Software Engineer - Evals

SpaceXAI; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Medical coverage

Vision insurance

Dental coverage

401(k)

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Discounts

Job summary

SpaceXAI seeks a software engineer to own and elevate our mission-critical research platform that accelerates our frontier work. You will design, build, and ship reliable systems that engineers love to use every day, applying first principles and strong attention to detail.

We welcome all levels from new grads to senior engineers, with a focus on shipping high-quality projects and strong prioritization. Compensation includes equity and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of software engineering experience.
• Proven record of shipping high-quality projects.
• Strong product taste and decision-making.
• Excellent attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Own and elevate the research platform used to accelerate xAI frontier work.
• Design, build, and ship reliable systems that engineers love to use daily.
• Collaborate with the evals team to measure model capabilities and behavior.

Skills

3+ years coding

Ship high-quality projects

Product taste

Attention to detail

Job description

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.

You will own and elevate our mission-critical research platform that directly accelerates xAI’s frontier work.

The evals team creates and executes instruments for measuring model capabilities and behaviors. These instruments are used to clean datasets, provide feedback for experiments, and track growth throughout training. The evals team also diagnoses why agents fail and how to make improvements both short and long term. We manage the execution infrastructure, design data sets and grading schemes.

You will design, build, and ship delightful and bulletproof systems that engineers love to use every day. This role values a strong attention to details, first principles reasoning, and great taste.

We are open to all levels from new grads to senior engineers.

Requirements

• Software engineering proficiency and 3+ years of experience actively writing code.
• A track record of shipping high quality projects and a strong sense of urgency.
• Exceptional product taste - you have a sharp sense for what “good” looks like in outputs, and you can translate fuzzy notions of quality, helpfulness, truthfulness, and safety into concrete, measurable criteria.
• Strong attention to detail.

Bonus Points

• Previously founded a startup or joined a fast-growing early-stage startup.
• Familiarity with AI/ML workflows, annotation tools, or evals.
• Experience creating and maintaining component libraries, design systems, or internal tools.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

$175,000 - $275,000 USD

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

• equity
• comprehensive medical
• vision
• dental coverage
• access to a 401(k) retirement plan
• short & long-term disability insurance
• life insurance
• various other discounts and perks