---
title: 'Sr. IT Data Engineer at xAI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/sr-it-data-engineer-xai-palo-alto-m6yha6g74eed'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Sr. IT Data Engineer at xAI

- **Company:** xAI
- **Location:** Palo Alto, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-06-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/xai/jobs/5167318007

## 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:

At SpaceXAI, the IT Data Engineering team implements and supports applications to help internal customers meet their operational needs. We establish processes for continual improvement, guide administration, and partner with multiple stakeholders on a project-to-project basis. Our mission is to keep the business running effectively while maintaining a healthy application environment.

## RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Help lead SpaceXAI's data strategy by implementing established ETL patterns, creating and supporting dependable infrastructure, and reusable components.
- Partner with business and engineering teams to prioritize requests and consistently deliver excellent results against time-sensitive priorities.
- Collaborate effectively in a fast-paced environment using strong interpersonal communication skills.

## BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

- BA/BS in a related field (Computer Science degree preferred)
- Minimum 5 years of relevant experience, preferably in an enterprise environment
- Strong experience with databases (Vertica, MySQL, or similar) and advanced SQL
- Java development experience (Spring, JEE/JSE) and proficiency in Python or other modern languages
- Hands-on experience with integrations, APIs, and message queuing technologies (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ)
- Experience working with 3rd party APIs (Salesforce, Workday, etc.)
- Background working in an Agile environment

## PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

- Experience with API Gateways (e.g., Kong), RAML, and REST-based APIs
- Designing and deploying scalable, reliable, high-volume data integrations and real-time pipelines
- Big data technologies (Hadoop, MongoDB, HBase, Cassandra)
- On-prem and cloud enterprise solutions (Oracle, Salesforce, Workday)
- Scala / Scalding
- Deep knowledge of access control and data security
- Leading Data/BI/Analytics projects with a customer-first approach
- Custom ETL design, implementation, and maintenance
- Performance monitoring, error logging, and troubleshooting Java applications

## COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

$172,000 - $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

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- [Legal Operations Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/legal-operations-specialist-xai-palo-alto-yvgq5sxqmheq) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Agency Development Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/agency-development-manager-xai-new-york-6zsw61w04xfw) — New York, NY
- [AI Tutor - Design Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-tutor-design-specialist-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
- [Controls Engineer, Supercomputer Infrastructure - Memphis](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-engineer-supercomputer-infrastructure-memphis-xai-southaven-9tds2x1wpwjw) — Southaven, MS / Memphis, TN
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