Backend Engineer, xAI
Product Safety
$180-440k
Salary in US currency, may differ in other locations + Equity
Building artificial intelligence
Be an early applicant
Building artificial intelligence
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$180-440k
Salary in US currency, may differ in other locations + Equity
1001+ employees
Company mission
To build AI systems that can help humanity understand the world better.
Role
Who you are
- A proactive problem-solver who turns ideas into reality
- Experienced in designing high-performance, high-load systems for production
- Passionate about AI safety and building trusted, impactful products
- (Strong plus) Background in product safety or moderation platforms
- (Strong plus) Familiar with DevOps and CI/CD pipelines
- Python (required)
- Rust (strongly preferred)
- Scala (familiarity preferred)
What the job involves
- Join a pioneering team at xAI to ensure our AI products are safe, reliable, and exceptional for users worldwide
- We’re shaping the future of AI innovation, delivering trustworthy and delightful experiences at scale
- As a Backend Engineer on the Product Safety team, you’ll build robust, high-performance systems to safeguard our AI, tackling complex challenges to impact millions
- This is your chance to redefine AI safety
- Build distributed systems to enforce safety and integrity at scale
- Create frameworks for monitoring and moderation to stay ahead of risks
- Build safety features in collaboration with other AI experts
- Drive projects from concept to production with speed and precision
- Tech Stack:
- Python (required)
- Rust (strongly preferred)
- Scala (familiarity preferred)
- RESTful APIs, gRPC
- Microservices, Docker, Kubernetes
- SQL/NoSQL databases
- Major cloud service providers (CSPs) or on-prem deployments
Application 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 phone screening with a member of the team
- If you clear that interview, you will enter the main process, which consists of four steps:
- Coding in Python Round 1
- Coding in Python Round 2
- Coding in Python & System Design
- Meet & Greet with the wider team
- Our goal is to finish the main process within one week. There will be at least one in-person interview
Salary benchmarks
Our take
xAI is Elon Musk's venture into the world of artificial intelligence, and like all things Musk, it's going big. Its setting out to build AI that helps humanity understand the universe and its starting with Grok, its conversational AI chatbot already integrated into X (formerly Twitter). With access to real-time data and a powerful ecosystem of Musk-led companies, xAI is certainly pushing towards artificial general intelligence at serious scale.
Like all bold ventures, xAI has faced its share of controversy, from questions about regulation to the overlap across Musk's businesses. But fans are still seeing the bigger picture: an interconnected tech ecosystem where AI, social media, and space exploration feed into one another.
Recently, the company made headlines with its massive "Colossus" supercomputer project, powered by tens of thousands of Nvidia GPUs. While the data center's temporary power setup has faced environmental scrutiny, the scale of ambition is certainly undeniable. From launching tap-to-pay features on X to building one of the most powerful AI training systems on Earth, xAI is moving fast.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Company
Funding (last 2 of 4 rounds)
Jul 2025
$5bn
GROWTH EQUITY VC
Dec 2024
$6bn
SERIES C
Total funding: $17.1bn
Company benefits
- Health and wellness: Comprehensive health insurance including medical, dental, vision, and disability coverage
- Life and family: Life and AD&D insurance and fertility benefits to ensure our team’s well-being and peace of mind
- Flexible vacation: We work hard but avoid burn out. Take time off when you need it
- Visa sponsorship: We support international talent with visa sponsorship to join our team
- 401(k) plan: Retirement savings plan to secure your financial future
Company HQ
Downtown, Burlingame, CA
Leadership
Elon Musk
(Founder)Founder, Chairman, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX. CEO and Product Architect of Tesla. Chairman and CTO of X Corp, founder of the Boring Company, co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI, and president of the Musk Foundation.
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