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Backend Engineer - Product

San Francisco & Palo Alto, CA

About xAI

xAI’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 engineers and researchers are expected to have strong communication skills. They should be able to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates.

About the team

You will work on the team that is responsible for the backend services that power grok.com. Our team is based in Palo Alto and San Francisco. We focus on writing highly scalable and reliable services that can efficiently process tens of thousands of queries per second. The entire backend stack is written in Rust.

About the Role

Join us in building AI-powered products that impact hundreds of millions worldwide. We’re looking for detail-oriented, action-driven self-starters with a passion for AI’s potential to change lives—no prior AI experience required, just a sharp mind and relentless drive.

As a Backend Engineer at xAI, you’ll ensure our production services run smoothly, scale effortlessly, and deliver exceptional user experiences, empowering our product and research teams to push AI innovation forward.

An ideal candidate meets at least the following requirements:

  • Expert knowledge of either Rust or C++.
  • Experience in designing, implementing, and maintaining horizontally scalable distributed systems.
  • Knowledge of service observability and reliability best practices.
  • Experience in operating commonly used databases such as PostgreSQL, Clickhouse, and CockroachDB.

Additionally, any of the below points will help a candidate stand out:

  • Expert knowledge of Python.
  • Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and containerised applications.
  • Expert knowledge of TypeScript.
  • Expert knowledge of gRPC (unary, response streaming, bi-directional streaming, REST mapping).

Locations

  • We hire engineers in Palo Alto, and San Francisco. Our team usually works from the office 5 days a week but allow work-from-home days when required. Candidates who join in San Francisco must make it to Palo Alto at least twice a week.

Interview Process

After submitting your application, the team reviews your CV and statement of exceptional work. If your application passes this stage, you will be invited to a 15 minute interview (“phone interview”) during which a member of our team will ask some basic questions. If you clear the initial phone interview, you will enter the main process, which consists of 2 technical interviews and 1 project deep-dive interview:

  1. Practical coding assessment in a language of your choice.
  2. Systems design hands-on: Demonstrate practical skills in a live problem-solving session.
  3. Project deep-dive: Present and answer questions about exceptional work that you’ve done.
  4. Meet and greet with the wider team.

Our goal is to finish the main process within one week. Final interviews will be conducted in person.

Annual Salary Range

$180,000 - $440,000 USD

xAI is an equal opportunity employer and does not unlawfully discriminate based on race, color, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, medical conditions, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics. 

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act. 

For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:

xAI reasonably believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: 

  • Access to information technology systems and confidential information, including proprietary and trade secret information, and/or user data;
  • Interacting with internal and/or external clients and colleagues; and
  • Exercising sound judgment.

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