Applied AI Software Engineer — Production AI Systems

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP; McGregor (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX is seeking an Application Software Engineer, Applied AI to design, deploy, and integrate modern AI systems powering mission-critical software across production, flight, and Starlink operations.

You will own the end-to-end lifecycle of AI capabilities from prototype to production, collaborating with Product, Engineering, and Operations teams and applying LLMs, agentic systems, and advanced retrieval to deliver reliable, scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, math, or scientific discipline; OR 2+ years of professional software experience in lieu of a degree
• 1+ years of experience in full stack development
• Hands-on experience evaluating, deploying, and integrating AI models into production systems
• Proven track record of shipping real-world AI products from prototype through production deployment
• Strong foundation in designing production systems with emphasis on reliability and safety
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and modern data streaming
• Frontend experience (React/Angular) and database experience (PostgreSQL/SQL Server)

Responsibilities

• Develop highly reliable software solutions used across SpaceX, including AI-powered applications that accelerate production, flight, and Starlink operations
• Create new applications that improve how SpaceX operates by incorporating modern large language models, agentic systems, and other AI capabilities
• Own the full lifecycle of Applied AI systems: design, evaluation, deployment, monitoring, and iteration from prototype to production
• Deep dive into users’ problems to uncover high-leverage AI opportunities and deliver efficient, production-grade solutions
• Architect production systems for agentic workflows, tool-use, multi-agent orchestration, advanced retrieval, and long-context applications that prioritize reliability, safety, and responsible deployment
• Build and maintain rigorous evaluation frameworks (LLM-as-judge, automated benchmarks, online evaluation) and production observability/monitoring for AI quality, safety, latency, and cost
• Stay at the frontier of LLM techniques and rapidly incorporate emerging best practices into production systems across SpaceX programs
• Work on on-site role with no remote option and navigate high-demand launch cadences

Skills

LLM techniques

Production systems

Python

React/Angular

Cloud fundamentals

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering/Math

2+ years of software experience

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Kafka

PostgreSQL

SQL Server

Python

C#.NET

Go

React

Angular

Job description

SpaceX is seeking an Application Software Engineer, Applied AI to design, deploy, and integrate modern AI systems powering mission-critical software across production, flight, and Starlink operations.

You will own the end-to-end lifecycle of AI capabilities from prototype to production, collaborating with Product, Engineering, and Operations teams and applying LLMs, agentic systems, and advanced retrieval to deliver reliable, scalable solutions.