Project Manager - Founder Success Team

Our Founder Success Team is a dedicated group with a singular focus: making developers successful on NEAR. We believe that a delightful developer experience is the cornerstone for widespread adoption. We work in close partnership with our product, engineering, marketing, and community teams to deliver tools, resources, and support that enable developers to seamlessly integrate NEAR into their apps and products. 

Role Overview

As a Project Manager within the Founder Success Team, your mission is to turn strategy into execution, ensuring that NEAR’s developer-focused initiatives deliver tangible impact and long-term ecosystem growth.

This role is more than just project tracking—it’s about orchestrating programs that transform new developers into thriving founders. You’ll oversee the execution of developer programs, hackathons, incubation efforts, and City Nodes, ensuring they run smoothly and drive real adoption.

You’ll work closely with the Solutions Architect, Developer Success Manager, and Ecosystem Program Manager to ensure that developers receive structured support from their first interaction with NEAR through to scaling successful projects.

This role requires technical literacy, ecosystem strategy, and operational excellence, making it perfect for someone who can bridge the gap between technical teams, growth initiatives, and community programs.

 

Key Responsibilities

Project Execution & Developer Program Coordination

• Drive the execution of key developer engagement programs (hackathons, accelerator programs, Protocol Rewards, and incubation efforts).
• Ensure that all programs are structured to maximize developer retention and project success within the ecosystem.
• Identify bottlenecks, remove blockers, and optimize workflows to ensure projects meet their strategic goals.
• Build repeatable playbooks for scaling successful developer engagement initiatives.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Management

• Act as a central point of contact between engineering, marketing, and community teams to ensure ecosystem-wide coordination.
• Work closely with leadership to align project goals with the broader NEAR strategy.
• Facilitate communication and collaboration between internal teams and external partners to accelerate innovation and adoption.

City Nodes & Developer Community Coordination

• Support the growth of City Nodes (SF, NYC, Lisbon, etc.), ensuring that developer communities thrive through ongoing engagement.
• Align hackathon strategies with local developer hubs to ensure seamless onboarding and retention pipelines.
• Track community-driven success metrics and iterate on programs to ensure developer hubs create sustainable engagement.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Management

• Act as a key bridge between engineering, marketing, DevRel, and community teams, ensuring programs align with broader NEAR objectives.
• Facilitate communication between internal teams and external ecosystem partners to accelerate innovation and developer onboarding.
• Provide structured feedback loops to improve tools, processes, and engagement strategies.
• Work with leadership to align project goals with NEAR’s overall ecosystem strategy.

Who Can Succeed in This Role?

At NEAR, we value diverse backgrounds and unique paths to success. Whether your experience comes from developer ecosystems, Web3 project management, startup acceleration, or developer relations, you should bring:

Developer-Centric Project & Program Management Expertise

• Experience running developer engagement programs, hackathons, accelerators, or ecosystem initiatives.
• Strong ability to coordinate multi-stakeholder projects in fast-moving environments.

Technical & Ecosystem Understanding

• Experience with developer retention strategies in open-source or blockchain ecosystems.

Strong Analytical & Operational Skills

• Ability to track KPIs, optimize workflows, and ensure seamless execution.
• Experience using CRM tools, project management platforms (e.g., Asana, Notion, Airtable), and tracking engagement data.
• Strong problem-solving mindset—always looking for ways to remove friction and drive meaningful impact.

Exceptional Communication & Stakeholder Management

• Ability to align technical and non-technical teams toward shared goals.
• Strong relationship-building skills to engage external developers, startup founders, and community leads.
• Comfort navigating both high-level strategy and hands-on execution.

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ experience in project management, technical program management, or related roles in tech, blockchain, or developer-focused environments.
• Proven ability to coordinate projects, drive execution, and manage cross-team dependencies.
• Familiarity with project management tools and agile methodologies.
• Self-starter with the ability to thrive in a fast-evolving ecosystem.

We value

• ECOSYSTEM-FIRST: always put the health and success of the ecosystem above any individual's interest
• OPENNESS: operate transparently and consistently share knowledge to build open communities
• PRAGMATISM OVER PERFECTION: find the right solution not the ideal solution and beat dogmatism by openly considering all ideas
• MAKE IT FEEL SIMPLE: strive to make the complex feel simple so the technology is accessible to all
• GROW CONSTANTLY: learn, improve and fail productively so the project and community are always becoming more effective

NEAR is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information. NEAR is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request reasonable accommodation, please let your recruiter know during the interview process.