About this Software Engineer - Platform Infrastructure (Rust, C++) role at xAI
SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today, SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of making life multiplanetary and expanding consciousness to the stars.
SpaceXSI is building Super Intelligence to help humanity understand the universe. Our teams are building the full Super Intelligence stack: from our Colossus supercomputers, to Grok models, to our suite of applications, including Grok Bot, Grok Build, Grok Imagine, Grok Voice, and X. We're creating a powerful flywheel where more compute trains better models, better models power more useful products, and what we learn from people using those products shapes what we build next.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Design, build, and implement a large-scale distributed system that powers one of the world's largest supercomputing clusters.
- Dive into the low-level stack to profile, debug, and optimize performance across diverse systems, including GPUs, Linux kernel, networking, and filesystems, to achieve peak efficiency.
- Collaborate on hardware, software, and algorithm co-design to push the boundaries of AI training.
- Maintain and innovate on our codebase to ensure scalability and reliability.
- Develop tools to enhance team productivity and streamline workflows.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
- Systems programming experience in C, C++, or Rust
- Computer systems fundamentals with a grasp of how computers execute code from transistors to high-level applications.
- Hands-on expertise with Kubernetes (K8s), including cluster architecture, pod lifecycle, networking (CNI), storage (CSI), service mesh, and production-grade operations
PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
- Collaborate in a fast-paced, open environment to design and foundational systems.
- Strong debugging skills across the full stack — from kernel and OS up through container orchestration layers
- Deep knowledge of operating systems internals (process scheduling, memory management, file systems, and synchronization primitives)
- Proficiency in performance analysis, profiling, and low-level optimization techniques
- Solid understanding of computer networks and the TCP/IP stack
- Experience working with Linux kernel concepts or systems-level debugging tools (e.g., perf, gdb, strace, Wireshark)
- Proficiency deploying and managing workloads using Kubernetes manifests, Helm, Operators, and GitOps workflows
- Solid understanding of containerization technologies (Docker, containerd, crio) and their interaction with the Linux kernel
- Experience with observability and monitoring in distributed systems (Prometheus, Grafana, VictoriaMetrics, OpenTelemetry, or similar)
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:
$180,000 - $440,000 USD
Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at xAI, which also includes equity, comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short & long-term disability insurance, life insurance, and various other discounts and perks.
SpaceXSI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our Recruitment Privacy Notice.
