---
title: 'Application Security Engineer at xAI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/application-security-engineer-xai-palo-alto-zq8tg1t12akj'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-14'
---

# Application Security Engineer at xAI

- **Company:** xAI
- **Location:** Palo Alto, CA
- **Posted:** 2024-11-14
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/xai/jobs/4559147007

## 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.

## ABOUT THE ROLE:

We are seeking a skilled and innovative Application Security Engineer to join our technology-driven company. In this role, you will be responsible for ensuring the security and integrity of our cloud-native applications and systems throughout the software development lifecycle, with a particular focus on code security, CI/CD pipelines, and emerging AI technologies.

## RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Conduct in-depth code reviews and static analysis to identify and mitigate security vulnerabilities in our applications
- Design and implement secure coding guidelines and best practices for development teams
- Collaborate closely with development teams to integrate security practices throughout the CI/CD pipeline
- Perform threat modeling and risk assessments for applications, developing mitigation strategies for potential risks
- Manage vulnerability tracking and remediation efforts, providing guidance to development teams
- Support incident response activities related to application security
- Stay current on emerging security threats and trends in cloud-native technologies and AI, continuously enhancing our security measures
- Evaluate and secure software supply chains, including producing and maintaining Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs)
- Address security concerns specific to AI and machine learning models, with a focus on the OWASP LLM Top 10

## BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or a related field
- 3-5 years of experience in application security, with a strong focus on code security practices
- Deep understanding of secure coding practices, application security frameworks, and common vulnerabilities (e.g., OWASP Top 10)
- Proficiency in Python or Rust programming languages and experience with secure coding practices in these languages
- Experience securing CI/CD pipelines and implementing DevSecOps practices
- Familiarity with software supply chain security and SBOM generation tools
- Experience with security testing tools (e.g., Burp Suite, OWASP ZAP) and static/dynamic code analysis
- Understanding of AI/ML security implications, particularly those outlined in the OWASP LLM Top 10
- Excellent communication skills, able to explain complex security issues to both technical and non-technical audiences

## PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

- Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., GCP, AWS, Azure) and their security features
- Relevant security certifications (e.g., CSSLP, OSWE)
- Background in data privacy and compliance regulations relevant to cloud-native applications and AI systems
- Experience with GitOps and infrastructure-as-code security
- Familiarity with federated learning and privacy-preserving machine learning techniques
- Experience in building custom security tooling to enhance and automate security processes
- Interest in leveraging AI to automate security tasks and improve efficiency
- Contributions to open-source security projects or tools
- Experience in securing AI/ML models and data pipelines

## COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

$100,000 - $258,000 USD

Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at SpaceXAI, 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. SpaceXAI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our [Recruitment Privacy Notice](https://x.ai/legal/recruitment-privacy-notice).

## About xAI

## Company Overview
- **One‑liner**: xAI builds artificial intelligence systems to accelerate human scientific discovery and “understand the universe,” with products spanning frontier reasoning models, real‑time voice, and generative media.
- **Entity Type**: Private (last funding round: Series E, January 2026; acquired by SpaceX in February 2026)
- **Headquarters**: Palo Alto, California, USA (additional offices in Seattle, WA; Memphis, TN; London, UK)
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Elon Musk

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI research, large language models, voice AI, generative media)
- Target customers: B2B (developers via API), B2C (consumers via Grok on 𝕏, SuperGrok subscriptions), Enterprise & Government (xAI for Government)
- Mission: “To understand the universe” – building AI that extends what humanity can know and do.

## Products & Services
- **Grok (base models)** : A conversational AI assistant modeled after *The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy*, available on the 𝕏 platform and via API.
- **Grok 4 / Grok 4 Heavy**: The most intelligent reasoning models, featuring native tool use and real‑time search integration (SuperGrok and Premium+ tiers).
- **Grok Voice Agent API / Voice Agent Builder**: Create custom voice agents in under two minutes (no‑code) – includes speech‑to‑text, text‑to‑speech, custom voice cloning, and multilingual support.
- **Grok Imagine API**: State‑of‑the‑art video generation API (quality, cost, latency).
- **Grok‑1.5 / Grok‑2 / Grok‑2 mini**: Earlier model releases with improved reasoning and 128K context length.
- **PromptIDE**: An integrated development environment for prompt engineering and interpretability research.
- **xAI for Government**: A suite of frontier AI products tailored for U.S. government customers.
- **Colossus Supercomputer**: 200,000‑GPU cluster built in 122 days, used for training xAI models; now also leased to Anthropic (Colossus 1 agreement).

All products are delivered as SaaS, API, and model weights (open‑source release of Grok‑1).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Funding**: 
  - Series B (May 2024): $6 B 
  - Series C (Dec 2024): $6 B (led by A16Z, BlackRock, Fidelity, Kingdom Holdings, Lightspeed, MGX, Morgan Stanley, OIA, QIA, Sequoia, Valor, Vy Capital, others)
  - Series E (Jan 2026): $20 B
  - Acquisition by SpaceX announced Feb 2, 2026 (terms not disclosed).
- **Key Metric**: Total disclosed funding ~$32 B; annual revenue not publicly available.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: A16Z, BlackRock, Fidelity, Sequoia Capital, Morgan Stanley, Kingdom Holdings, Lightspeed, MGX, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Anthropic (Colossus deal), U.S. Department of War (selected Dec 2025).
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Rapid scaling from founding to 200K‑GPU cluster in 122 days.
  - Over 214 open roles listed on Greenhouse as of mid‑2026.
  - #1 on Big Bench Audio (Grok 4 audio performance).
  - Expanded into voice agents, video generation, and government verticals within 3 years.
  - Acquisition by SpaceX signals deep integration with space‑tech resources.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Compute infrastructure**: Colossus supercomputer – one of the largest GPU clusters in existence, enabling faster training and larger models.
- **Model performance**: Grok 4 claims “most intelligent model in the world” with top benchmarks (Big Bench Audio #1).
- **Vertical integration**: Tight coupling with 𝕏 platform for data, distribution, and real‑time world knowledge.
- **Speed of execution**: “Move quickly and fix things” culture; built Colossus in 122 days.
- **Government contracts**: Early access to public‑sector AI markets (U.S. Department of War).
- **Talent density**: Small, focused team of researchers and engineers; in‑person work accelerates iteration.

## Strategic Focus
- **Continue advancing frontier reasoning** (Grok 4 Heavy, next‑gen models).
- **Expand voice and multimodal APIs** for developers (Voice Agent Builder, Custom Voices Library).
- **Deepen government / defense partnerships** (xAI for Government, Department of War).
- **Scale infrastructure** post‑acquisition via SpaceX resources.
- **Remain “open” where strategic** (open‑source release of Grok‑1 weights).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: “Ambitious goals, fast execution” – rejects consensus in favor of first‑principles reasoning. In‑person work prioritized (Palo Alto, Seattle, Memphis, London).
- **Benefits**: 
  - Competitive cash + equity compensation.
  - Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, disability, life insurance.
  - 401(k) plan, fertility benefits, flexible vacation.
  - Visa sponsorship offered.
- **Engineering culture**: No recruiters for assessments – applications reviewed directly by technical team. Interview process: application → screening → technical interviews → offer.
- **Mission‑driven**: Opportunity to work on frontier AI models that aim to “advance humanity.”
- **Perks**: In‑person collaboration, fast‑paced environment, ownership of meaningful projects.

## Sources
1. [x.ai/company](https://x.ai/company)
2. [x.ai/careers](https://x.ai/careers)
3. [job-boards.greenhouse.io/xai](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/xai)
4. [x.ai/news](https://x.ai/news)
5. [x.ai/careers/open-roles](https://x.ai/careers/open-roles)

## Other roles at xAI

- [AI Tutor - Video (Weekend)](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-tutor-video-weekend-xai-global-ah7fpybc60zs) — Global
- [Expert Team Lead, Human Data Operations](https://feeny.ai/job/expert-team-lead-human-data-operations-xai-asia-europe-international-us-dd18bx8p1129) — Asia / Europe / International / US
- [Team Lead, Human Data Operations - Post Training](https://feeny.ai/job/team-lead-human-data-operations-post-training-xai-asia-europe-international-us-7mqwd37c5cse) — Asia / Europe / International / US
- [Controls Technician (Physical Infrastructure) - Memphis](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-technician-physical-infrastructure-memphis-xai-southaven-62rxn4p3hs02) — Southaven, MS / Memphis, TN
- [Fraud Analyst (Sat-Weds)](https://feeny.ai/job/fraud-analyst-sat-weds-xai-palo-alto-ypm3merq7y8w) — Palo Alto, CA / New York, NY
- [Agency Development Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/agency-development-manager-xai-austin-6zsw61w04xfw) — Austin, TX / New York, NY
- [AI Tutor - Design](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-tutor-design-xai-global-gyys8ysv19rj) — Global
- [AI Tutor - Humanities](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-tutor-humanities-xai-global-f8b939y59f97) — Global
- [Network Operations Center Specialist - Memphis](https://feeny.ai/job/network-operations-center-specialist-memphis-xai-southaven-5eaecc9mwq8n) — Southaven, MS / Memphis, TN
- [Hardware Failure Analysis Engineer - Memphis](https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-failure-analysis-engineer-memphis-xai-southaven-111jdc07jvwy) — Southaven, MS / Memphis, TN