Sr. Software Engineer, Data Engineering (X)

xAI; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 330,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Comprehensive medical coverage

Vision and dental coverage

401(k) retirement plan

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Discounts and perks

Job summary

SpaceXSI is seeking a Senior Software Engineer, Data Engineering to help build a distributed data platform powering realtime and batch pipelines at scale. You will work with BigQuery, Trino, ClickHouse for analytics and Flink, Kafka, Spark for streaming and batch processing, partnering with product, safety, and finance teams.

The role owns data correctness end-to-end and requires 5+ years of software engineering experience and fluency in Python/Rust/Scala/Go/Java.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Experience with Python, Rust, Scala, Go or Java and data pipeline tooling.
• Experience with real-time and batch data processing tools.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate real-time and batch data pipelines powering user insights.
• Create shared datasets and internal data products for teams to analyze.
• Prototype tooling to automate data workflows and dashboards.
• Own data correctness end to end: validate outputs and lead root-cause investigations when metrics shift.
• Move across query engines and storage technologies, adapting to new infrastructure.
• Collaborate with product and business teams to identify data gaps and opportunities.
• Iterate quickly with a bias toward efficient, accurate, reliable solutions.

Skills

5+ years software engineering

Python, Rust, Scala, Go or Java

Data pipelines & distributed systems

Tools

BigQuery

Trino

ClickHouse

Spark

Kafka

Flink

Job description

SpaceX 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, SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of making life multiplanetary and expanding consciousness to the stars.

SpaceXSI is building Super Intelligence to help humanity understand the universe. Our teams are building the full Super Intelligence stack: from our Colossus supercomputers, to Grok models, to our suite of applications, including Grok Bot, Grok Build, Grok Imagine, Grok Voice, and X. We're creating a powerful flywheel where more compute trains better models, better models power more useful products, and what we learn from people using those products shapes what we build next.

SR. SOFTWARE ENGINEER, DATA ENGINEERING (X)

As a Data Engineer in X product engineering team, you will play a key role in providing comprehensive data solutions that own or serve a wide range of stakeholders, including our end-users and internal teams such as Product engineering, Algorithm, Legal, Finance and Sales. Our work utilizes AI, distributed computing and hybrid storage technologies, but extends beyond purely data-centric solutions, encompassing non-data-related challenges, ultimately maximizing the potential of data for the benefit of our diverse user base.

You’ll help build and operate a distributed data platform that powers hundreds of realtime and batch pipelines processing billions of events per day. The team runs like an internal startup - we own problems end to end, from raw event streams to the datasets, tooling, and metrics that product, growth, safety, and business teams depend on daily.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Design, build, and operate production-grade realtime and batch pipelines that ingest, process, validate, and deliver data powering user-behavior insights and product decisions


• Create shared datasets, fact tables, and internal data products that let other teams analyze, debug, and improve product performance


• Prototype and build tooling that automates and accelerates internal data workflows - backfills, dashboards, report generation, and self-serve access to data


• Own data correctness end to end: validate with output invariants, denominator reconciliation, and independent recomputation, and lead root-cause investigations when key metrics move unexpectedly


• Move fluidly across query engines and frameworks (e.g., BigQuery, Trino, Clickhouse for analytics; Flink, Kafka, Spark/Scalding for streaming and batch), choosing the right tool and adapting quickly to new infrastructure and environments


• Partner across product and business teams to surface where data gaps exist and prioritize the highest-impact opportunities for new data acquisition and improvement


• Iterate quickly on feedback, shipping the smallest useful increment with a strong bias toward efficient, accurate, and reliable solutions

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience


• Experience with Python, Rust, Scala, Go or Java, and data pipeline toolings and distributed systems

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Software engineering experience in data engineering or distributed systems


• Knowledge of realtime and batch data processing tools such as Spark/Kafka/Flink/SQL and various storage systems in RMDBs/NoSQL


• Experience solving large scale problems and comfortable doing incremental quality work while building brand new systems to enable future quality improvements


• Proven records of interpreting product requirements into engineering implementation plans, and effectively communicating with different groups (AI, product, marketing/sales and engineering)

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

$180,000 - $330,000 USD

• equity


• comprehensive medical coverage


• vision and dental coverage


• access to a 401(k) retirement plan


• short & long-term disability insurance


• life insurance


• various other discounts and perks

SpaceXSI is an equal opportunity employer.

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