AI Engineer, Special Programs — Gov’t AI & Integrations

Starlink; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 135,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX is hiring an AI Engineer for Special Programs to design, build, and deploy AI capabilities for U.S. federal agencies.

You will integrate frontier models with government data environments and collaborate on SDKs, APIs, and developer tools for government and enterprise developers. You will partner with stakeholders to translate complex needs into concrete technical solutions, write high-quality code under tight timelines, and support safety, governance, and ethical deployment across

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or another STEM discipline; OR 2+ years of professional software development experience in lieu of a degree.
• 1+ years of hands-on software engineering experience building scalable systems, APIs, or AI/ML applications; strong Python proficiency.
• Experience with large language models, generative AI, or agentic systems in research, production, or applied engineering.
• Familiarity with government/public sector tech environments (federal civilian agencies, state/local gov, regulated industries).

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize integrations between AI frontier models and government systems.
• Collaborate on custom SDKs, APIs, developer tools, and documentation for government and enterprise developers.
• Partner with agency stakeholders to understand requirements and prototype solutions.
• Ship production-grade code and features with bias toward speed, simplicity, and measurable impact.

Skills

Python

LLMs / Generative AI

Cloud platforms

Docker / Kubernetes

APIs & integration

Software engineering

Communication

Policy-adjacent tech

Public-interest tech

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or STEM or 2+ years experience in lieu of degree

Job description

SpaceX is hiring an AI Engineer for Special Programs to design, build, and deploy AI capabilities for U.S. federal agencies.

You will integrate frontier models with government data environments and collaborate on SDKs, APIs, and developer tools for government and enterprise developers. You will partner with stakeholders to translate complex needs into concrete technical solutions, write high-quality code under tight timelines, and support safety, governance, and ethical deployment across