Technical Lead, API

About the role

At Asana, we believe AI represents the future of work, and APIs are at the heart of how AI connects with the tools where work happens. The hire will own the technical strategy and execution for the API platform, defining how data flows into and out of Asana for both human developers and AI agents. They will partner with product and design to shape the agentic experience and influence industry-wide protocols while mentoring engineers and advocates on the team. The role involves architecting foundational changes to the API core and ensuring the platform remains flexible, maintainable, and scalable. They will set best practices for exposing new Asana functionality and collaborate cross-functionally to turn complex requirements into elegant, production-ready solutions. This position is ideal for someone who thrives on owning end-to-end technical outcomes in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Set the technical strategy for the API platform within Asana and advocate for engineering-driven investments, with a vision for keeping our systems flexible and maintainable.
• Drive the team to continually and holistically better itself, enabling the engineers around you to deliver at a high velocity while helping them grow their skills in the process.
• Be a key collaborator with other groups in Engineering and a technical counterpart to the API team's Engineering Manager, serving as a public face for API engineering and representing our interests across team boundaries.
• Partner with Product Management, Design, Data Science, and User Research to deeply understand developer and agentic needs, and then propose elegant solutions to meet them.
• Own and shape the guidelines for what good API design looks like, partnering with product engineering teams to help them implement those best practices in a self-serve manner.
• Develop across the entire stack to make developers' experiences better by writing clean, beautiful code and leaving things better than you found them, writing Scala, Javascript, and Typescript where needed.
• Define and maintain the architectural foundations of the API gateway and MCP server to ensure robust, secure, and performant data flows for all use cases.
• Collaborate closely with developer advocates to translate platform capabilities into compelling narratives and proof points for both internal and external audiences.
• Establish clear service-level objectives and reliability practices for API surfaces, balancing innovation with stability and operational excellence.
• Evaluate emerging tooling and frameworks to modernize the API platform while maintaining backward compatibility and minimizing disruption for consumers.
• Facilitate cross-team design reviews and technical discussions to align on interfaces, contracts, and integration patterns across the Asana ecosystem.
• Mentor engineers and advocate for inclusive, sustainable engineering practices that enable diverse contributors to succeed on the API team.
• Analyze usage metrics and feedback loops to prioritize roadmap items that unlock new agentic workflows and improve the developer experience.
• Act as a thought leader within Asana by documenting decisions, patterns, and tradeoffs to create a durable knowledge base for the platform.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience as an engineer working in large, complex codebases.
• 2+ years leading engineering teams of 5+ engineers.
• 1+ years building public-facing API products or Developer Platforms.
• Deep project management experience including high-level timeline planning, risk mitigation, stakeholder management, and coordinating the work of others.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and delegation skills.
• Quick learner and comfortable transitioning between different contexts and codebases, enabling you to jump in and rapidly unblock teammates facing thorny obstacles.
• Passionate about mentoring engineers at all skill levels; able to identify technical growth opportunities and deliver thoughtful, candid feedback.
• Demonstrates curiosity about AI tools and emerging technologies, with a willingness to learn and leverage them to enhance productivity, collaboration, or decision-making.
• Excited to be a part of an inclusive culture where everyone brings the aspects of themselves to the workplace that they need to thrive, fostering an environment of psychological safety within your team.

Practical notes

• Standard in-office days are Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
• Most Asanas have the option to work from home on Wednesdays.
• Working from home on Fridays depends on the type of work you do and the teams with which you partner.
• If you are interviewing for this role, your recruiter will share more about the in-office requirements.
• This role is based in Vancouver, BC, with an office-centric hybrid schedule.
• No compensation details are provided in the source text.
• There are no explicit travel, visa, or deadline requirements stated in the source material.

This job description outlines the responsibilities, qualifications, and practical details for the Technical Lead, API role at Asana based solely on the provided source text. The role centers on owning the developer and agentic platform strategy, collaborating across teams, and mentoring engineers while maintaining a hybrid schedule anchored in the Vancouver office. The position requires extensive experience in large-scale engineering, public API products, and project management, with a strong emphasis on communication, adaptability, and mentorship. The successful candidate will influence technical direction, contribute to industry standards, and help enable the broader Asana ecosystem through clean, thoughtful implementation and leadership.