We are seeking an experienced Developer Experience Lead to drive the measurement, improvement, and advocacy of developer experience across a complex software development environment.
This role focuses on understanding how developers interact with platforms, tools, processes, and documentation, then using quantitative and qualitative data to identify friction and drive measurable improvements. The ideal candidate combines strong analytical and research skills with deep developer empathy, persuasive communication, and a product-oriented mindset.
Key Responsibilities
Developer Experience Strategy & Measurement
- Develop and execute a Developer Experience (DevEx) strategy focused on improving developer productivity, satisfaction, and efficiency.
- Establish and track developer productivity and experience metrics using frameworks such as SPACE and DORA.
- Design, administer, and analyze developer satisfaction surveys and other experience assessments.
- Establish baseline measurements and track trends to demonstrate the impact of DevEx improvements.
- Develop feedback loops that continuously incorporate developer needs into platform and tooling decisions.
User Research & Friction Analysis
- Map developer journeys and workflows to identify friction, bottlenecks, and unnecessary toil.
- Conduct usability assessments and qualitative and quantitative research to understand developer pain points.
- Analyze onboarding, development, deployment, and support experiences to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Use data and user feedback to prioritize improvements based on developer impact and organizational value.
- Apply usability testing, experimentation, and other research techniques to validate improvements.
Developer Experience & Platform Optimization
- Partner with platform engineering and development teams to translate developer feedback into actionable platform and tooling improvements.
- Evaluate and optimize developer portal UX, self-service workflows, onboarding processes, and development tools.
- Improve developer documentation, knowledge bases, learning paths, and other enablement resources.
- Identify opportunities to reduce complexity and make development workflows more intuitive and efficient.
- Support accessibility and usability considerations across developer-facing tools and services.
Developer Advocacy & Community
- Serve as a voice for developers in discussions with engineering and technical leadership.
- Facilitate developer communities, feedback sessions, workshops, and other engagement activities.
- Build strong relationships with developers to understand their needs and encourage adoption of improved tools and processes.
- Clearly communicate developer experience findings, recommendations, and measurable outcomes to technical leadership.
- Promote a culture of continuous improvement and developer-centered engineering.
Continuous Improvement & Strategy
- Develop and implement initiatives to reduce developer friction and improve productivity.
- Benchmark developer experience against industry practices and comparable engineering organizations.
- Establish measurable goals and success criteria for DevEx initiatives.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of implemented improvements and refine strategies based on results.
- Partner across engineering, platform, security, and other technical teams to drive sustainable improvements.
Location: This role is fully onsite in Chantilly, VA
