API Experts - Shipping APIs for Global Shipping

Flexport's Public API team, led by Senior Engineering Manager Nolan Sullivan, plays a crucial role in the company's transition to an API-first strategy, aiming to streamline global trade through technology. The team is tasked with expanding its scope to provide horizontal tooling for internal engineering teams, enhancing Flexport's API platform to be a critical asset for internal, partner, and third-party developers. This initiative supports Flexport's growth by increasing end-to-end automation for API developers and facilitating new product lines and strategic partnerships through efficient API integration. The team focuses on developing comprehensive API best practices, ensuring consistency and reliability, and fostering a superior developer experience (DevEx) that emphasizes self-service, accurate documentation, and adherence to industry standards. As Flexport evolves from a web app-focused company to a more flexible microservice architecture, the API team is transitioning to a federated model, where individual product teams own their respective APIs to ensure feature parity between public APIs and internal capabilities. Despite challenges like manual processes and defining platform responsibilities, the team is committed to delivering a world-class API experience, while also exploring new technologies such as AR and VR to enhance understanding of logistics environments.