Software Engineer - Search Infrastructure

xai· Engineering
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📍 Palo Alto, California💰 USD 150K–400K

About this role

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

ABOUT THE ROLE:

As a backend engineer, you’ll design and build scalable, high-performance systems that power subscriptions infrastructure, new monetized products, user growth, and creator monetization. You’ll work on mission-critical infrastructure that processes millions of transactions, optimizes user acquisition and retention, and enables creators to earn a living through their content. This is a unique opportunity to make a large-scale revenue impact while creating products that users and businesses love.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Design and build large scale search infrastructure (real-time indexing, serving, and data pipelines) that handles massive write and query loads with strict latency and reliability requirements
  • Go deep into search internals (indexing, query execution, and relevance) and help shape the technical direction of the core search infrastructure
  • Operate production services end to end, including monitoring, debugging, incident response, and performance optimization
  • Lead and drive incident responses and recovery with your peers. Review and contribute to incident postmortems and hold a high bar for the same

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

  • 5+ years developing large-scale infrastructure, distributed systems  or experience with storage or hardware architecture.
  • Proficient in high performance Rust, C++  or JVM-based languages
  • Hands-on experience with search and indexing technologies (Elasticsearch, Lucene, or similar) and an understanding of how they work and why
  • Experience with operating system internals, filesystems, networking, or database storage engines
  • Obsessed performance, reliability, scalability and quality
  • Ability to take full ownership of problems and learn whatever is needed to solve them
  • Comfortable moving quickly in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities and tight deadlines

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

  • Contributions to open-source search or infrastructure projects

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

$150,000 - $400,000 USD

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

SpaceXAI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our Recruitment Privacy Notice.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the salary for the Software Engineer - Search Infrastructure role at xai?
The listed salary for this Software Engineer - Search Infrastructure position at xai is USD 150K–400K. This is an full-time role.
Where is the Software Engineer - Search Infrastructure position at xai located?
This Software Engineer - Search Infrastructure role at xai is based in Palo Alto, California. The position is listed as on-site or hybrid. Check the full job description or apply directly to confirm the work arrangement.
Which team or department does the Software Engineer - Search Infrastructure at xai belong to?
This Software Engineer - Search Infrastructure position is part of the Engineering department at xai. See the full job description for more information about the team structure and responsibilities.
How do I apply for the Software Engineer - Search Infrastructure position at xai?
Click the "Apply Now" button on this page. You will be redirected to xai's official application portal hosted on greenhouse where you can submit your application directly.
When was the Software Engineer - Search Infrastructure job at xai posted?
This Software Engineer - Search Infrastructure position at xai was posted on Aug 5, 2026. Apply as soon as possible — early applications are often reviewed first.
Software Engineer - Search Infrastructure
xai · 💰 USD 150K–400K
Apply for this role ↗

You'll be redirected to xai's official application page on Greenhouse.