Software Engineer - Network (C++)

Pantera Capital; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 440,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage

401(k) retirement plan

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Job summary

Pantera Capital is seeking a Software Engineer to work on Colossus's networking team. This role includes developing core networking software to enhance performance and reliability within a massive datacenter, directly impacting the efficiency of AI model training.

The ideal candidate will have a degree in computer science or engineering, strong C/C++ skills, and an understanding of networking protocols. The company offers a competitive salary range and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• Minimum 2 years of professional software development experience in lieu of a degree.
• Experience in writing high-performance C/C++ in production environments.

Responsibilities

• Develop routing and traffic-engineering algorithms for the datacenter network.
• Develop real-time software for the low-latency AI training fabric.
• Participate in architecture, design, and code reviews.

Skills

C/C++ programming

Networking protocols

Distributed systems

Real-time systems

Problem-solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, math, or related field

Tools

High-performance computing environments

Job description

ABOUT xAI

xAI’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:

At xAI, we design, build, and operate Colossus from the ground up. This includes the massive GPU clusters, high‑speed interconnect fabric, and the software that makes it all work at unprecedented scale. Colossus powers Grok and our frontier AI models with a custom, high‑performance datacenter network that delivers ultra‑low latency and massive bandwidth across hundreds of thousands of GPUs.

As a Software Engineer on the Colossus Networking team, you will develop the core networking software that maximizes the performance and reliability of our datacenter fabric. Your work will directly impact training efficiency, model convergence, and the speed at which we can push the frontier of AI.

Our engineers own the full lifecycle of their software — from design and implementation to deployment, monitoring, and iteration based on real‑world performance at scale. You will solve hard problems in distributed systems, high‑performance networking, and real‑time control of one of the largest AI supercomputers on Earth.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop routing and traffic‑engineering algorithms for the Colossus high‑performance datacenter network.
• Develop highly reliable, real‑time software designed to run on the switches that form the backbone of our low‑latency, high‑bandwidth AI training fabric.
• Participate in and lead architecture, design, and code reviews.
• Develop prototypes and run experiments to validate key design decisions at both small and full‑cluster scale.
• Build tools for software development, deployment, data analysis, visualization, and testing across virtualized environments, hardware‑in‑the‑loop setups, and live production clusters.
• Deploy reliable software updates through continuous integration and release systems with rigorous testing and monitoring.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, math, or a related technical discipline; OR 2+ years of professional software development experience in lieu of a degree.
• Strong development experience in C or C++.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Strong professional experience writing high‑performance C/C++ in production environments.
• Experience developing, debugging, and deploying software that runs at scale in real‑world systems.
• Deep knowledge of networking protocols (UDP, TCP/IP, RDMA, etc.), distributed systems, and large‑scale datacenter fabrics.
• Background in real‑time systems, high‑performance computing, low‑latency networking, or resource‑constrained environments.
• Creative problem‑solving ability with exceptional analytical skills and strong engineering fundamentals.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to thrive in a fast‑paced, dynamic environment with evolving requirements.
• Experience with security considerations in large‑scale distributed systems.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

$180,000 - $440,000 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.

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