Head of Developer Relations

Job description

ABOUT EXA We raised a $250M Series C to build the search engine for AIs. Led by a16z, with existing investors Benchmark, Lightspeed, and YC doubling down, the round brings Exa's valuation to $2.2 billion. Exa is building a search engine for the AI era. Our Search API currently powers Agents, Fortune 500s and AI labs as we transform an industry that hasn't been disrupted since the 90s. We're a largely SF-based team of ~100 from Harvard, MIT, Meta, Google Research, ex-founders & dropouts alike. We are rapidly building the most intelligent search engine in history. We're high agency, low-ego, and united by the feeling that this is one of the last problems worth getting right. We are looking for a Head of Developer Relations to make Exa the search layer developers reach for by default. ABOUT THE ROLE Every agent needs to retrieve information, and the developer building that agent makes the call about how. Our job is to make that decision easy: in the frameworks they're using, in the communities where they're engaging, and in the talks or demos that showed them what perfect search can do. Community and evangelism sit at the center of this role, running memorable events and hackathons, and building a base of people who advocate for Exa because the product earned it. Alongside that, you own the ecosystem, getting Exa integrated into the frameworks, developer tools, and platforms our users already build on. You are the first dedicated DevRel leader, so you'll build the function. You’ll hire and coach developer advocates, but you will also stay hands-on. The credibility of this role rests on your ability to build and demo. This role is based in-person at our San Francisco HQ. WHAT YOU'LL OWN DEVELOPER COMMUNITY AND EVANGELISM Own how Exa shows up in the developer world: community spaces, hackathons, meetups, conference talks, open source presence, and the day-to-day of being useful to developers in public. Success is measured by active community engagement and by developer awareness in our target segments. ECOSYSTEM AND INTEGRATION PARTNERSHIPS Own the technical partnerships that put Exa inside the tools developers already use: agent frameworks, orchestration libraries, IDEs and coding agents, and platform integrations. Drive these from first conversation through shipped, documented, maintained integration. Success is measured by integrations live and by developer adoption flowing through them. DEVELOPER AWARENESS AND ADVOCACY Own the programs that turn users into advocates: champions, ambassadors, community contributors, and the developers who build impressive things on Exa and get amplified for it. Success is measured by third-party content and advocacy we did not pay for. DEVELOPER EDUCATION AND DEMOS Own reference applications, demos, workshops, and technical talks. You partner with Technical PMM, who owns the blog and organic content, while you own the material that gets built and shown live. TEAM BUILDING Hire, lead, and set the bar for a growing DevRel team. Success is measured by the caliber of the people you attract and by whether they ship without you in the room. PRODUCT FEEDBACK LOOP Own the channel that carries developer friction back to Product and Engineering: onboarding drop-off, API ergonomics, documentation gaps, and the things developers try that do not work. Success is measured by fixes shipped. WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE - Developers building agents know Exa, and can name what it does better than the alternatives. - Exa is a first-class integration in the frameworks that matter, with usage to show for it. - A real community exists, with contributors and advocates who are not on payroll. - Demos and talks from this team are the material sales and marketing want to use. - Developer friction gets fixed faster because someone owns carrying it inward. - The function scales beyond you with a productive and cohesive team. WHAT THIS ROLE DOES NOT OWN - Benchmarks, and organic discovery content: Technical PMM for Content. - Commercial partnerships, marketplaces, co-marketing, and customer case studies: Customer & Partner Marketing. - Press, analyst relations, and executive speaking placements: Communications. - Paid acquisition, website, and self-serve funnel mechanics: Digital Marketing. - Enterprise events and pipeline programs: Field Marketing. - Product roadmap and API design decisions: Product and Engineering. WHO YOU ARE - 6+ years across developer relations, developer marketing, or engineering with a substantial public presence, including time at a company selling an API or developer platform. - Deep craft as a communicator to developers: talks, workshops, streams, or writing you can point to, and a live demo you are proud of. - Engineering credibility with the AI stack. You build with LLMs, agents, and retrieval, and you can hold a technical conversation with engineers. - A track record building community from an early stage. - Experience driving ecosystem or integration partnerships to shipped code, working with partner engineering teams and getting your integration maintained rather than merged and abandoned. - Experience hiring or mentoring DevRel talent, and a point of view on what separates good from great. - Judgment about measurement: you can defend how DevRel creates value. NICE TO HAVE - Open source maintainer experience or meaningful contributions developers would recognize. - Experience at a company that grew primarily through developer adoption. - Existing presence in the AI and agent developer community. - Experience running a hackathon or developer conference program at scale. - Time as a professional software engineer before moving into DevRel. BENEFITS - Health and wellness: Premium medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus a monthly wellness benefit and a monthly commuter benefit for our SF team. - Fertility and family planning: Reimbursement for eligible egg freezing and related medical expenses up to a $15,000 lifetime maximum, plus 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for all new parents, whether through birth, adoption, surrogacy, or foster placement. - Life at Exa: Lunch and dinner served daily, an office stocked with snacks, coffee, and health supplements, fresh bread from a local bakery every morning, weekly milk tea deliveries, monthly picnics, and parties to celebrate the wins (and each other). - Visa sponsorship: We sponsor visas for exceptional candidates and welcome applicants from all backgrounds and locations. Exa is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related conditions, criminal histories consistent with applicable law, or any other basis protected by applicable law.