About xAI

xAI’s mission is to create AI systems that can accurately understand the universe and aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. Our team is small, highly motivated, and focused on engineering excellence. This organization is for individuals who appreciate challenging themselves and thrive on curiosity. We operate with a flat organizational structure. All employees are expected to be hands-on and to contribute directly to the company’s mission. Leadership is given to those who show initiative and consistently deliver excellence. Work ethic and strong prioritization skills are important. All employees are expected to have strong communication skills. They should be able to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates.

About the Role

Join our cutting-edge team at xAI to design and build the backbone of next-generation AI infrastructure. As a Hardcore Engineer, you’ll tackle complex challenges in large-scale infrastructure, distributed systems, GPU optimization, and machine learning frameworks to accelerate human scientific discovery. This role is perfect for engineers who thrive on pushing hardware and software to their limits in a fast-paced, innovative environment.

Location

This role is based in the Bay Area (San Francisco and Palo Alto). Candidates are expected to be located near the Bay Area or open to relocation.

What You’ll Do

• 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.

Tech Stack

• Languages: Rust, C++, Golang

Ideal Experiences

• Writing scalable and highly available containerized applications in Rust.

• Managing compute fleets with Pulumi, Terraform, Ansible, or other stateful automation libraries.

• Collaborate in a fast-paced, open environment to design and ship features.

Interview Process

• Application Review: Submit your CV and a statement of exceptional work. Our team will review your application to assess fit.

• Phone Interview (45 minutes): A brief conversation with a team member to discuss your background, key accomplishments, and motivation.

• Main Interview Process

• 2 Coding Assessments: Solve problems in Rust, C++, or Golang

• Systems Hands-On: Demonstrate practical skills in a live problem-solving session.

• Project Deep-Dive: Present your past exceptional work to a small audience.

Annual Salary Range:

$180,000 - $440,000 USD

Benefits:

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.

*xAI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our *Recruitment Privacy Notice.