Developer Advocate (Tokyo, Japan)

About the role

Figma is seeking a technical practitioner to join our JAPAC Advocacy team in Tokyo. You will serve as a bridge between our product teams and the developer community, creating technical resources and supporting high-stakes customer engagements. In this role, you will act as a trusted technical advisor, helping developers understand how to leverage Figma's platform to its full potential. You will translate complex product capabilities into clear, actionable guidance that accelerates adoption and drives impactful outcomes. Your work will directly influence how development teams design, build, and deliver digital products. You will be responsible for shaping the technical narrative of Figma in the JAPAC region through authentic engagement and hands-on collaboration. This is an opportunity to define the developer experience for a critical market and ensure that advocacy efforts are tightly aligned with real-world needs.

Key facts

What you'll do

Collaborate with Sales and GTM teams to assist with technical deals, specifically focusing on Dev Mode, design systems, and the Figma API.

Lead Figma's technical presence at regional events and activations throughout JAPAC, ensuring consistent messaging and value delivery.

Develop production-grade prototypes, tools, and demos that mirror real-world development environments to validate concepts and drive decision-making.

Produce technical guides, code samples, and documentation to assist developers with Figma adoption and integration efforts.

Provide actionable feedback from the community to the Product team to influence future feature development and prioritize roadmap items.

Help organizations integrate design systems, tokens, and developer tooling into their existing workflows while maintaining scalability and consistency.

Serve as a subject matter expert on Figma platform capabilities, fielding in-depth questions from both technical and executive stakeholders.

Represent the voice of the customer internally, synthesizing insights from user interviews and hands-on engagements into strategic recommendations.

Conduct hands-on exploration of new features to identify use cases, edge scenarios, and potential gaps in the developer experience.

Partner with product managers and engineers to co-create proof-of-concept implementations that demonstrate the power of Figma's APIs and extensibility model.

Support the creation of reusable assets and templates that enable other advocates and partners to scale their outreach efficiently.

Evaluate and optimize the end-to-end journey of developer onboarding, from first touchpoint to successful implementation in production settings.

Champion accessibility, performance, and best practices within sample code and technical content to ensure high-quality developer education.

Maintain a pulse on the competitive landscape and emerging development trends to keep advocacy programs relevant and forward-thinking.

Requirements

Minimum of 5 years of professional front-end development experience, including active production-level code contribution in real-world applications.

Fluency in English, with proficiency in at least one additional language to effectively engage with diverse stakeholders across JAPAC.

Proven ability to create technical content and present to audiences, including writing clear documentation and delivering technical talks.

Experience working within product development cycles, specifically alongside design teams, to understand requirements and provide timely feedback.

Professional background in a growth-stage SaaS company where responsibilities evolved with increasing product complexity and user demands.

Strong written and verbal communication skills to articulate technical concepts to both expert developers and business stakeholders.

Willingness to keep cameras on during video interviews to maintain a personal connection and enhance collaborative understanding.

In-person onboarding is required for the successful hire to ensure full integration into team processes and cultural alignment.

Nice to have

Practical experience with design to better empathize with designers and communicate implementation constraints.

Familiarity with design team workflows and design systems to identify friction points and streamline collaboration.

Prior experience building Figma plugins to demonstrate deep understanding of the platform's extensibility and limitations.

Skills & tools

Front-end development

Figma API

Dev Mode

Design systems and tokens

Technical writing and public speaking

Practical notes

Candidates must be willing to keep cameras on during video interviews.

In-person onboarding is required for the successful hire.

Figma provides reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities; inquiries can be directed to accommodations-ext@figma.com.

All applications are subject to the Figma Candidate Privacy Notice.