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. Engineers are encouraged to work across multiple areas of the company, and as a result, all engineers and researchers share the title "Member of Technical Staff."

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 engineers and researchers are expected to have strong communication skills. They should be able to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates.

xAI does not have recruiters. Every application is reviewed directly by a technical member of the team.

About the Team

The Starfleet team is responsible for creating the tools and systems necessary to drive frontier model performance. We collaborate closely with our research teams and AI tutor teams to develop new solutions that accelerate research progress across model capabilities, evaluation, safety, and alignment.

About the Role

In this role you might:

• Build features end-to-end: front-end, back-end, system design, debugging and testing
• Create innovative human data generation pipelines.
• Ensure that our overall data collection platform is secure, scalable, and delightful to use.
• Develop systems that improve our model’s reasoning and agentic capabilities
• Innovating new ideas that bring us closer to our goal: to develop AI systems that can accurately understand the universe and aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge.

Exceptional candidates may have:

• Experience delivering high-quality web applications in rapidly changing environments - as a tech lead, former founder, etc.
• Experience collaborating in highly cross-functional environments
• Experience in connecting machine learning model behavior to data distribution and data quality

Tech Stack

• Typescript, Python, Rust
• React, Express, PostgreSQL 

Location

The 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.

Interview Process

After submitting your application, the team reviews your CV and statement of exceptional work. If your application passes this stage, you will be invited to a 15-minute interview (“phone interview”) during which a member of our team will ask some basic questions. If you clear the initial phone interview, you will enter the main process, which consists of four technical interviews:

1. Coding assessment in a language of your choice.
2. Front end technical interview, in React/Typescript
3. Systems hands-on: Demonstrate practical skills in a live problem-solving session.
4. Meet the Team: Present your past exceptional work and your vision with xAI to a small audience.

Our goal is to finish the main process within one week. We don’t rely on recruiters for assessments. Every application is reviewed by a member of our technical team. All interviews will be conducted via Google Meet.

Annual Salary Range

$180,000 - $440,000 USD