Developer Experience Engineer

Thinking Machines Lab

• $300K — $350K *
Enterprise Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years of experience with fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) using supervised and reinforcement learning techniques.
  • Experience in software library development, especially in open-source environments.
  • Strong understanding of developer experience principles, including ergonomics and onboarding flows.
  • Active engagement in open-source communities through contributions, mentorship, or educational content.
  • Demonstrated ability in creating clear technical documentation, tutorials, or academic papers that aid learning.
  • Proficiency in discussing model training and fine-tuning trade-offs competently.

Responsibilities

  • Write, test, and maintain quality documentation and code examples in the Tinker cookbook.
  • Collaborate with users to troubleshoot technical issues and enhance their model fine-tuning workflows.
  • Coordinate with research and infrastructure teams to prioritize Tinker's developer experience improvements.
  • Develop tools and integrations to minimize user friction and facilitate model experimentation and deployment.
  • Communicate user insights through blog posts, guides, and presentations.
  • Contribute to the planning of Tinker's short-term roadmap and long-term product strategy.

Benefits

  • Generous health, dental, and vision insurance.
  • Unlimited paid time off (PTO).
  • Paid parental leave.
  • Relocation support available.
Full Job Description
About the Role

We're hiring an engineer focused on developer experience to build Tinker while using Tinker - working hands-on with real users and turning their challenges into product improvements. You'll write and update cookbook recipes, add library features, prototype integrations, and ensure users can customize models smoothly.

This role is a bridge between Tinker users and our teams. You'll surface user patterns to guide product and infrastructure priorities, and share what you learn through blog posts, demos, and code examples.

This is a technical-first role with a major user-facing component. It's ideal for someone who's happiest in a code editor or Jupyter notebook, but who also enjoys talking to creative people. Tinker is flexible by design to empower novel and ambitious use cases for model fine-tuning - your job is to help them succeed.

What You'll Do
  • Write, test, and maintain high-quality code examples, recipes, and documentation in the Tinker cookbook.
  • Work directly with a variety of users to debug technical issues and optimize their fine-tuning pipelines.
  • Partner with internal research and infra teams to identify and prioritize improvements to Tinker's developer experience.
  • Build tools, integrations, and demos that reduce user friction and make it easy to experiment and deploy models.
  • Share insights from the field through posts, guides, and talks.
  • Help develop Tinker's near-term roadmap and long-term product strategy.


Skills & Qualifications

Enabling user success in building on top of an advanced platform is a skill that can be developed through many paths. You might demonstrate that you have it if you:
  • Experienced with fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) with supervised and reinforcement learning, and how to tune the hyperparameters of these algorithms.
  • Experienced with developing software libraries, especially open-source libraries.
  • Are thoughtful about developer experience, with clear ideas around developer ergonomics, onboarding flow, and sharp edges.
  • Are passionate about engaging with open-source communities, whether by contributing code, answering questions, or sharing learnings.
  • Have written public or internal code examples, tutorials, or papers that helped others understand and apply technical concepts.
  • Are comfortable reasoning about model training, fine-tuning, and inference, and can credibly discuss tradeoffs between different approaches.


Logistics
  • Location: This role is based in San Francisco, California.
  • Compensation: Depending on background, skills and experience, the expected annual salary range for this position is $300,000 - $350,000 USD.
  • Visa sponsorship: We sponsor visas. While we can't guarantee success for every candidate or role, if you're the right fit, we're committed to working through the visa process together.
  • Benefits: Thinking Machines offers generous health, dental, and vision benefits, unlimited PTO, paid parental leave, and relocation support as needed.

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