Product Operations Engineer, Government Applications Special Programs

SpaceX; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

United States Digital Space LLC in Palo Alto is seeking a Product Operations Engineer for Government Applications Special Programs to ensure reliability of AI-enabled services powering federal missions.

You will own end-to-end operations, manage on-call rotations, and collaborate with product, research, and compliance teams to balance performance with transparency and security requirements, while preparing for occasional travel to government sites.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering 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 with Python proficiency.
• Experience with large language models, generative AI, or agentic systems in research or production environments.
• Experience with enterprise-grade apps serving thousands of users across geographies and time zones.
• Familiarity with government/public sector tech environments and secure software practices.

Responsibilities

• Own health, performance, and stability of integrations between AI models and government systems.
• Develop observability through documentation, metrics, monitors, and tooling.
• Respond to outages and drive lasting fixes during on-call rotations.
• Collaborate with agency stakeholders and product teams to translate needs into concrete technical solutions.
• Address technical debt and inform strategic investments in core products.
• Work with cloud, containers, and API orchestration technologies to maintain high uptime.

Skills

Python proficiency

APIs

AI/ML applications

Cloud platforms

Docker/Kubernetes

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or STEM

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

PRODUCT OPERATIONS ENGINEER, GOVERNMENT APPLICATIONS SPECIAL PROGRAMS

the company was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today the company is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal ofenabling human life on Mars.

This team focuses on operating and deploying AI capabilities (models, APIs, tools, and integrations) for U.S. federal agencies. You'll work closely with product, research, infrastructure, and legal/governance teams to make AI and future models maximally useful for missions while upholding the company's standards, transparency, and ethical standards.

Product Operations Engineers are responsible for the health, performance, and stability of the services that power these missions. You own the full end-to-end cycle of service reliability—from responding to outages to improving codebases and building lasting solutions.

You will tackle critical issues for key government customers, introduce observability into complex systems, address technical debt in essential codebases, and inform strategic investments in core products. We are looking for engineers who enjoy deep-dive troubleshooting, feel strong ownership over the problems they encounter, and recognize the urgency of customer-facing outages.

During periodic on-call shifts, you will respond to automated alerts, investigate issues reported by customers, and share technical expertise with adjacent product teams.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Own the health, performance, and stability of integrations between frontier AI models (e.g., Grok family) and government systems, platforms, and data environments
• Continuously invest in documentation, metrics, monitors, and other troubleshooting tools that keep these services observable and operable
• Tackle critical issues for key government customers: respond to automated alerts, investigate reported problems, and drive lasting fixes
• Partner with agency stakeholders and adjacent product teams to understand operational needs, share technical expertise, and iterate based on real-world feedback.
• Partner with agency stakeholders to understand requirements, prototype solutions, and iterate rapidly based on real-world feedback
• Address technical debt in essential codebases and inform strategic investments in core products
• Participate in on-call rotations during business hours and occasional weekends, maintaining resilient, high-uptime production systems

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering or another STEM discipline; OR 2+ years of professional experience in software development in lieu of a degree

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• 1+ years of hands-on software engineering experience building scalable systems, APIs, or AI/ML applications (strong Python proficiency, other languages a plus)
• Experience working with large language models, generative AI, or agentic systems—either in research, production, or applied engineering
• 1+ years of experience working on enterprise applications that serve >10,000 users distributed across geographies and time zones
• Familiarity with government or public sector technology environments (federal civilian agencies, state/local gov, or regulated industries like healthcare, finance, or infrastructure)
• Strong product sensibility: ability to translate ambiguous stakeholder needs into concrete technical solutions
• Demonstrated ability to write clean, maintainable, high-performance code under tight timelines
• Exceptional problem-solving skills and intellectual curiosity—you thrive on hard, ambiguous challenges.
• Excellent communication skills; you can explain complex technical concepts to non-technical partners clearly and concisely.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure), containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), API orchestration.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed
• 20% travel may be required to government sites
• This position requires successfully obtaining and maintaining a Top Secret Security Clearance as a condition of employment. While the clearance may not be immediately necessary upon hire, we encourage you to initiate the application process promptly upon accepting this offer. Your ability to secure the necessary clearance is essential for fulfilling key responsibilities of the role. Should you be unable to obtain it, the company reserves the