[Hiring] Developer Relations Engineer @Tailscale

Role Description

Tailscale is looking for a Developer Relations Engineer to own and improve the developer experience across Tailscale’s expanding product portfolio. You’ll help developers understand, adopt, extend, and build with our core VPN/connectivity product, while also shaping how that experience evolves as Tailscale expands into new product areas like secure AI access (Aperture), privileged access management (Border0), and whatever comes next.

You’re a builder, investigator, and storyteller. You write code, chase technical curiosities all the way down, and turn what you learn into things other developers can use like demos, docs, talks, blog posts, sample apps, workshops, videos, tools, and open source contributions. You build things, break things, explain things, and keep going until the thing you’re working on has a name.

You’re comfortable speaking at conferences and just as comfortable digging through an API, a GitHub issue, or a weird networking edge case until it makes sense. You’re probably the kind of person who runs a local AI model in your homelab and can explain exactly why. You ask “why does it work that way?” often, and your instinct is to make the answer clearer, simpler, and better for the next developer.

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering background, with demonstrable experience building, debugging, and shipping real projects.
• Ability to write clear, useful code samples, demos, tutorials, and technical content for developer audiences.
• Deep curiosity about how systems work, especially across networking, infrastructure, security, identity, cloud, open source, or developer tooling.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical ideas clearly and creatively.
• Experience speaking to technical audiences, whether through conferences, meetups, livestreams, workshops, podcasts, videos, or internal engineering forums.
• Comfortable working in public via GitHub issues, pull requests, community forums, social channels, open source projects, and developer feedback loops.
• Strong developer empathy, emotional intelligence, and product sense.
• Ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, product, marketing, support, community, and other technical stakeholders.
• Comfortable operating independently, choosing high-impact projects, and following them through from idea to execution.
• Ability to manage multiple workstreams and meet regular publishing, event, or launch deadlines.
• Comfortable presenting on stage and on camera to developer audiences.
• Willingness to travel for events, conferences, and community moments.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals, whether gained through formal education, professional experience, open source work, self-directed learning, or building ambitious projects on your own.
• A track record of building and explaining technical systems.
• Comfort discussing technical tradeoffs in detail.

Requirements

• Experience with Go, networking, VPNs, WireGuard, identity, access controls, infrastructure automation, or security products.
• Experience building developer education programs, sample apps, workshops, technical video content, or conference talks.
• A visible history of technical writing, talks, demos, open source contributions, or community work.
• Experience with homelabs, self-hosting, local AI models, infrastructure experiments, or other “I wanted to understand how this works, so I built it” projects.
• Familiarity with secure AI access, privileged access management, zero trust, or modern infrastructure security patterns.
• Familiarity with open source contribution workflows and technical collaboration in public.

Benefits

• An inclusive, flexible environment where you can be your authentic self.
• A competitive total compensation package including base salary, equity, and comprehensive benefits.
• Comprehensive group benefits with no waiting period for health, vision, dental, and more for you and your family.
• Remote first company with opportunities for virtual and in-person social events.
• Support for your personal and professional development with $1500 USD annually for professional development.
• Paid time off and a flexible program to support work-life integration.
• A build-your-own home office setup with a company-owned laptop and $1000 USD to customize your workstation.
• Generous parental leave program from your first day.