diff --git a/src/components/Footer.jsx b/src/components/Footer.jsx
index 27bfbd0..faba171 100644
--- a/src/components/Footer.jsx
+++ b/src/components/Footer.jsx
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 "use client";
+import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
 import { usePathname } from "@/hooks/usePathname";
+import { fetchOpeningsCount } from "@/lib/careers";
 import { Button } from "@/components/Button";
 import routes from "@/generated/routes.json";
 import clsx from "clsx";
@@ -137,7 +139,28 @@ export function PageNextPrevious({ navigation }) {
 	);
 }
 
-function SmallPrint() {
+// Live opening count for the Careers pill. `initialOpenings` is fetched
+// server-side (BaseLayout) so the pill is in the initial HTML — no dependency on
+// the visitor's browser reaching workatastartup.com. The client refresh keeps a
+// statically-built page current; a blocked or failed refresh keeps the seed.
+const CAREERS_HREF = "/careers";
+
+function useOpeningsCount(initial) {
+	const [count, setCount] = useState(initial ?? null);
+
+	useEffect(() => {
+		const controller = new AbortController();
+		fetchOpeningsCount(controller.signal).then((next) => {
+			if (next !== null) setCount(next);
+		});
+		return () => controller.abort();
+	}, []);
+
+	return count;
+}
+
+function SmallPrint({ initialOpenings }) {
+	const openings = useOpeningsCount(initialOpenings);
 	return (
 		<div className="mx-auto max-w-7xl w-full py-16">
 			<div className="grid grid-cols-1 min-[440px]:grid-cols-2 gap-8 md:grid-cols-4 lg:grid-cols-6">
@@ -220,13 +243,21 @@ function SmallPrint() {
 					<h3 className="font-mono text-[11px] font-medium uppercase tracking-[0.18em] text-ink-faint mb-4">Company</h3>
 					<ul className="space-y-3">
 						{footer.company.map((item) => (
-							<li key={item.name}>
+							<li key={item.name} className="flex items-center gap-2">
 								<a
 									href={item.href}
 									className="text-sm text-ink-soft hover:text-ink transition-colors"
 								>
 									{item.name}
 								</a>
+								{item.href === CAREERS_HREF && openings > 0 && (
+									<span
+										className="rounded-full border border-pine/25 bg-pine/[0.06] px-1.5 py-0.5 font-mono text-[10px] font-medium leading-none text-pine"
+										aria-label={`${openings} open ${openings === 1 ? "position" : "positions"}`}
+									>
+										{openings}
+									</span>
+								)}
 							</li>
 						))}
 					</ul>
@@ -308,7 +339,7 @@ function SmallPrint() {
 // a dark override wrapper instead.
 const DARK_THEMED_PATH_PREFIXES = ['/learn'];
 
-export function Footer({ initialPathname = "" }) {
+export function Footer({ initialPathname = "", initialOpenings = null }) {
 	// usePathname returns "" during SSR; fall back to the server-provided path
 	// so docs pages do not flash a light footer before hydration.
 	const pathname = usePathname() || initialPathname;
@@ -331,7 +362,7 @@ export function Footer({ initialPathname = "" }) {
 				<h2 id="footer-heading" className="sr-only">
 					Footer
 				</h2>
-				<SmallPrint />
+				<SmallPrint initialOpenings={initialOpenings} />
 			</footer>
 		</div>
 	);
diff --git a/src/layouts/BaseLayout.astro b/src/layouts/BaseLayout.astro
index fee77ba..2260e9d 100644
--- a/src/layouts/BaseLayout.astro
+++ b/src/layouts/BaseLayout.astro
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import '@fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core/styles.css';
 import { ViewTransitions } from 'astro:transitions';
 import { EmbedDetector } from '@/components/EmbedDetector';
 import { Footer } from '@/components/Footer';
+import { fetchOpeningsCount } from '@/lib/careers';
 import { Providers } from '@/components/Providers';
 import { TooltipProvider } from '@rivet-gg/components';
 import CopyCodeScript from '@/components/CopyCodeScript.astro';
@@ -68,6 +69,13 @@ const effectiveCanonicalUrl = canonicalUrl || `https://rivet.dev${ensureTrailing
 
 // RSS feed is only relevant for blog and changelog pages
 const showRssFeed = currentPath.startsWith('/blog') || currentPath.startsWith('/changelog');
+
+// Open-role count for the footer Careers pill, fetched server-side so the pill
+// is baked into the HTML and does not depend on the visitor's browser reaching
+// workatastartup.com. Bounded so a slow feed cannot stall the response; a null
+// result (timeout/error) simply renders no pill. The Footer refreshes this
+// client-side to keep statically-built pages current.
+const footerOpenings = await fetchOpeningsCount(AbortSignal.timeout(4000));
 ---
 
 <!DOCTYPE html>
@@ -201,7 +209,7 @@ const showRssFeed = currentPath.startsWith('/blog') || currentPath.startsWith('/
 			</Providers>
 		</TooltipProvider>
 		<EmbedDetector client:load />
-		<Footer client:load initialPathname={Astro.url.pathname} />
+		<Footer client:load initialPathname={Astro.url.pathname} initialOpenings={footerOpenings} />
 		<CopyCodeScript />
 		<TabsScript />
 		<MermaidScript />
diff --git a/src/lib/careers.ts b/src/lib/careers.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6aab957
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/careers.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+// Single source for the Work at a Startup feed that powers both the /careers
+// job board and the footer Careers pill. Keeping the URL and the shape logic
+// here stops the server-side fetch (BaseLayout) and the client-side refresh
+// (Footer) from drifting apart.
+export const WAAS_JOBS_URL = "https://www.workatastartup.com/embed/rivet/jobs";
+
+// Returns the number of open roles, or null on any failure (network error, bad
+// status, unexpected shape). Callers render no pill when the count is null.
+// The feed sends `access-control-allow-origin: *`, so this works from the
+// browser as well as the server.
+export async function fetchOpeningsCount(
+	signal?: AbortSignal,
+): Promise<number | null> {
+	try {
+		const res = await fetch(WAAS_JOBS_URL, signal ? { signal } : undefined);
+		if (!res.ok) return null;
+		const data = await res.json();
+		return Array.isArray(data?.jobs) ? data.jobs.length : null;
+	} catch {
+		return null;
+	}
+}