<div class="content-intro"><h3><strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">About xAI</span></strong></h3> <p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">xAI’s mission is to create AI systems that can accurately understand the universe and aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Our team is small, highly motivated, and focused on engineering excellence. This organization is for individuals who appreciate challenging themselves and thrive on curiosity. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">All employees are expected to have strong communication skills. They should be able to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates.</span></p></div><h3><strong>About the Role</strong></h3> <p>Applied engineers work directly with our end customers, including federal government and enterprise partners, to own strategy and execution of mission-critical AI solutions. This role mirrors the responsibilities of a hands-on AI startup CTO: you’ll collaborate in a small, agile team to deliver high-stakes projects, often in secure or regulated environments. </p> <h3>Responsibilties</h3> <ul> <li>Drive the development and enhancement of the core product and underlying model, while collaborating cross-functionally to deliver end-to-end AI solutions.</li> <li>Identifying pain points, scoping product specifications, and designing and building LLM-powered software for government or enterprise use cases.</li> <li>Benchmarking models and developing evaluation frameworks to assess performance and address weaknesses, ensuring compliance with customer standards.</li> <li>Enhancing model performance through system prompt tuning or fine-tuning, with an eye toward secure and scalable deployment.</li> <li>Analyzing request logs, prompt data, or system outputs to ensure reliability and auditability.</li> <li>Building internal tooling to streamline workflows and automate repetitive tasks in secure environments.</li> <li>Refining xAI SDKs or developer documentation based on customer feedback, with an emphasis on usability for government or enterprise developers.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Required Qualifications</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Government Partnership Experience: Demonstrated success working with government agencies, DoD, or federal contractors on AI, software, or data projects.</li> <li>Clearance Preferred: Active U.S. security clearance (e.g., Secret, Top Secret) or eligibility to obtain one is highly desirable.</li> <li>6+ years of software engineering experience, ideally in environments requiring high reliability or security.</li> <li>Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, with experience documenting technical solutions for diverse stakeholders.</li> <li>Ability to translate business, product, or mission needs into engineering solutions, particularly for government or enterprise clients.</li> <li>Proven experience implementing AI or machine learning products with APIs, back-end systems, and front-end interfaces.</li> <li>Proficiency in Python and/or TypeScript.</li> <li>Strong understanding of the HTTP protocol and secure API design.</li> <li>Robust engineering background, preferably in fields such as Computer Science, Mathematics, Software Engineering, Physics, or Data Science.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Preferred Qualifications</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Experience building evaluation frameworks for AI systems and assessing capabilities in regulated or high-stakes contexts.</li> <li>Deep understanding of machine learning fundamentals—model evaluation, training, and fine-tuning—with a focus on production-ready deployments.</li> <li>History of deploying machine learning models to production, ideally in secure or cloud-based government environments.</li> <li>Expertise in writing developer documentation or maintaining SDKs for technical audiences, including government developers.</li> <li>Ability to work with massive datasets, optimize system performance, and scale solutions for high-throughput, mission-critical workloads.</li> <li>Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools like Pulumi or Terraform, particularly in secure or government-aligned deployments.</li> <li>A passion for solving complex, real-world problems—particularly those tied to government missions or enterprise objectives—delivering measurable impact through AI.</li> <li>Proven ability to ship high-quality, secure code and complete projects in challenging, regulated, or ambiguous environments.</li> <li>Adaptability to shifting priorities and requirements in a fast-paced, mission-driven startup setting.</li> <li>Exceptional communication skills to interface with customers—including government stakeholders—clarifying technical requirements and driving projects to completion.</li> <li>Expertise in designing, implementing, and maintaining robust, scalable, and secure AI-driven solutions that meet stringent compliance and operational standards.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Annual Salary Range</strong></h3> <p>$180,000 - $440,000 USD</p> <h3><strong>Benefits</strong></h3> <p>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.</p><div class="content-conclusion"><p><em>xAI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our </em><em><a href="https://x.ai/legal/recruitment-privacy-notice" target="_blank">Recruitment Privacy Notice</a>.</em></p></div>