for entertainment, then ship it.
ReelShort already entertains millions of people around the world. This team works outside the normal roadmap. You might take an idea on Monday, have a working demo by Friday, and put it in front of real users soon after. Some experiments will fail fast. The ones that work could become the company’s next big product.
If you’ve been waiting for a place where your work gets seen, your judgment is trusted, and your growth isn’t capped by a ladder, this is it.
Why This Team:
- You work directly with the leadership. There are no layers. Your ideas get heard, and your work is seen by the person who makes the call.
- Zero-to-one, every time. You build new things instead of maintaining old ones.
- Help shape the stack. This is a brand-new team with no legacy code. The tools we choose now are the ones we’ll scale on, and you’ll help choose them.
- AI is the job, not a side project. You’ll use the newest models and tools every day, and you’ll be paid to explore what comes next.
- Real ownership. You own what you build, from the first line of code to the user metrics after launch.
- We invest in your future here. We offer sponsorship for strong performers.
Responsibilities:
- Build new AI-powered mobile apps end to end: the screens users touch, the APIs behind them, and the data that tells us what’s working
- Turn rough ideas into working prototypes in days, then turn the winners into polished apps on iOS and Android
- Integrate large language models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or open-source) into the product, and figure out where they create magic and where they fall short
- Track how users respond and use those signals to decide what to build next
- Expand successful products to the web once the core experience is proven
- Try new AI tools and research, and share what you learn with the team
Requirements
- Around 2–5 years of experience building and shipping software
- Shipped at least one mobile app to the App Store or Google Play using React Native or Flutter (native iOS/Android experience also welcome)
- Comfortable on the backend too: building APIs in TypeScript, Python, or a similar language, working with databases like PostgreSQL, and deploying to AWS or GCP
- Daily user of AI coding tools, with the drive to go much deeper
- Fast learner who moves quickly and doesn’t wait for permission
- Comfort with ambiguity. Nobody hands us a playbook, so we write our own
- Self-directed, low ego, and willing to do the unglamorous work a zero-to-one product needs
- Hands-on experience with LLM APIs, prompt design, or agent frameworks a plus
- Web frontend experience (React / Next.js or similar) a plus
- Experience with in-app purchases, subscriptions, or mobile growth and analytics a plus
- Background in consumer products, video, interactive content, or games a plus
- Additional language capability (Mandarin) a plus, though not required
Immigration Support
- H-1B transfers welcome
- On OPT or STEM OPT? We’ll register you for the H-1B lottery
- Green card sponsorship for strong performers
- Legal and filing fees are covered by the company
How We Hire
Four steps, with no marathon onsite:
- Intro call
- Take-home technical exercise
- Technical interview
- Conversation with our CEO
Logistics
- Five days a week, onsite in Sunnyvale, CA
- Occasional evening availability to sync with teams in other time zones
Benefits
Crazy Maple Studio, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.
Our target salary range for this role is between $120,000 and $150,000. Actual starting salary within the range will depend on various considerations, including: work experience, skills, specializations, and training. This role also offers medical insurance, a 401(k) retirement plan, and a range of additional employee benefits and perks.