Careers at Barista

This isn't a normal job posting, because this isn't a normal job. So I'm going to skip the format and just tell you what this is.

I'm Rachael, co-founder and CEO of Barista. Before this I spent 20+ years doing senior comms work – agency side, in-house, and broadcast journalism. Now I'm building the AI platform I always wished existed, with my co-founder Pete and a small engineering team, bootstrapped.

My client work is growing faster than I can handle alone, and our platform is weeks from its closed beta.

What you'd do

Real PR work for real clients – media research, list building, pitching, content development, coverage tracking.

You'll do all of it through Barista. You'll be the first person on earth whose entire PR job runs through an AI-native platform and when it can't do something you need, tell us and we'll build it. Your frustration turns into the product roadmap.

You will be both a junior PR pro on live client accounts, and the most important product tester we may ever hire.

What this looks like day to day

• Running research, building relationships, curating media lists, and drafting content for our clients through Barista's agents
• Working directly with me on client strategy and execution (you'll get to see exec-level comms and business-building up close)
• Standing sessions with Pete and our engineers, where your product feedback gets triaged into the build queue
• Helping us create the first “AI-native PR practice”

Who this is for

Someone with roughly 2–4 years of PR experience (B2B tech background is a plus), agency or in-house, with really good judgement.

Maybe you've already been automating parts of your job or you vibe code and build agents for fun. You know what MCP means.

Most importantly, you want to build something with us.

What we don't know

This role will not look the same in 18 months. We don't know exactly what it becomes, but you will help define and expand it. If you prefer a big-company title and tools that always work, this job will probably make you miserable. Remember, our platform is in beta.

No need to apply if:

• You want a traditional agency career path (no judgment! this just isn't it)
• You think AI is going to destroy the PR industry (we need pragmatists)
• You need software to work perfectly before you can do your job

The money, plainly

$60–80K/year, fully remote (although who wouldn't want to visit Bend at least once a year?)

We also offer meaningful equity in the company with standard vesting. You'd be our first hire. If Barista becomes what we think it can become, you will share in the success. If it doesn't, you'll have spent a couple of years getting an education in AI-native services work that almost nobody else has.

How to apply

No cover letter. Instead, send us two things:

1. A short note (a few paragraphs, email is fine) on the most interesting thing you've done with AI in your day-to-day work
2. Anything that shows your PR craft – coverage you landed, a pitch you're proud of, a list you built

Send to careers@getbarista.ai. We'll move fast – a conversation with me, a working session with Pete (you'll use an early version of Barista on a real task), then a decision.

Barista is an AI-powered PR intelligence platform for agencies, freelancers, and in-house comms teams.