Developer Relations Engineer

Buf is building a new paradigm for APIs. Our open source and commercial software helps companies adopt Protobuf schemas throughout their stack, from gRPC APIs to streaming data in Kafka. Founded in 2020, we have raised money from leading investors, including Lightspeed, Tiger, and Addition. We’re deployed everywhere from small startups to the world’s largest enterprises, and we’d love your help growing even faster. Check out our open source projects on GitHub and join our Slack community to see what Buf is all about.

We're now expanding our Developer Relations team to grow relationships with our developer community and foster success with Buf's products. 

About the Role

This position combines technical expertise with communication skills. You'll need to understand the challenges developers face and translate that knowledge into workshops, documentation, talks, and community engagement that helps solve real problems.

• Create technical content including tutorials, workshop materials, demo applications and blog posts that help developers understand and adopt Buf technologies
• Represent Buf at conferences, meetups, and online events—both speaking and attending to understand developer needs
• Build and maintain relationships with developers, open source maintainers, and technical leaders in the API and data infrastructure communities
• Gather feedback from the community and work with product and engineering teams to improve our tools and documentation
• Develop and deliver hands-on workshops and webinars that teach developers how to use Buf and Protobuf effectively
• Monitor community channels and identify opportunities to improve the developer experience
• Track developer sentiment and measure the impact of DevRel initiatives

What We're Looking For

• Strong technical background, ideally with hands-on experience working with tools like Protobuf, Connect RPC, gRPC, or similar technologies
• Proven ability to explain complex technical concepts clearly to different audiences
• Experience creating technical content (blog posts, documentation, talks, or tutorials)
• Comfortable speaking at conferences and running workshops or technical presentations
• Genuine interest in helping developers succeed and solving their technical challenges
• Self-directed work style with strong project management skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Nice to Have

• Experience with schema management, API governance, and/or data infrastructure tools
• Background in developer advocacy, technical marketing, or developer relations
• Active presence in relevant developer communities or open source projects

Why Join Buf

• Join a team that values clear communication and technical depth over hype
• Remote-first culture with flexibility to manage your own schedule
• Opportunity to directly impact developer experience and product direction
• Collaborate with talented engineers and developers solving real problems

How to apply

Please apply with your resume and a cover letter that includes examples of technical content you've created (blog posts, talks, documentation, or other work that demonstrates your ability to communicate technical concepts effectively). We’ll respect your time and be as transparent as possible.

At Buf, we embrace diversity. We know that diverse teams make great teams, and we encourage people from all backgrounds and life experiences to apply. It is our goal to ensure that our workplace can be anyone’s workplace. If your experience isn’t an exact match for this job description, we encourage you to apply anyway!  We’re always looking to add diversity of thought and perspective to our team.

By submitting an application, you agree to the retention of your personal data for consideration for a future position at Buf. More details about Buf’s privacy practices can be found at: https://buf.build/resources/privacy/.