Head of Developer Evangelism - DevRel

PayPal•San Jose, CA

2d•$218,000 - $323,950•Hybrid

About The Position

The Company PayPal has been revolutionizing commerce globally for more than 25 years. Creating innovative experiences that make moving money, selling, and shopping simple, personalized, and secure, PayPal empowers consumers and businesses in approximately 200 markets to join and thrive in the global economy. We operate a global, two-sided network at scale that connects hundreds of millions of merchants and consumers. We help merchants and consumers connect, transact, and complete payments, whether they are online or in person. PayPal is more than a connection to third-party payment networks. We provide proprietary payment solutions accepted by merchants that enable the completion of payments on our platform on behalf of our customers. We offer our customers the flexibility to use their accounts to purchase and receive payments for goods and services, as well as the ability to transfer and withdraw funds. We enable consumers to exchange funds more safely with merchants using a variety of funding sources, which may include a bank account, a PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products, a credit card, a debit card, certain cryptocurrencies, or other stored value products such as gift cards, and eligible credit card rewards. Our PayPal, Venmo, and Xoom products also make it safer and simpler for friends and family to transfer funds to each other. We offer merchants an end-to-end payments solution that provides authorization and settlement capabilities, as well as instant access to funds and payouts. We also help merchants connect with their customers, process exchanges and returns, and manage risk. We enable consumers to engage in cross-border shopping and merchants to extend their global reach while reducing the complexity and friction involved in enabling cross-border trade. Our beliefs are the foundation for how we conduct business every day. We live each day guided by our core values of Inclusion, Innovation, Collaboration, and Wellness. Together, our values ensure that we work together as one global team with our customers at the center of everything we do – and they push us to ensure we take care of ourselves, each other, and our communities. Job Summary: This role provides strategic leadership for PayPal’s global Developer Relations (DevRel) function, aligning developer engagement, advocacy, and enablement programs with business and platform objectives. The Head of Developer Relations leads cross-functional initiatives that strengthen PayPal’s developer ecosystem through technical evangelism, community engagement, content, and feedback loops that influence product strategy. This position partners closely with Engineering, Product, Platform, and Marketing leaders to ensure developers can successfully build, integrate, and scale on PayPal technologies. Success in this role requires balancing technical credibility, program execution, and executive communication to drive adoption, trust, and long-term platform growth. Job Description: Essential Responsibilities: Establish a shared vision across the company for one or more products, or a platform product enabling development & scalability, with a deliberate and cohesive strategy. Leads product strategy development, and develops a clear, executable view of the product strategy with cross-functional stakeholders. Influences the architectural roadmap and balances innovative design and technical implementation, while balancing regulatory requirements, time-to-market, meeting customer needs and product profitability. Champions the customer experience and prioritizes customer needs in product requirements and decision making. Defines and uses metrics that inform the success of products including usability studies, research and market analysis. Standardizes workstreams to include analytics, customer discovery, market research and competitive analysis to drive data-driven decision-making. Responsible for product profitability, including budgetary decisions. Leads operational mechanisms that drive execution and accountability including Product Reviews, Operating Reviews, and Business Reviews. Interfaces with senior leadership as needed. Maximizes efficiency in a constantly evolving environment where the process is fluid and creative solutions are the standard.

Requirements

10+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.
2 years of experience leading others

Nice To Haves

Proven experience leading Developer Relations, Developer Experience (DX), Platform Evangelism, or API-focused organizations at scale.
Strong technical background with hands-on experience working with APIs, SDKs, developer platforms, or cloud-based services.
Demonstrated ability to influence product and platform direction through developer feedback, data, and ecosystem insights.
Experience building and scaling developer communities, advocacy programs, and technical evangelism initiatives.
Ability to balance technical depth with strategic leadership and executive-level communication.
Experience working in FinTech, payments, platform, or regulated technology environments.
Strong cross-functional leadership skills, with a track record of partnering effectively with Engineering, Product, Marketing, and Platform teams.
Comfort representing a company externally with developers, partners, and industry leaders.
Experience defining metrics and measuring the business impact of developer-focused programs.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end strategy for PayPal’s global Developer Relations organization, spanning developer advocacy, evangelism, community engagement, technical content, and feedback programs.
Define how PayPal engages developers across the full lifecycle—from first API call through production adoption and long-term platform growth.
Lead the development of scalable DevRel programs that increase developer adoption, satisfaction, and retention across PayPal APIs, SDKs, and platforms.
Serve as the primary executive voice for the developer ecosystem internally, translating developer needs, friction points, and insights into clear inputs for Product and Engineering roadmaps.
Partner deeply with Engineering and Product leaders to influence platform design, API usability, documentation quality, and developer experience standards.
Establish formal feedback loops between developers and internal teams, ensuring community input informs prioritization, roadmap decisions, and platform improvements.
Drive technical evangelism through thought leadership, conference strategy, keynote participation, technical talks, blogs, demos, and hands-on enablement.
Oversee developer-facing content strategy, including documentation alignment, tutorials, sample applications, and best-practice guidance in partnership with technical writing and platform teams.
Collaborate with Product Marketing, Partnerships, and Sales to support platform launches, integrations, and ecosystem expansion.
Represent PayPal externally with developers, partners, and industry communities, strengthening PayPal’s reputation as a trusted, developer-first platform.
Define and track success metrics for DevRel programs, including developer adoption, engagement, sentiment, and ecosystem health.
Build, scale, and lead a high-performing global DevRel team, including hiring, mentoring, performance management, and career development.
Manage DevRel programs as large-scale initiatives, balancing priorities, timelines, budgets, and cross-functional dependencies.
Communicate DevRel strategy, outcomes, and insights to senior leadership with clarity and measurable impact.