Lenny Rachitsky — one of the most-read product voices in tech — recently profiled someone whose actual, full-time, salaried job title is “vibe coder”:
Not a side project. Not a joke. A career path. And he’s not the only one hiring:
Visa posted a vibe coder role. Walmart is hiring “AI-First Full Stack Engineers” at $110K-$220K. Google’s paying $294K-$414K for Principal Architect roles in core ML. A Y Combinator-backed startup called Domu Technology says “at least 50% of the code you write should be done by AI — vibe coding experience is non-negotiable” and is offering $150K plus equity.
This is no longer a question of whether vibe coding jobs exist. It’s a question of how you get one.
The Job Market Right Now
Let’s set the scene with actual numbers from February 2026:
Salary ranges by level:
Level | Experience | Salary Range |
|---|---|---|
| Entry-level vibe coder | 1-2 years | $70,000 - $100,000 |
| Mid-level AI-assisted developer | 3-5 years | $100,000 - $150,000 |
| Senior AI-first developer | 5+ years | $150,000 - $250,000+ |
| Principal/Staff (big tech) | 8+ years | $294,000 - $465,000+ |
Freelance rates: $100-$300/hour mid-range, up to $400/hour for agentic workflow specialists. Fiverr has created an entire dedicated category for vibe coding services. Upwork has an active marketplace.
The salary premium is real: Roles mentioning AI skills pay 28% more on average — about $18K/year extra. For non-technical roles with AI literacy, the uplift is 35-43%.
But let’s also keep it grounded:
The $400K roles aren’t paying for prompting skills alone. They’re paying for engineering judgment, architecture expertise, and the ability to wield AI as a force multiplier on top of deep fundamentals. The vibe coding part amplifies what you already know.
What’s Actually Getting People Hired
1. Shipped Projects Beat Everything
Ariel Mathov started building a product called from021.io with 20 followers. No job experience in the space. Just shipped:
500 users, a job offer, and a first MVP client — from building in public. This is the pattern that works. Not certifications. Not courses. Shipped artifacts.
Jack O’Brien built and launched 10 AI projects over two years with different technologies and goals. Result: accepted to MIT and offered a startup cofounder role.
The common thread: they didn’t just build for practice. They shipped publicly, got users, and iterated.
2. The “Vibe Code Cleanup” Niche
Here’s a career path nobody talks about:
It’s funny because it’s true. As one freelancer put it: “I got a client to fix vibe code. I’ve made a ton of money at this job. Please keep vibe coding.”
As more non-technical people ship AI-generated products, the demand for someone who can fix and harden that code is exploding. If you’re a developer who understands both AI tools and traditional engineering, this is arguably the most lucrative niche in freelancing right now.
3. It’s Not Just Engineering Anymore
Naval Ravikant told his 3 million followers:
“Vibe coding is the new product management.” The person who understands the user problem, frames the right prompt, and evaluates the output — that’s the new power player. Product managers, designers, marketers, ops people — anyone who can build a working prototype is now a force multiplier.
On Vibehackers, we see this reflected in our job categories. Vibe coding jobs aren’t just engineering roles:
- Product & UX/Design/Prototyping — Designers who ship clickable prototypes, not just Figma files
- Software Engineering — Engineers where AI pair-programming is the standard workflow
- AI/ML & Data — Speed-to-insight roles, wiring datasets and evaluation loops
- Product/Program/Architecture/Ops — PMs and TPMs who build the first version themselves
- GTM/Marketing/Sales/DevRel — Growth experiments that need code, sales engineering, customer-specific demos
Building Your Portfolio
Your portfolio is the single most important asset. Not your resume. Not your LinkedIn. Your portfolio.
What to Build
The projects that get you hired solve real problems:
- A SaaS tool — even a tiny one with users and a Stripe integration
- An internal tool — something that saved a team real hours
- A public-facing app — shipped to a live URL, with real feedback
- An open-source contribution — showing you can work in existing codebases
Do not build another todo list. Build something where you can say “50 people used this” or “this saved my team 10 hours a week.”
One approach that’s gaining traction: build something, grow it, flip it. This TikTok tells the story of a vibe coder who built an app, grew it to $7K monthly recurring revenue in two months, then sold it on acquire.com for $350K:
How to Present It
For each project, include:
- Live URL — deployed and working. Not “clone the repo and run npm install.”
- What it does — one sentence. If you can’t explain it in one sentence, simplify.
- What tools you used — “Built with Cursor + Claude Code, deployed on Vercel, database on Supabase”
- What you learned — trade-offs you made, what broke, how you fixed it
- Metrics — users, signups, revenue, time saved. Anything quantifiable.
Process Documentation Matters
Don’t just show the result. Show how you built it. Companies want to see your workflow — how you prompt, how you iterate, how you debug when AI gives you broken code. Because as Catalin perfectly put it:
Vibe coding is easy. Vibe debugging is the hard part. Show that you can do both.
Your Resume (The Tricky Part)
Here’s something important that doesn’t get said enough:
Be careful with the phrase “vibe coding” on your resume. One hiring manager quoted in a recent article said: “I’d strongly advise against mentioning vibe coding unironically… it’s a meme in tech.”
The reality is nuanced. In some companies, “vibe coder” is the literal job title. In others, it’ll get your resume filtered out. Read the room.
Safe Resume Language
Use these phrases instead of (or alongside) “vibe coding”:
- AI-assisted development — universally understood
- AI-augmented engineering — sounds senior
- Prompt-driven prototyping — specific and descriptive
- Rapid prototyping with AI tools — clear outcome focus
What to Put in Your Skills Section
Tools: Cursor, Claude Code, v0.dev, Bolt.new, Lovable, Replit, GitHub Copilot
Workflows: AI pair-programming, rapid prototyping, spec-to-code delivery, agentic workflows, MCP integration
Languages: Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, React, Next.js — these are what the tools generate
Resume Bullets That Work
“Used Cursor and Claude Code to prototype features 5x faster, shipping validated code in days instead of weeks”
“Built and launched internal automation tool with AI assistance, reducing team’s manual work by 15 hours/week — deployed to 40 users”
“Rapidly prototyped MVP using Lovable and Replit, validated with 200 beta users in 5 days, iterated to production in 3 weeks”
The pattern: tool + action + measurable outcome. Always pair the AI skill with proof of what it produced.
The New Interview Format
This is the biggest change in tech hiring in years. Companies are replacing LeetCode-style algorithm interviews with live prototyping sessions.
How It Works
The format: you get a vague product brief, 30-45 minutes, and your AI tools. Build something working. Explain your thinking as you go.
Companies confirmed to use this format: Google (AI PM roles), Netflix, Adobe, Figma, Perplexity, v0, Bolt.
What they’re actually evaluating:
- Product judgment — did you build the right thing, not just a thing?
- Speed and prioritization — what did you cut? What did you ship first?
- Communication — can you explain your decisions while building?
- Debugging under pressure — what happens when the AI gives you broken code?
- Tool fluency — do you fumble with your tools or flow?
Three Interview Formats You’ll See
- Live prototyping case (45 minutes) — Build a working demo from a brief
- Product + prototyping combo (30-60 minutes) — Design discussion followed by “now build it”
- Take-home prototype — Submit a deployed link within 24-48 hours
How to Prepare
Practice the 45-minute build. Pick a random product brief, set a timer, and build something working with Cursor or v0.dev. Do this 10 times. By the fifth, you’ll have a rhythm. By the tenth, you’ll be fast enough.
Practice narrating while building. This is the part people fail. You need to think out loud: “I’m starting with the data model because…” “I’m skipping auth for now because we have 40 minutes and the core value is…”
Know your tools cold. Switching between Cursor and Claude Code wastes minutes you don’t have. Pick your stack and master it.
Practice debugging AI output. The interviewer is watching what you do when createTweet is not a function shows up. Do you panic? Read the error? Ask the AI to fix it? Know your debugging workflow.
And yes, you still need fundamentals:
The AI handles syntax. You handle architecture, trade-offs, and “this feels wrong.” That intuition only comes from understanding how code actually works.
Where to Find Roles
Specialized Job Boards
- Vibehackers.io/jobs — We curate positions where AI-assisted development is the core workflow, not a buzzword
- Remote vibe coding jobs — Timezone-flexible, async-friendly, distributed teams
- Cursor-friendly roles — Companies where Cursor is the default IDE
- Claude Code roles — Deep reasoning, architecture work, terminal-native workflows
- Agentic workflow roles — MCP, RAG, tool calling, agent systems
The Company Landscape
Enterprise is hiring: Visa, Walmart, Google, ServiceNow, Amazon. These aren’t startup experiments — these are production roles with serious compensation.
Startups are hiring faster: Y Combinator companies (25% of the latest batch’s code is 95%+ AI-generated), AI-native startups, developer tools companies.
Freelance is booming: Fiverr created a dedicated vibe coding category. Upwork is flooded with requests. The “cleanup specialist” niche is printing money for developers who can harden AI-generated code.
Even the meme is real:
Yes, some vibe coding jobs still list “10 years of actual coding experience.” The market is figuring itself out. But the jobs are real and multiplying.
The Six-Week Plan
Here’s a concrete action plan if you’re starting from scratch:
Weeks 1-2: Tool Up
- Get proficient with Cursor and Claude Code (the two dominant tools)
- Learn v0.dev or Bolt.new for rapid prototyping
- Set up Replit for quick deployments
- Ship one small project. Anything. Just ship.
Weeks 3-5: Build Your Portfolio
- Build 3 projects that solve real problems
- Deploy each to a live URL
- Write clear READMEs: what it does, what tools you used, metrics
- Share your builds publicly — X/Twitter, LinkedIn, wherever your audience is
Week 6: Position and Apply
- Update resume with AI-assisted development language and project links
- Practice the 45-minute prototyping interview 5 times
- Apply to 10 roles from our job board and other sources
- Set up freelance profiles on Fiverr and Upwork if you want contract work
The Single Most Important Thing
Every hiring manager, every experienced developer, every honest take in this research emphasizes the same point:
You must be able to audit and fix AI-generated code.
The value is not in generating code with AI — anyone can do that now. The value is knowing when the AI is wrong and being able to fix it. One developer put it perfectly: “Vibe coding allows a single developer to generate the technical debt of 50 developers.” The people who can clean up that debt are extraordinarily valuable.
Build with AI. But understand what you’re building. That’s the skill that gets you hired.
Ready to start applying? Browse all vibe coding jobs — we curate positions daily where AI-assisted development is how the team ships. Or learn more about what vibe coding jobs actually look like and the tools professionals use.
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