Six Figure Work

Software Engineer, Network (C++)

xAI

Company websitex.ai (xAI, opens in new tab)

Base salary $140K  to $225K

Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in Palo Alto, CA +1 more

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  • LocationPalo Alto, CA +1 more
  • WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
  • Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
  • Last checked (3 h ago) · observed since
All places named
  • Palo Alto, CA
  • Seattle, WA

About this job

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.

SOFTWARE ENGINEER, NETWORK (C++)

At SpaceXSI, we design, build, and operate Colossus from the ground up. This includes the massive GPU clusters, high-speed interconnect fabric, and the software that makes it all work at unprecedented scale. Colossus powers Grok and our frontier AI models with a custom, high-performance datacenter network that delivers ultra-low latency and massive bandwidth across hundreds of thousands of GPUs.

As a Software Engineer on the Colossus Networking team, you will develop the core networking software that maximizes the performance and reliability of our datacenter fabric. Your work will directly impact training efficiency, model convergence, and the speed at which we can push the frontier of AI.

Our engineers own the full lifecycle of their software — from design and implementation to deployment, monitoring, and iteration based on real-world performance at scale. You will solve hard problems in distributed systems, high-performance networking, and real-time control of one of the largest AI supercomputers on Earth.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Develop routing and traffic-engineering algorithms for the Colossus high-performance datacenter network
  • Develop highly reliable, real-time software designed to run on the switches that form the backbone of our low-latency, high-bandwidth AI training fabric
  • Participate in and lead architecture, design, and code reviews
  • Develop prototypes and run experiments to validate key design decisions at both small and full-cluster scale
  • Build tools for software development, deployment, data analysis, visualization, and testing across virtualized environments, hardware-in-the-loop setups, and live production clusters
  • Deploy reliable software updates through continuous integration and release systems with rigorous testing and monitoring

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, math, or technical discipline; OR 2+ years of professional software development experience in lieu of a degree
  • Development experience in C or C++

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

  • Strong professional experience writing high-performance C/C++ in production environments
  • Experience developing, debugging, and deploying software that runs at scale in real-world systems
  • Deep knowledge of networking protocols (UDP, TCP/IP, RDMA, etc.), distributed systems, and large-scale datacenter fabrics
  • Background in real-time systems, high-performance computing, low-latency networking, or resource-constrained environments
  • Creative problem-solving ability with exceptional analytical skills and strong engineering fundamentals
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with evolving requirements
  • Experience with security considerations in large-scale distributed systems

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

$140,000 - $225,000 USD

Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at SpaceXSI, 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.

Source: xAI on Greenhouse · View original posting (opens in new tab)

Pay in context

This role's base floor ($140,000) is above 17% of the 4,196 Software Engineering roles in California listed on this site; 96 others list the same floor. Their median floor is $176,500; the middle half runs from $149,200 to $204,000.

Only jobs on this site count, and each one publishes a base salary of $100,000 or more, so this compares six-figure jobs with each other, not with the whole market. Computed Nov 6, 2026.

This range next to 6 other live xAI roles with the nearest advertised base floor
Chart as a table
This range next to 6 other live xAI roles with the nearest advertised base floor
RolePublished base
Software Engineer, Network (C++) (this listing)$140K - $225K
Software Engineer, Imagine Product$140K - $225K
Sr. IAM Engineer$140K - $225K
Software Engineer, Grok Product$140K - $225K
Software Engineer, Platform Security$140K - $225K
Software Engineer, Voice Product$140K - $225K
Software Engineer, Imagine Safety$140K - $225K

Same $100K to $400K scale as every card. All xAI roles · How to read the bar

Observed changes

  1. First observed on the employer's board
  2. fields changed
  3. Began meeting the published-salary criteria
  4. Advertised base range changed
Observed since
Employer-stated posting date
2026-07-02
Where this pay comes from

Location as the employer wrote it: Palo Alto, CA; Seattle, WA

$140,000 - $225,000 USD

Method
Employer text, read with fixed rules and re-verified
Checked
Rule set
us-base-v2

The pay passage appears in the employer's own job text. Fixed, deterministic rules located it, and the passage below was checked against the stored copy of the posting.

What we verified

  • The pay figures come from the employer's own listing, quoted exactly above.
  • The pay is an annual base salary in US dollars with a minimum of at least $100,000.
  • The role was publicly listed on the employer's job board when last checked.

We do not verify what the employer will actually offer, whether the employer is still recruiting for the role, or anything beyond what the employer published. Full methodology.