---
title: 'Controls Technician (Physical Infrastructure) - Memphis at xAI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/controls-technician-physical-infrastructure-memphis-xai-southaven-62rxn4p3hs02'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-14'
---

# Controls Technician (Physical Infrastructure) - Memphis at xAI

- **Company:** xAI
- **Location:** Southaven, MS / Memphis, TN
- **Posted:** 2026-09-08
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/xai/jobs/5229552007

## 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:

As a member of the Supercomputer Physical Infrastructure team, you will provide hands-on support for the integration, commissioning, troubleshooting, and maintenance of control systems across our AI training campuses. This role focuses on safe, structured execution of repairs and recoveries that maximize uptime; wiring and building industrial control panels; supporting PLC, HMI, and SCADA systems; and keeping cooling plants, electrical distribution, liquid-cooling loops, and data halls running. You will work closely with Controls Engineers on the same team. This position is based in Memphis, TN, with work across the Memphis / Southaven campus.

## RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Support integration and commissioning of vendor and OEM equipment into campus BMS, EPMS, and SCADA systems and plant PLC controls
- Perform safe controls and electrical work within LOTO, arc-flash, interlock, bypass-control, and restart-verification requirements; identify hazards, verify zero energy, validate safety devices after repair, and escalate unsafe conditions or unauthorized changes
- Maximize uptime of cooling, electrical, and facility control assets through hands-on troubleshooting, basic repairs, and corrective actions on electromechanical, pneumatic, and control systems
- Wire, commission, validate, build, and maintain industrial control panels and field devices to NFPA 79 and UL 508A standards; replace like-for-like components (power supplies, relays, fuses, terminal blocks, sensors), restore wiring condition, and create accurate redlines
- Navigate and diagnose PLCs, HMIs, alarms, permissives, sequences, I/O status, and logic behavior; clear approved alarms, perform basic recovery, capture evidence, and support minor authorized parameter adjustments with documentation
- Set up, diagnose, replace, and validate sensors, instrumentation, and industrial networks serving chillers, CDUs, pumps, and power distribution; verify signals, alignment, scaling, and network health
- Support controls for VFDs, pumps, valves, and related equipment; perform documented resets, recovery, and safe dry-cycle checks
- Provide controls support for process-critical campus systems, including cooling plants, liquid-cooling loops, electrical distribution, and fire / emergency shutdown (ESOP); protect plant stability during recovery
- Perform structured fault finding, root-cause support, and rapid corrective actions to minimize downtime
- Collaborate with Controls Engineers, facilities operations, and construction to deliver safe, reliable solutions and continuous improvement
- Maintain accurate documentation, work tickets, and records

## BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

- High school diploma or equivalency certificate
- 2+ years of hands-on experience with mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, or hydraulic systems in a manufacturing, industrial, or critical-facility environment; OR associate's degree in a technical field (controls technology, mechatronics, automation, or equivalent)

## PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

- Strong working knowledge of NFPA 70 (National Electrical Code), NFPA 70E, NFPA 79, and UL 508A
- Demonstrated hands-on skill in fault finding, structured troubleshooting, electrical panel work, multimeter use, schematic reading, and problem resolution
- Ability to read, interpret, and redline electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic schematics and drawings
- PLC and HMI experience or familiarization with Siemens TIA Portal, Beckhoff TwinCAT, and/or Allen-Bradley RSLogix / Studio 5000; ability to navigate alarms, I/O status, sequences, and basic diagnostics
- Experience with electrical control panel building and wiring; sensors and instrumentation (temperature, flow, pressure, leak detection, proximity, encoders, IO-Link)
- Experience with SCADA systems (Ignition preferred), actuators, VFDs, interlocks, and industrial networks
- Experience in data centers, power generation, semiconductor, or other high-reliability industrial environments
- Excellent documentation and communication skills; familiarity with CMMS or work-ticket systems
- Creative problem-solver with a high sense of urgency, able to work independently or as part of a team in a fast-paced environment

## ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

- Must be willing to work extended hours and/or weekends as needed
- Must be willing to travel to other locations
- Ability to work onsite in the Memphis, TN / Southaven, MS area
- Must be able to lift up to 25 lbs. unassisted
- Must be able to walk and stand for long periods of time, and to climb ladders, bend, stoop, and work in tight spaces

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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- [Hardware Failure Analysis Engineer - Memphis](https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-failure-analysis-engineer-memphis-xai-southaven-111jdc07jvwy) — Southaven, MS / Memphis, TN
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