Sr. Software Engineer, Platform Infrastructure

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

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health, Vision, and Dental insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Employee discounts

Job summary

SpaceXSI is building a large-scale distributed system powering one of the world’s largest supercomputing clusters. You will dive into the low-level stack to profile, debug, and optimize performance across GPUs, Linux kernel, networking, and filesystems to achieve peak efficiency.

You will collaborate with hardware, software, and algorithm teams to push AI training boundaries, maintain scalable codebases, and develop tools to boost team productivity in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of systems programming experience in C, C++, or Rust.
• Experience with Kubernetes (cluster architecture, pod lifecycle, networking, storage, service mesh, and production-grade operations).
• Strong debugging skills across the full stack from kernel to container orchestration.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and implement a large-scale distributed system.
• Profile, debug, and optimize performance across GPUs, Linux kernel, networking, and filesystems.
• Collaborate on hardware-software co-design to push AI training boundaries.
• Maintain and innovate on codebase for scalability and reliability.
• Develop tools to enhance team productivity and streamline workflows.

Skills

Systems programming

C/C++/Rust

Kernel/OS internals

Performance analysis

Networking (TCP/IP)

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

Helm

GitOps

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.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Design, build, and implement a large-scale distributed system that powers one of the world's largest supercomputing clusters
• Dive into the low-level stack to profile, debug, and optimize performance across diverse systems, including GPUs, Linux kernel, networking, and filesystems, to achieve peak efficiency
• Collaborate on hardware, software, and algorithm co-design to push the boundaries of AI training
• Maintain and innovate on our codebase to ensure scalability and reliability
• Develop tools to enhance team productivity and streamline workflows

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• 5+ years of systems programming experience in C, C++, or Rust
• Experience with Kubernetes (K8s), including cluster architecture, pod lifecycle, networking (CNI), storage (CSI), service mesh, and production-grade operations

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Computer systems fundamentals with a grasp of how computers execute code from transistors to high-level applications
• Collaborate in a fast‑paced, open environment to design and foundational systems
• Strong debugging skills across the full stack — from kernel and OS up through container orchestration layers
• Deep knowledge of operating systems internals (process scheduling, memory management, file systems, and synchronization primitives)
• Proficiency in performance analysis, profiling, and low‑level optimization techniques
• Solid understanding of computer networks and the TCP/IP stack
• Experience working with Linux kernel concepts or systems‑level debugging tools (e.g., perf, gdb, strace, Wireshark)
• Proficiency deploying and managing workloads using Kubernetes manifests, Helm, Operators, and GitOps workflows
• Solid understanding of containerization technologies (Docker, containerd, crio) and their interaction with the Linux kernel
• Experience with observability and monitoring in distributed systems (Prometheus, Grafana, VictoriaMetrics, OpenTelemetry, or similar)

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

$180,000 - $330,000 USD

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

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