---
title: 'Barista - Memphis at xAI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/barista-memphis-xai-memphis-1rj8tj28gy0f'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Barista - Memphis at xAI

- **Company:** xAI
- **Location:** Memphis, TN
- **Posted:** 2026-08-14
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/xai/jobs/5212968007

## 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:

The SpaceXAI Hospitality team serves employees, customers, government partners, potential clients, and visitors with snacks, daily meals, and full-service events. The Barista is a team-oriented role for individuals passionate about coffee, espresso, and tea preparation and service. Ideally, this individual has several years of barista experience, hands-on knowledge of espresso drinks, coffee flavor profiles, and coffee bar operations; knowledge of food operations and culinary arts is preferred. Candidates must understand basic customer service and food/beverage safety principles. The role involves using equipment like manual espresso machines, drip brewers, grinders, and serving utensils. Daily tasks include handling customer orders/inquiries, maintaining food service spaces, and setting up/working stations at various outlets per leadership specifications. This position supports SpaceXAI's mission by providing excellent customer service, quality beverage options, a welcoming atmosphere, and accurate order fulfillment to boost morale and productivity.

## RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Set up, maintain, and clean workstations, surrounding areas, dining, work, and storage spaces to ensure safety and organization
- Perform cleaning and maintenance on departmental tools, equipment, and drip coffee stations
- Complete daily record keeping, tasks, and opening/closing checklists
- Meet time and quality standards set by leadership while working with urgency
- Engage customers, fulfill orders, and demonstrate strong customer service and communication skills (including menu changes)
- Assist with catering and event requests
- Adhere to proper safety guidelines and food safety/sanitation practices
- Interact professionally with guests, supervisors, and co-workers
- Prepare a variety of coffee, espresso, tea beverages, and food products
- Operate espresso machines with high proficiency

## BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

- High school diploma or equivalency certificate
- 1+ years of barista experience or 2+ years in customer service in a food service environment that includes coffee and/or beverage services
- Ability to carry large, heavy items unassisted (up to 25lbs)
- Must have the ability to stand for long periods – up to 8-12 hours a day.
- Able to perform frequent bending, stooping, and lifting of objects through entire shift
- Must be able to work all shifts and available for overtime, weekends and holiday(s) as needed
- Adaptability, problem-solving skills, and extreme attention to detail
- Team player with the ability to collaborate effectively, including but not limited to training of incoming team members
- Ability to work gracefully under pressure
- Must have or obtain the state Food Handlers card (training provided internally as needed)

## PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

- 3+ years of barista experience
- Self-motivated and takes initiative in a dynamic, fast-paced environment
- Previous work experience in a high-volume output environment
- Previous work experience in team settings
- Effective interpersonal, oral and written communication skills
- Effective time management skills
- Effective understanding of food safety and sanitation practices
- Basic computer skills (Microsoft Office primarily)
- Knowledge of barista equipment, tools and supplies

## ITAR REQUIREMENTS:

- To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR [here](https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/?id=ddtc_kb_article_page&sys_id=24d528fddbfc930044f9ff621f961987).

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)

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