Staff Developer Advocate - San Francisco, CA

Company Overview · Deepgram is the leading platform underpinning the emerging trillion-dollar Voice AI economy, providing real-time APIs for speech-to-text (STT), text-to-speech (TTS), and building production-grade voice agents at scale. More than 200,000 developers and 1,300+ or ...

Job description

Company Overview

Deepgram is the leading platform underpinning the emerging trillion-dollar Voice AI economy, providing real-time APIs for speech-to-text (STT), text-to-speech (TTS), and building production-grade voice agents at scale. More than 200,000 developers and 1,300+ organizations build voice offerings that are 'Powered by Deepgram', including Twilio, Cloudflare, Sierra, Decagon, Vapi, Daily, Cresta, Granola, and Jack in the Box. Deepgram's voice-native foundation models are accessed through cloud APIs or as self-hosted and on-premises software, with unmatched accuracy, low latency, and cost efficiency. Backed by a recent Series C led by leading global investors and strategic partners, Deepgram has processed over 50,000 years of audio and transcribed more than 1 trillion words. There is no organization in the world that understands voice better than Deepgram.

Company Operating Rhythm

At Deepgram, we expect an AI-first mindset—AI use and comfort aren't optional, they're core to how we operate, innovate, and measure performance.

Every team member who works at Deepgram is expected to actively use and experiment with advanced AI tools, and even build your own into your everyday work. We measure how effectively AI is applied to deliver results, and consistent, creative use of the latest AI capabilities is key to success here. Candidates should be comfortable adopting new models and modes quickly, integrating AI into their workflows, and continuously pushing the boundaries of what these technologies can do.

Additionally, we move at the pace of AI. Change is rapid, and you can expect your day-to-day work to evolve just as quickly. This may not be the right role if you're not excited to experiment, adapt, think on your feet, and learn constantly, or if you're seeking something highly prescriptive with a traditional 9-to-5.

The Opportunity

As a Staff Developer Advocate, you inspire developers by shipping the code and content that demonstrates what's possible with Voice AI. You influence developers at large by showcasing high-quality reference apps that prove our tech helps builders create "What's Next."

You drive thought leadership by establishing Deepgram as the industry leader in developer communities, moving builders from "is this possible?" to "this is in production." By shipping inspirational apps and maintaining deep community relationships, you earn the trust and long-term love of developers. You lead the technical narrative in developer conversations - educating and empowering every developer to build the future of voice AI through build-in-public sessions, architectural deep-dives, and technical authority.

Location

This role is based in San Francisco, where many of our customers and partners are located. Being close to them helps us move quickly and stay connected to their needs. While the role is anchored in San Francisco, Deepgram continues to be remote-first and we don't expect you to be in an office every day. We believe a mix of in-person and remote work allows us to share context and build productively.

What You'll Do

• Ship Reference Patterns: Architect and open-source sample apps that solve real-world challenges like building real-time voice agents and orchestrating multiple AI models.

• Code-First Content: Produce deep-dives and "build-in-public" documentation that moves developers from idea to a working prototype in minutes.

• The "Zero-Index" Sensor: Act as the first customer for every feature. Turn unfiltered feedback from your own builds and the community into "Friction Reports" that influence Product and Engineering priorities.

• Scale Awareness: Author high quality technical content across content and social media platforms to demonstrate how Deepgram fits into the developer toolkit.

• Technical Outreach: Engage where developers live (GitHub, X, Discord) to represent Deepgram, influence technical decisions, and earn community trust.

• Strategic Travel: Spend ~20% of your time (roughly 2-3x per quarter) leading workshops, participating in meetups, and speaking at AI conferences to build in-person relationships with the community.

What We're Looking For

• Experience: 5-7 years of experience in Software Engineering or Developer Relations.

• Tech Stack: Solid foundation in JavaScript or Python techstacks. You are comfortable working across the full stack from building APIs to creating simple, clean frontends to showcase your work.

• Educator Mindset: A portfolio of technical writing, blog posts, or video content that demonstrates your ability to make complex topics simple.

• Community Engagement: Experience participating in or managing developer communities. You know how to engage with empathy and technical accuracy.

Preferred/Nice to Have

• Deep AI Stack Proficiency: Hands-on experience with the broader "AI Agent" stack, including LLM orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex), Vector Databases (Pinecone, Weaviate), and RAG architecture.

• Media & Real-time Protocols: Experience working with WebSockets, WebRTC, or gRPC. If you understand how audio bytes move across the wire in real-time, you are a top-tier candidate.

• Engineering Influence: A history of collaborating directly with Product and Core Engineering teams to shape an API roadmap based on developer friction.

• Industry Recognition: A significant "Digital Footprint," which could include a popular technical YouTube channel, a widely-read newsletter, or a history of speaking at Tier-1 conferences (e.g., re:Invent, Google I/O, SIGNAL).

• Open Source Leadership: Experience as a maintainer or major contributor to a well-known open-source project, with a focus on community governance and developer onboarding.

• Cross-Language Versatility: While we focus on Node/Python, the ability to dive into Go, Rust, or .NET to support enterprise-grade "Reference Patterns" is a major plus.

• Automation Mindset: You don't just build demos; you build the "Engine." Experience with AI-assisted coding tools or building custom CLI utilities to automate your own advocacy workflow.

Why This Role Matters

Deepgram wins when developers move from "is this possible?" to "this is in production" with zero friction. We earn long-term developer love by proving our tech through the high-quality reference apps and technical narratives that define the industry standard. The Developer Relations team is here to educate and empower every developer to build the future of voice AI. As a Developer Advocate, you are the bridge that ensures the next generation of voice-native apps is built and powered by Deepgram.

Benefits & Perks*

Holistic health

• Medical, dental, vision benefits

• Annual wellness stipend

• Mental health support

• Life, STD, LTD Income Insurance Plans

Work/life blend

• Unlimited PTO

• Generous paid parental leave

• Flexible schedule

• 12 Paid US company holidays

• Quarterly personal productivity stipend

• One-time stipend for home office upgrades

• 401(k) plan with company match

• Tax Savings Programs

Continuous learning

• Learning / Education stipend

• Participation in talks and conferences

• Employee Resource Groups

• AI enablement workshops / sessions

*For candidates outside of the US, we use an Employer of Record model in many countries, which means benefits are administered locally and governed by country-specific regulations. Because of this, benefits will differ by region — in some cases international employees receive benefits US employees do not, and vice versa. As we scale, we will continue to evaluate where we can create more alignment, but a 1:1 global benefits structure is not always legally or operationally possible.

Backed by prominent investors including Y Combinator, Madrona, Tiger Global, Wing VC and NVIDIA, Deepgram has raised over $215M in total funding. If you're looking to work on cutting-edge technology and make a significant impact in the AI industry, we'd love to hear from you

Deepgram is an equal opportunity employer. We want all voices and perspectives represented in our workforce. We are a curious bunch focused on collaboration and doing the right thing. We put our customers first, grow together and move quickly. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information, political affiliation, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

We are happy to provide accommodations for applicants who need them.