Meet the Ripplers: Jihai Xu

Meet Jihai Xu, a Seattle-based Senior Software Engineer, a new dad, and a long-time gamer who once poured countless hours into Dota 2. These days, most of his energy goes into fatherhood and building products at Rippling — and he wouldn’t have it any other way. In three years, Jihai grew from supporting critical device management products to becoming a tech lead on major projects like Contact Syncing, even earning Rippling’s Unsung Hero award along the way. In his own words, here’s what life and growth look like while working at Rippling.

I’m based out of Seattle, and I’m a new father — my baby is just eight months old. Before becoming a dad, I was really into competitive gaming, mainly Dota 2. These days, though, most of my time goes to my son. I thought I would just put, like, one hour aside for him, but right now, I feel like all my time is for him. And I don’t regret that at all. I’m really enjoying this moment.

I love telling him stories before bed or taking him on hikes. It feels amazing, sometimes even unrealistic, how much joy he brings. There are so many unexpected things that happen with a baby, but it’s all worth it. He’s so cute!

The 9-to-5 vs. 5-to-9 

My days are pretty structured. I divide my schedule into six blocks, four hours each. From 9 to 5, I’m focused on Rippling. From 5 to 9, that’s baby time — exclusively. After 9 PM, sometimes I’ll have meetings with our India team or send updates.

This rhythm helps me balance being a dad and working at Rippling. Over three and a half years, I’ve learned to prioritize decisively and align expectations across stakeholders, which makes the workload manageable.

Building for the end user

When I first joined Rippling, I supported different device management products. At the time, I was still figuring things out and learning a lot. Over time, my role expanded. I got to lead more complex projects and take ownership of big features. One of the proudest moments in my career so far was the Contact Syncing project in 2024.

With that work, we built an intuitive experience for IT admins. What used to be a headache now takes two clicks to set up. Once configured, the product delivers contact cards directly to employees’ phones. We made this possible by combining our device management capabilities with HR and permissions data, using Supergroups to keep everything accurate and secure. This is, in my view, the best product only Rippling can deliver.

That project taught me how to think beyond just “does this work technically?” to “how does this feel for the end user?” It was great to know we made something both powerful and simple, and that admins and employees actually notice the difference.

Feeling the flywheel

Before Rippling, I worked at Amazon. The difference between working here and at a big company is huge. At Amazon, we’d launch something, and then it was basically done — we’d move on to the next project. There wasn’t much chance to revisit it or feel that ongoing impact.

At Rippling, it’s completely different. Here, you can pick what you want to work on, and you own it end-to-end. You’re the DRI — you schedule the work, design it, code it, launch it properly, set up dashboards for your lead, and most importantly, listen to customer feedback.

And customers are very available to us, especially because we use our own products. You build something, and they’ll give you their very candid feedback right away; then we improve our products based on the feedback. That loop is what we call “feeling the flywheel.” It’s the best experience as an engineer because you can actually see your work getting better with every iteration.

Culture at Rippling

Along this journey, I was honored to receive the Unsung Hero award. To be honest, I didn’t expect it. I just focused on doing the work and supporting my teammates. But that recognition meant a lot. It reminded me that small contributions matter — whether it’s mentoring a teammate, troubleshooting a tough problem, or stepping in quietly to make sure things don’t fall through the cracks.

I’ve been here for years now, and I still feel challenged in my role. At the same time, I can make space for my family — and that balance matters to me.

Our culture is simple. We hire exceptional talent, point them at the hardest problems, give real ownership end-to-end and help each other. You build, launch, learn, and iterate — earning trust from leadership and customers through results.

Words of wisdom

For anyone about to become a parent, I’ll say this: the first couple of months are super tough. Be prepared. But it’s so worth it. Your baby will be so cute, and it will change everything.

And for anyone looking into Rippling careers: if you want growth and work that’s challenging and benefits millions of users, this is it. You’ll have opportunities to learn, to own, and to make an impact — and you’ll be supported while you do it.

Right now, I’m growing both as a dad and in my career. There’s so much potential in device management — it’s still an area with endless problems to solve and new ways to innovate. I’m excited to keep building products that make life easier for IT admins and employees, and Rippling is where I can do that.