Hardcore Engineer, xAI

Infrastructure/Supercomputing

$180-440k

+ Equity

Linux

Terraform

C++

Ansible

Rust

Golang

Pulumi

Junior, Mid and Senior level

San Francisco Bay Area

Office located in Palo Alto, CA

Building artificial intelligence

Be an early applicant

Building artificial intelligence

1001+ employees

B2CB2BArtificial IntelligenceDeep TechMachine Learning

Be an early applicant

$180-440k

+ Equity

Linux

Terraform

C++

Ansible

Rust

Golang

Pulumi

Junior, Mid and Senior level

San Francisco Bay Area

Office located in Palo Alto, CA

1001+ employees

B2CB2BArtificial IntelligenceDeep TechMachine Learning

Company mission

To build AI systems that can help humanity understand the world better.

Job

Company

Role

Who you are

This role is perfect for engineers who thrive on pushing hardware and software to their limits in a fast-paced, innovative environment
Experience in 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

What the job involves

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
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

Application 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

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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