# Yifan Xiao

> Yifan Xiao is a founding software engineer at Fireworks AI in San Mateo, California, with earlier software engineering roles at Apple and Google. Exceptional Capital’s 2026 Exceptional 100 describes him as leading Fireworks AI’s LLM fine-tuning and reinforcement learning engines. His public projects include mobile apps, a blockchain supply-chain exercise and data-streaming coursework.

- **Role:** Founding Software Engineer at Fireworks AI
- **Organizations:** Fireworks AI, Google, Apple, The University of Chicago
- **Education:** Master’s degree, Computer Science, The University of Chicago, Bachelor’s degree, Computer Science, Beijing Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Included in Exceptional Capital’s 2026 Exceptional 100.

## Career timeline

- **2015** — Published iOS projects including SpendSmarter, socialCalendar and Tech-Time.
- **2016-10** — Began a software engineer role at Apple; ended January 2019.
- **2019-01** — Began a software engineer role at Google; ended September 2023.
- **2023-09** — Joined Fireworks AI as a software engineer.
- **2026** — Included in Exceptional Capital’s Exceptional 100.

## Achievements

- Included in Exceptional Capital’s 2026 Exceptional 100.

## Latest updates

- **—** — Exceptional Capital’s 2026 Exceptional 100 includes Xiao and describes his leadership of Fireworks AI’s LLM fine-tuning and reinforcement learning engines.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xiaoyifan01/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/xiaoyifanno1
- GitHub: https://github.com/xiaoyifan

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/yifan-xiao
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-07