X’s head of product Nikita Bier steps down after a year, shifts to advisory role

San Francisco: Passing the post before the next post. Nikita Bier has stepped down as head of product at X after just over a year in the role, saying it was time to “pass the torch” and return to what he called his “natural state” as a poster on the platform.

Bier announced the move in a post on X, confirming that he will remain with the company as an adviser after relinquishing day-to-day responsibility for the platform’s product organisation.

Reflecting on his tenure, Bier described serving the X community as “the privilege of a lifetime” and called the platform “the most important communication technology in history”. He added that running the product organisation is a round-the-clock responsibility and that it was time to “take a breather”.

During his tenure, Bier said X experienced record growth in new users and engagement, with the app climbing 70 places in Apple’s App Store rankings compared with the same period last year. He also said the company had rebuilt nearly every major part of the platform over the past 400 days, including the timeline, Android app, onboarding, notifications and chat features.

According to Bier, the company launched nearly 30 new products during that period while introducing features aimed at improving platform integrity, including country-of-origin labels on user profiles and new defences against AI-powered bots.

Bier also thanked Elon Musk and the wider X team for the opportunity, expressing confidence that the next generation of leaders would continue to drive the platform forward. He highlighted Benji Taylor, Singhai and Dinkin Flicka among those set to lead the product, design and engineering teams.

While X has not announced a direct replacement for Bier, his departure marks another leadership transition as the company continues to reshape its product strategy, with AI features and user engagement remaining central to its roadmap.