Sr. Developer Advocate, AI and Machine Learning

Role details

RDQ427R542 At Databricks, we are passionate about enabling data teams to solve the world's most challenging problems — from making the next mode of transportation a reality to accelerating medical breakthroughs. We do this by building and running the world's best data and AI platform, enabling our customers to use deep data insights to improve their businesses. Our ability to execute this mission depends on building trust and recognition within an ever-growing community of data engineers, analysts, scientists, machine learning practitioners, and AI practitioners. Are you the person who is already at every AI meetup in the Bay Area — not to be seen, but because that's where the interesting conversations are happening? Are you a hands-on practitioner in generative AI, agents, and MLOps who can hold your own in a room full of AI engineers and leave them with something they can actually use? As a Senior Developer Advocate for AI and Machine Learning, you'll be the voice of Databricks in the Bay Area AI community and a crucial link between our engineering teams and the global community of data scientists and AI engineers. You'll focus on how practitioners build, evaluate, govern, and ship agentic systems on the Databricks Data + AI Platform — with particular depth in Genie Agents, Genie Code, Genie One, MLflow, and Databricks Unity AI Gateway. You'll translate what you learn from customers and the community into reference implementations, demos, and content that are production-ready rather than merely impressive on stage. This is a role for someone who wants to be in the room. San Francisco and the wider Bay Area are the densest concentration of AI practitioners in the world, and we want Databricks to be present and useful in that community — at meetups, hack nights, demo nights, founder dinners, and the hallway conversations around them. You'll build genuine relationships with the people building the future of AI here, and you'll bring what you hear back to our product and engineering teams. Your responsibilities will encompass a wide range of knowledge-sharing activities. You'll deliver engaging talks, host panels and meetups, create blogs and video content, develop courseware, answer questions in community forums, and meet one-on-one with influential AI engineers and data scientists. Reporting to the Head of Developer Relations, you'll collaborate with fellow Developer Advocates and program managers to create and execute a cohesive and impactful developer relations strategy. The ideal candidate embodies the values of our Developer Relations team: a deep passion for data and AI, genuine empathy for developers' needs, and a strong commitment to explaining our products clearly and honestly. More about the DevRel team The Developer Relations (DevRel) team at Databricks is dedicated to building and fostering relationships with communities of data practitioners. Our goal is to drive awareness and adoption of the Databricks Data + AI Platform — including Lakeflow, Lakebase, Genie Agents, and AI/BI — alongside the open source projects that underpin it, such as Apache Spark™, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, MLflow, Apache Iceberg™, and Omnigent. Our team also owns programs like the Databricks MVP program, the user group program, and DevConnect roadshows. The impact you will have Be a consistent, recognized presence in the Bay Area AI community — speaking at local user groups and meetups, showing up to the events that matter, and building real relationships with the practitioners and founders shaping the space. Own medium-to-large advocacy projects end-to-end, from scoping through delivery, for the AI and agents area. Create production-ready reference implementations, starter kits, and demos that show practitioners how to build, evaluate, and govern agents on Databricks — and get them to first value in minutes, not hours. Create high-quality educational content — videos, sample notebooks, datasets, tutorials, courseware, and blog posts — and reuse each core asset across formats to reach practitioners wherever they already are. Drive awareness and adoption of Databricks AI capabilities through speaking engagements at industry events and conferences. Act as a trusted advisor between the AI community and our product teams, and influence roadmap discussions with what you learn. Expand and nurture the Databricks AI and ML community by growing meetups and user groups and supporting practitioners in online communities. Gather and analyze community feedback to drive continuous improvement of Databricks products and services. Mentor and unblock less-experienced advocates in content, demos, and public speaking. What we look for 5+ years of combined experience as a developer advocate and in a hands-on technical role — software engineer, ML engineer, data scientist, or solutions architect. Professional experience actually building and operating AI or ML systems, not only presenting about them. Subject matter knowledge of solving AI and ML problems at scale, including agent design, evaluation, and production operations. Comprehensive understanding of the Databricks AI ecosystem, including Genie Agents, Genie, MLflow, and Databricks Unity AI Gateway. Strong Python skills and fluency with the current agent and ML tooling landscape. Based in the Bay Area and genuinely willing to be out in the community on a regular basis, including evenings. Active participation and recognized leadership in AI and ML community forums, chats, and meetups — measured by what the community builds with your help, not by follower count. A public portfolio of technical work: tutorials, talks, repositories, or sustained community contributions. Proven track record in nurturing developer communities, organizing user groups, and facilitating meetups. Exceptional communication skills, with a talent for articulating complex concepts through writing, teaching, video, and public speaking. Deep empathy for developer needs, with the ability to craft en