Analyze job roles for fit, draft application question responses, find hiring managers, and create follow-up emails for RYLLC job applications. Focuses on climate tech IC product/SRE roles.
Installation
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Analyze job roles for fit, draft application question responses, find hiring managers, and create follow-up emails for RYLLC job applications. Focuses on climate tech IC product/SRE roles.
Job Apply Skill
Purpose: Streamline job application process by analyzing role fit, drafting responses to application questions, identifying hiring managers, and creating follow-up outreach emails.
Core Workflow
Fetch and analyze job posting (via WebFetch/WebSearch)
Assess role fit against candidate profile
Draft cover letter tailored to the role
Draft responses to application questions
Find hiring manager via LinkedIn/web search
Generate follow-up email using job posting outreach template
Create Gmail draft with label: ๐ ๏ธ Craft/๐ผ Vocation/๐ป RYLLC
Candidate Profile
Background
6 years as CTO and co-founder of Gremlin (chaos engineering pioneer)
"I'm deeply committed to working on climate solutions, and [Company]'s approach to [specific problem] resonates with me. At QuitCarbon, I saw firsthand how technical execution can accelerate decarbonization. I'm particularly excited about [specific technical challenge from job posting] because at Gremlin, we wrestled with similar distributed systems challenges around [relevant experience]. I believe my experience scaling [relevant system] could help [Company] achieve [specific goal from their mission]."
"Tell us about an achievement you are proud of"
Structure:
Context (1 sentence) - What was the situation/challenge?
Action (2-3 sentences) - What did you do? Focus on technical approach and leadership
Impact (1-2 sentences) - What was the result? Technical and business impact
Tone: Concrete, technical, impact-focused. No bragging about metrics unless specifically asked.
Example:
"At Gremlin, we faced a critical challenge: how do you quantify the value of failures that didn't happen? I led the architecture of our reliability scoring system, designing a distributed event processing pipeline that correlated chaos experiments with production incidents. This required building consensus across engineering and product on what 'resilience' meant quantitatively. The system became core to our product value proposition and enabled customers to demonstrate ROI to their executives. I'm proud of both the technical architecture and the cross-functional collaboration required to ship it."
"What are your salary expectations?"
Approach:
For IC roles: Research market rate for Staff+ in that geo/industry
Climate tech typically pays 10-20% below big tech
Be flexible but know your floor
Standard range: $180K-$220K base for Staff Engineer at climate tech companies
Example response:
"I'm targeting $[X]-$[Y] base salary, which I believe aligns with market rates for Staff+ engineers in climate tech. I'm flexible on the exact number depending on equity, benefits, and the overall compensation package. Most important to me is working on meaningful climate solutions with a strong technical team."
Other common questions
"What are you looking for in your next role?" - IC technical work, climate mission, distributed systems challenges, remote flexibility
"Describe a technical challenge you solved" - Use Gremlin or QuitCarbon examples, focus on distributed systems/reliability/scaling
"How do you approach technical leadership?" - Barbell approach: deep technical work + strategic direction, not middle management
Cover Letter Guidelines
Purpose: Every job application should include a tailored cover letter that demonstrates genuine interest and technical fit.
Length: 250-350 words (3-4 paragraphs)
Tone: Professional but conversational, specific to the role and company, shows research and genuine interest
Structure
Paragraph 1: Opening and Mission Alignment (2-3 sentences)
Express enthusiasm for the specific role and company
Connect to their mission or technical challenge
Show you understand what they do
Paragraph 2: Technical Fit and Relevant Experience (3-4 sentences)
Highlight most relevant experience from Gremlin/QuitCarbon
Connect your expertise to their specific technical needs from job posting
Demonstrate understanding of their technical challenges
Use concrete examples without bragging about metrics
Paragraph 3: Why This Role/Why Now (2-3 sentences)
Explain what you're looking for in your next role
Connect it to what makes this opportunity unique
Show alignment between your goals and their needs
Paragraph 4: Closing (1-2 sentences)
Express eagerness to discuss further
Thank them for consideration
Keep it warm and professional
Example Template
I'm writing to express my strong interest in the [Job Title] position at [Company]. [Specific aspect of their mission/technology] resonates deeply with my commitment to [relevant value/goal], and I'm excited about the opportunity to contribute to [specific company goal or technical challenge].
I spent six years as CTO and co-founder of Gremlin, where I [relevant technical achievement tied to their needs]. Before that, I [relevant prior experience]. At QuitCarbon, I served as Head of Engineering and saw firsthand how [relevant insight about climate tech/their domain]. I'm particularly drawn to [specific technical challenge from posting] because [connection to your experience], and I believe my background in [relevant expertise] would enable me to [specific contribution to their goals].
I'm looking for Staff+ IC engineering work where I can focus on deep technical challenges in [relevant domain] while contributing to climate solutions. [Company's] approach to [specific aspect of their work] represents exactly the kind of meaningful technical problem I want to spend my time on. The opportunity to [specific aspect from job posting] while [another specific aspect] aligns perfectly with how I work best.
I'd welcome the opportunity to discuss how my experience in [relevant areas] could help [Company] [specific goal]. Thank you for considering my application.
Best regards,
Matthew Fornaciari
Key Principles
Be specific: Reference actual details from the job posting and company
Show research: Demonstrate you understand their product, mission, and technical challenges
Connect dots: Explicitly link your experience to their needs
No generic statements: Every sentence should be unique to this company/role
Technical credibility: Show you understand their stack and challenges
Mission alignment: Especially important for climate tech roles
No bragging: Focus on experience and fit, not metrics or accomplishments
What to Avoid
Generic opening: "I am writing to apply for..."
Listing resume bullet points
Mentioning multiple companies or roles in comparison
Overly formal language or business jargon
Metrics bragging ($10M ARR, 100+ customers, etc.)
Spelling the company name wrong
Forgetting to customize template placeholders
Finding Hiring Managers
Search Strategy
Priority 1: LinkedIn Search
[Company Name] (Director of Engineering OR VP Engineering OR Head of Engineering OR CTO OR Engineering Manager)
Filter by:
Current company match
Engineering/Product department
Seniority level
Priority 2: Job Posting Analysis
Look for "Reports to:" section
Check posting author/recruiter connections
Search company engineering blog for author names
Priority 3: Company Website/About Page
Look for engineering leadership team
Check "Team" or "About" pages
LinkedIn cross-reference
Priority 4: GitHub/Technical Community
Search company GitHub org for active contributors
Look for engineering managers in commit history
Cross-reference with LinkedIn
Sizing Guidelines
Startup (< 50 people):
Likely: CTO or co-founder
Sometimes: Head of Engineering
Scale-up (50-200 people):
Likely: VP Engineering or Head of Engineering
Sometimes: Director of Engineering (if specific team)
Growth Stage (200-500 people):
Likely: Director of Engineering
Sometimes: VP Engineering (if senior role)
Large Company (500+ people):
Likely: Director or Senior Engineering Manager
Sometimes: VP (if very senior role)
Follow-Up Email Generation
Use template: ~/Eudaimonia/Craft/Vocation/templates/07-job-posting-cold-outreach.md
Key Elements
Subject line: Title Case, reference role
Reference job posting with hyperlink to posting
Forward request to right person (polite)
Brief credentials showing technical fit (1-2 sentences)
Specific interest in their tech/mission (1-2 sentences)
Fractional alternative pitch - "rather than (or alongside) a full-time hire"
Low-pressure close with scheduling link
Word count: ~150-170 words
Template Structure
Subject: [Role Title] at [Company]
Hi [First Name],
[Opening: Found posting + forward request]
[Brief credentials: Gremlin CTO + relevant experience]
[Specific interest: What excites you about their tech/mission]
[Fractional pitch: Position as alternative or complement]
[Close: Scheduling link]
Matthew Fornaciari
Gmail Integration
After generating email:
Create draft via the gws CLI (see the gws-gmail skills): gws gmail +send --to <EMAIL> --subject '...' --html --body '<p>...</p>' --draft
