Developer Experience Engineer

Thinking MachinesSan FranciscoCore Engineering

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Opens the official Thinking Machines careers page

Salary

$300K - $350K USD

Job type

Full-time

Posted

29 Sept 2026

Status

Open · checked 7d ago

About this role

Thinking Machines is seeking a full-time Developer Experience Engineer to join their Core Engineering team in San Francisco. This technical position involves building and improving the Tinker fine-tuning platform while working directly with users to ensure successful model customization.

Role Overview

This is a hands-on, user-facing position based in San Francisco where the professional will bridge the gap between external users and internal teams. The individual will spend time in code editors or Jupyter notebooks, writing code examples, troubleshooting fine-tuning pipelines, and turning user challenges into platform improvements. It suits an engineer who enjoys collaborating with creative people while building tools that expand human-AI communication.

Key Responsibilities

Write, test, and maintain quality code examples, documentation, and recipes in the Tinker cookbook.

Collaborate directly with users to troubleshoot technical issues and optimize fine-tuning pipelines.

Partner with internal research and infrastructure teams to identify and prioritize developer experience improvements.

Build tools, demos, and integrations that reduce friction and simplify model experimentation and deployment.

Share field insights through guides, posts, and talks while helping shape near-term roadmaps and long-term product strategy.

Requirements

Experience fine-tuning large language models utilizing supervised and reinforcement learning, along with hyperparameter tuning.

Background in developing software libraries, particularly open-source libraries.

Strong focus on developer experience, including developer ergonomics, onboarding flows, and sharp edges.

Passion for engaging with open-source communities by sharing learnings, answering questions, or contributing code.

Experience writing public or internal tutorials, code examples, or papers to help others understand technical concepts.

Comfort reasoning through model training, fine-tuning, and inference tradeoffs.

Skills and Tools

Large Language Model (LLM) fine-tuning (Supervised Learning and Reinforcement Learning)

Hyperparameter tuning

Software library development

Open-source contribution and community engagement

Technical writing, tutorials, and documentation

Model training, fine-tuning, and inference reasoning

Jupyter notebooks and code editors

Tinker cookbook and API

Salary and Benefits

Annual salary range: $300,000 - $350,000 USD, depending on background, skills, and experience.

Comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits.

Unlimited paid time off (PTO).

Paid parental leave.

Relocation support as needed.

Visa sponsorship provided.

About the Company

Thinking Machines builds artificial intelligence designed to extend human will and judgment. The organization trains frontier models using Inkling, develops Tinker to enable custom model creation, and crafts user interfaces to broaden human-AI communication.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should visit the official Thinking Machines careers page to submit their application.

Skills and tech stack

LLMs Reinforcement Learning Fine-tuning

Questions candidates ask

What is the location of this job?

This position is based in San Francisco, California.

What is the salary range for the Developer Experience Engineer?

The expected annual salary range is $300,000 to $350,000 USD, determined by background, skills, and experience.

Does Thinking Machines offer visa sponsorship?

Yes, Thinking Machines sponsors visas and is committed to working through the process together for the right candidate.

What benefits are included with the position?

Benefits include health, dental, and vision coverage, unlimited PTO, paid parental leave, and relocation support.

What is the primary focus of Tinker?

Tinker is a fine-tuning API that empowers developers and researchers to customize frontier AI to their specific needs.

Ready to apply?

The application is on the official Thinking Machines careers page.

Apply on company site