Sr. Software Engineer, Platform Infrastructure
Company websitex.ai (xAI, opens in new tab)
Base salary $180K to $330K
Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in Palo Alto, CA
You apply on the employer's own site. Six Figure Work does not handle applications.
- LocationPalo Alto, CA
- WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
- Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
- Last checked (1 h ago) · observed since
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.
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:
- 5+ years of systems programming experience in C, C++, or Rust
- Experience with Kubernetes (K8s), including cluster architecture, pod lifecycle, networking (CNI), storage (CSI), service mesh, and production-grade operations
PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
- Computer systems fundamentals with a grasp of how computers execute code from transistors to high-level applications
- 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 - $330,000 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 ($180,000) is above 50% of the 4,199 Software Engineering roles in California listed on this site; 172 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 listingSr. Software Engineer, Platform Infrastructure$180K to $330K
Model Engineer, Imagine$180K to $440K
Sr. Software Engineer, Real-Time Storage$180K to $330K
Sr. Software Engineer, Consumer Subscriptions$180K to $330K
Sr. Web Engineer (X)$180K to $330K
Sr. Software Engineer, Observability$180K to $330K
Sr. Maching Learning Engineer, Search Ranking$180K to $440K
Chart as a table
| Role | Published base |
|---|---|
| Sr. Software Engineer, Platform Infrastructure (this listing) | $180K - $330K |
| Model Engineer, Imagine | $180K - $440K |
| Sr. Software Engineer, Real-Time Storage | $180K - $330K |
| Sr. Software Engineer, Consumer Subscriptions | $180K - $330K |
| Sr. Web Engineer (X) | $180K - $330K |
| Sr. Software Engineer, Observability | $180K - $330K |
| Sr. Maching Learning Engineer, Search Ranking | $180K - $440K |
Observed changes
- First observed on the employer's board
- fields changed
- Began meeting the published-salary criteria
- Advertised base range changed
- fields changed
- Advertised base range changed
- Observed since
- Employer-stated posting date
- 2026-07-20
Where this pay comes from
Location as the employer wrote it: Palo Alto, CA
$180,000 - $330,000 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.
