X Developer Platform - Forward Deployed Engineer, X API

xAI

$180K — $440K *
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Exceptional coding proficiency in two or more languages (e.g., Python, JavaScript, Java) with a history of shipping production-quality software and developer tools.
  • Strong grasp of API design concepts, including REST/GraphQL, real-time data systems, and authentication.
  • Hands-on experience creating developer-facing assets like sample apps and technical documentation.
  • Deep passion for enhancing developer experience (DevEx) through improved documentation and tools.
  • 5+ years in a customer-facing technical role, such as partner engineering or developer relations, directly interfacing with enterprise clients.
  • Ability to collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholders to achieve shared goals.
  • Excellent project management skills to autonomously drive initiatives in a fast-paced setting.

Responsibilities

  • Partner with Enterprise customers to identify needs and rapidly deliver production-ready solutions using the X API platform.
  • Design and maintain high-quality sample applications and reference implementations to showcase best practices for developers.
  • Enhance developer tools (SDKs, CLIs, etc.) to improve productivity and user experience for developers.
  • Research and author technical guides and educational content focusing on real-time data and AI/Agent integrations.
  • Continuously improve the developer experience by refining documentation and onboarding processes to ensure accessibility.
  • Collect and advocate for feedback from the developer community to inform product and engineering priorities.
  • Diagnose and resolve complex technical issues, providing expert troubleshooting and developing long-term solutions.

Benefits

  • Equity options as part of the total rewards package.
  • Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage.
  • Access to a 401(k) retirement plan for long-term savings.
  • Short and long-term disability insurance to provide financial security.
  • Life insurance coverage for additional peace of mind.
  • Various discounts and perks to enhance employee satisfaction.
Full Job Description
ABOUT THE ROLE:

X Developer Platform is responsible for the partner ecosystem of B2B and B2C developers that build solutions using X's extensive API set. With more than 500 million active users and billions of posts per week, X offers robust, real-time and historical data, insights and engagement opportunities across a wide range of organizations and industries. Our API gives you the ability to learn from and engage with the conversation on X and we supply developers with the tools to further uncover, build on, and share the value of this conversation with the world.

Our mission broadly is to achieve the state of X, "The Everything App", and be the clear digital townsquare of Earth. We make our ever-expanding universe of social media data available via our extensive API suite with consistent and reliable architecture so the world can realize the full potential of this amazing stream of information. Our team helps collect, process, enrich and deliver hundreds of billions of signals a day through the X API platform. Our products are highly available, scalable, optimized, respectful of X's user base, and truly essential for our customers who build their businesses on X data.

We are seeking an exceptional Forward Deployed Engineer who will work at the intersection of deep technical implementation and world-class developer experience. In this hands-on role, you will be on the front lines building production solutions for Enterprise customers, creating sample apps for both Enterprise and Indie developers, improving DevEx tools (SDKs, MCPs, CLIs, sandbox environments, and more), and authoring comprehensive how-to-guides - with an emphasis for X API + Agentic/AI use cases and integrations. You are genuinely obsessed with developers, our documentation, and making every X API product super accessible, intuitive, and delightful to build with. You will work directly with customers while collaborating closely with internal product and engineering teams to drive adoption, reduce friction, and maximize long-term value across the entire developer ecosystem.

X Developer API Products Include:
  • Real time streaming access to X data
  • Historical access to archived X data
  • Insight into X engagement data
  • Enrichments on X objects derived from the latest machine learning technologies
  • Flexible access to aggregate data
  • End to end developer experience
RESPONSIBILITIES:
  • Partner directly with Enterprise customers to understand their business needs and rapidly build production-grade solutions, prototypes, integrations, and accelerators using the X API platform.
  • Design, develop, and maintain high-quality sample applications, starter kits, reference implementations, and code examples for both Enterprise teams and Indie developers to accelerate adoption and showcase best practices.
  • Build, enhance, and ship developer experience tools such as SDKs, MCPs, CLIs, Sandbox/Test Environments, and other internal/external tooling that dramatically improves developer productivity and ease of use.
  • Research, write, and continuously improve comprehensive how-to guides, tutorials, cookbook recipes, technical blogs, and educational content - with special emphasis on X API integrations, real-time data, AI Agents, LLMs, and emerging use cases.
  • Obsess over every aspect of developer experience: continuously audit and elevate our documentation, onboarding flows, code samples, and overall accessibility to make X API products the most approachable and powerful in the industry.
  • Gather real-world feedback from customers and the broader developer community, advocate passionately for their needs internally, and collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to influence roadmap and feature prioritization.
  • Diagnose complex technical issues, bugs, and edge cases; provide expert-level troubleshooting, workarounds, and long-term solutions while turning learnings into public guides and tooling improvements.
  • Streamline support processes and create scalable materials that close knowledge gaps and accelerate success for both managed partners and self-serve developers.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
  • Exceptional coding proficiency in two or more languages (Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, etc.) with a proven track record of shipping production-quality software, sample apps, prototypes, and developer tools.
  • Strong understanding of API design principles, REST/GraphQL, real-time streaming systems, authentication, and modern AI/agent workflows.
  • Hands-on experience building developer-facing assets: sample applications, reference implementations, DevEx tools, and high-quality technical documentation/guides.
  • Deep, genuine passion for developer experience (DevEx) - you instinctively identify friction and love removing it through better docs, tools, and accessible APIs.
  • 5+ years of experience in a customer-facing technical role (partner engineering, solutions architecture, developer relations, forward-deployed engineering, or similar) working directly with enterprise customers.
  • Ability to work comfortably and professionally with diverse stakeholders (software developers, product managers, technical executives, and business leaders) to define and deliver shared objectives.
  • Excellent project management skills with the ability to scope, execute, and drive initiatives autonomously in a fast-paced environment.
  • Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to translate complex technical topics into clear, engaging documentation and presentations.
  • Strong attention to detail and a solution-oriented mindset that turns customer problems into scalable improvements.
PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
  • Previous experience building or significantly contributing to developer platforms, tools, SDKs, interactive playgrounds, or educational content.
  • Hands-on knowledge of AI/Agent frameworks, LLM integrations, or building AI-powered applications on top of data APIs.
  • Industry experience in social media, enterprise software, data analytics, real-time/streaming data, or related spaces.
  • Strong familiarity with Rust, Scala (ideally), or JVM-based programming languages.
  • A public portfolio of sample apps, open-source contributions, technical blogs, guides, or DevEx tools that demonstrate your builder mindset and developer obsession.
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

$180,000 - $440,000 USD

Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at xAI, which also includes equity, comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short & long-term disability insurance, life insurance, and various other discounts and perks.

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