Senior Developer Advocate

Senior Developer Advocate (US - Remote)

Location: US (Remote)

About NetFoundry:

NetFoundry is transforming how the world securely connects applications, services, and devices in an era where workloads live everywhere — across multi-cloud, edge, data centers, IoT, third-party and customer environments. Our secure workload connectivity platform replaces legacy networking and VPN complexity with software-defined, zero trust connectivity that is faster to deploy, easier to operate, and fundamentally more secure. This isn’t incremental change — it’s the redefinition of how connectivity works in an era driven by highly distributed workloads accessed by humans, applications, and AI agents.

Founded by the inventors and maintainers of OpenZiti, NetFoundry’s Identity-First Connectivity™ enables zero trust connectivity with no VPNs, no open inbound ports, and no firewall changes.

Software and IoT solution providers use it for secure communications with workloads at their customers’ sites. Enterprises secure access to their APIs and agentic AI services in order to avoid any opening that can be leveraged by an attacker. They also use NetFoundry to simplify the operation of hybrid IT/OT segmentation and enable identity-based microsegmentation.

We are headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and operate globally and are Series A  funded by top Cybersecurity venture capitalist SYN Ventures and Cisco Investments.

Role Overview:

NetFoundry is seeking a Senior Developer Advocate to accelerate adoption of our zero trust overlay network platform among developers, partners, and technical buyers.

We're looking for someone to join the team and help more developers discover and succeed with OpenZiti.

The role is hands-on — you'll write code (Go, Java, C/C++, JavaScript and more), build tutorials and reference architectures, ship real demos, and spend time in communities helping people understand the parts of zero trust networking that might have been difficult to understand at first.

You'll also drive integration into complementary projects and feed what you're hearing from external developers back to the team. We're a small team, there's real autonomy, and you'll definitely have an impact.

This is a hands-on individual contributor role focused on execution. You will work with OpenZiti and related open source projects, which are powerful but often intimidating, and help developers understand why this shift matters for the applications they are building and how to use it in practice.

The Core Challenge: 

Zero trust networking and overlay networks are genuinely new territory for most developers. They span security, networking, and distributed systems in ways that aren't yet part of most developers standard developer toolkit. Your job is to be the guide: taking concepts that sound like enterprise architecture diagrams and turning them into clear mental models, working code samples, and "aha!" moments that make developers say "oh, this solves real problems I've been working to solve."

You will act as:

• A translator making intimidating networking concepts accessible and compelling
• A credible builder of demos, samples, and reference architectures
• A structured feedback channel between developers and product teams
• A catalyst for developer ecosystem growth from near-zero awareness

Key Activities:

Developer Advocacy & Awareness

• Proactively engage in strategic online communities, driving meaningful discussions, answering questions, and building trusted relationships with developers
• Ship substantial technical tutorials or reference architectures
• Build and maintain demo environments showcasing real-world use cases
• Write at multiple depth levels: intro tutorials → architectural deep-dives
• Deliver technical presentations and hands-on workshops at targeted conferences
• Participate in podcasts, webinars, and technical interviews
• Create compelling analogies and mental models that make complex networking accessible

Developer Experience & Product Feedback

• Maintain active feedback loops with the community
• Document onboarding friction and recurring pain points in concise reports
• Advocate for developer needs with the product team
• Review SDKs, APIs, documentation for clarity
• Own monthly metrics dashboard: content reach, community health, developer satisfaction
  
  

Ecosystem & Strategic Support

• Drive inclusion of OpenZiti in complementary projects’ documentation, examples, integrations, and reference architectures
• Identify opportunities to embed OpenZiti into adjacent developer workflows and tooling ecosystems
• Build relationships with technical champions at strategic accounts
• Organize quarterly virtual meetups or local gatherings
• Identify and nurture potential integration partners
  

The Reality:

• OpenZiti is proven but not yet widely known — you're building awareness in communities ready for this approach
• You'll operate with lean resources; prioritization and ROI focus are critical
• Networking and security concepts are genuinely difficult to communicate; patience and creativity required
• You'll constantly context-switch between technical depth and accessible communication

You'll Thrive If:

• You get energized by explaining hard things until they click for people
• You can context-switch between writing code, writing tutorials, and talking to customers
• You can work independently but know when to ask for help
• You don't need a big brand behind you — you can build credibility through technical substance

What We're Looking For:

Required:

• 7-10+ years in technical roles with 3+ years explicitly in Developer Advocacy, DevRel, or Developer Experience
• Infrastructure platform experience: You've worked with APIs, networking tools, security platforms, or distributed systems — not just application frameworks
• Portfolio of technical content that demonstrably drove adoption (provide links in application)
• Evidence of community growth you directly influenced with metrics (GitHub analytics, forum growth, content reach → activation)
• Proven coding ability: You build demos developers trust enough to fork and use as starting points
• Multi-language experience: Hands-on work with at least two of Go, Java, C/C++, JavaScript
• Multi-level communication: Can write intro tutorials for junior devs AND architectural guides for staff engineers
  

Strongly Preferred:

• Demonstrated experience growing a developer community through a significant inflection point
• Comfort with networking and security concepts, or proven ability to quickly master complex technical domains
• Open source community management or core contributor experience
• Track record building developer awareness for a product without strong brand recognition
• Proven ability to create metaphors and mental models that make abstract concepts concrete
• History of working cross-functionally (product, engineering, sales) to drive adoption

Not Required (But Helpful):

• Experience with Go, C/C++, or systems programming
• Kubernetes operator development or service mesh architectures
• Prior work in zero trust, SASE, or SD-WAN spaces
• Video content creation or live streaming technical content

Team & Reporting:

• Reports to: Head of Developer Experience (who actively works alongside you in the field)
• Team size: You'll be the founding DevRel hire with room to shape the program and grow the function
• You'll have a partner, not just a manager — collaborative execution on big initiatives

Operational Details:

• Fully remote; U.S. time zones preferred for overlap with team and community
• Quarterly planning cycle: You'll own your roadmap with input from stakeholders
• Travel: Expect conferences/year plus occasional customer visits
• Autonomy: High — you'll be trusted to prioritize based on impact, not activity

Environment and Location:

We are remote and always have been! You will work in a fast-paced, high-performance startup environment as part of a globally distributed team. 

What We Offer:

We have a range of excellent benefits and perks, including:

• Competitive salary (base + bonus) and equity compensation package 
• Remote with flexible working hours
• Comprehensive health benefits (Medical, Dental, and Vision) with expanded well-being benefits
• Employer-paid Life, AD&D, Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
• 401K with company match
• Learning and Development Budget
• Paid Holidays
• Unlimited PTO
• Technology Stipend
• Internet Stipend
• SWAG Stipend