# Richard Moot > Developer Relations × API Design × AI Agents | Ex-Block/Square | I help teams build platforms developers love Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/richardmoot I build the things that help developers build things. For the past 8+ years at Square and Block, I led Developer Relations from the ground up, launching the Square Developer Podcast and YouTube channel (9,000+ subscribers), growing the SquareDev community 10x, and chairing Block's API Design Committee across Square, Cash App, and Afterpay. I care deeply about API design that's consistent, intuitive, and doesn't make people read the docs twice. More recently, I've been going deep on AI agent architecture, designing composable tool systems, building with MCP (Model Context Protocol), and running internal AI enablement workshops to help engineering teams actually ship with LLMs instead of just talking about it. What I'm good at: - Standing up and scaling DevRel orgs (content, community, advocacy, developer experience) - API lifecycle design: style guides, governance, cross-org alignment - Bridging the gap between platform engineering and the developers who use the platform - Making complex technical concepts land through video, writing, and talks What I'm looking for: I'm open to DevRel leadership, API/platform strategy roles, or AI-focused engineering work. I'm also exploring independent consulting and building my own tools. If any of that overlaps with a problem you're solving, let's talk. Only remote positions/work will be considered. ## Work Experience ### Tech Lead, Developer Relations @ Block Jan 2025 – Jan 2026 - Led internal AI enablement for both non-eng and software engineering teams. - Designed and delivered AI development workshops for teams, focused on practical agent architecture and LLM integration patterns. - Continued API design governance work across Block's product portfolio. ### Senior Staff API Engineer - API Design Lead @ Square Jan 2020 – Jan 2026 - Strategic Leadership: Spearheaded the API Working Group at Block, developing key processes and a comprehensive Style Guide to standardize and elevate API development practices across the organization. - Cross-functional Collaboration: Served as the main liaison between the API Working Group and other departments, facilitating cross-team dialogues to align API strategies with organizational objectives. - Team Management: Manage all aspects of the Working Group's operations, focusing on staffing, mentoring, and ensuring adherence to best practices and SLAs. - Quality Assurance: Conducted in-depth reviews of API designs to ensure compliance with established guidelines, offering constructive feedback to improve quality and resolve escalations promptly. - Effective Communication: Maintained transparent communication with the company, ensuring the visibility of the API Working Group's goals and achievements, while prioritizing essential tooling work with the Developers & Partnerships organization. ### Head of Developer Relations, Square @ Block @ Square Jan 2021 – Jan 2025 - Grew the SquareDev twitter handle over 10x followers in 3 years. - Launched the SquareDev YouTube channel and grew to over 9000 subscribers in 2 years. - Migrated and streamlined technical blog from third party hosting to self-hosted, which improved metrics and made it possible to see full developer journey through to API call. - Lead API Design for all of Square, implementing new design guidelines and guiding API builder teams in overall design and release of Square platform APIs. ### Staff Developer Advocate @ Square Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 ### Senior Developer Advocate @ Square Jan 2017 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco, CA ### Developer Evangelist @ Shippo Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco Bay Area • Engage and build relationship with developers • Deliver articulate, effective, and audience-appropriate presentations/ demonstrations with technically oriented content at various events to both small and large audiences • Maintain knowledge about multiple versions of the same product and speak to future releases • Participate in the online and offline developer community ### Sales Engineer @ Codility Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco, CA • Provide pre-sales & post-sales support to Enterprise companies to troubleshoot issues with interpreting code submissions from candidates, test cases, and resolving identified bugs. • Consult companies in sales meetings, promoting best practices for implementing Codility into their recruiting process. • Create relevant tests for desired roles during demo period so clients have a proof of concept to envision using the product. • Consult CTO’s & VP’s of Engineering regarding Codility's relevance to skills required for evaluating candidates during the recruitment process. • Evaluate client’s recruitment process to match Codility’s system. Identify test questions existing within Codility’s library that best suit their needs. • Demonstrate advanced features of Codility’s product and how best to utilize them (pair programming solution, creation of own coding tasks, utilizing Codility’s API). ### Technical Product Specialist @ Codility Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco, CA • Support enterprise clients ranging from 1-10 employees up to 1-10,000+ employees • Provide expertise to team members regarding product features and intricacies in how to best utilize them for customer needs. • In-depth analysis and troubleshooting of client and candidate issues to ensure rapid resolution. • Manage implementation and execution of sourcing challenges (remote hackathon). • Ensure VIP clients have rapid and precise support to enable smooth resolution of all issues that arise. ### Technical Support Specialist @ Merus, Inc. Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 | Oakland, CA · Provide SaaS technical support for routine customer issues. · Document bugs and feature requests to deliver to the development team. · Identify problems with system operations and provide potential workarounds. ### IT Generalist @ World Projects Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 | Benicia, CA · Maintain Joomla-based World Projects website and update the site accordingly · Design and distribute monthly HTML newsletter sent to all clients · Do general network and IT support for entire company (i.e. setting up new machines, troubleshooting software & hardware issues, set-up/maintain/troubleshoot network issues) · Update and maintain membership database for non-profit partner of World Projects · Process all of accounts receivables using QuickBooks ranging from generating invoices to collections ### Customer Support Representative @ Sony Online Entertainment Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 ∙ Provide in game customer support for player base ∙ Verify account information and data entry ∙ Monitor technical aspects of the online servers (activity, crashes, latency) ∙ Scripting analysis and gameplay quality assurance ∙ Administer game chat channels ∙ Document and report player issues and activity using database logs ∙ Report game bugs or other game issues to Quality Assurance and Development teams ## Education ### Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Computer Science Oregon State University ### Bachelor of Arts - BA in Psychology University of California, Santa Cruz Jan 2010 – Jan 2012 ### Bachelor of Arts - BA in Philosophy University of California, Santa Cruz Jan 2010 – Jan 2012 ### Bachelor of Arts - BA in Philosophy University of California, Santa Cruz ### Bachelor of Arts - BA in Psychology University of California, Santa Cruz ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/richardmoot --- Source: https://flows.cv/richardmoot JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/richardmoot/resume.json Last updated: 2026-03-22