Member of Technical Staff, Search and Retrieval
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 are expected to have strong communication skills. They should be able to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates.
About the Role
The foundation team at xAI is dedicated to building the infrastructure and systems that empower maximum truth-seeking AI agents. To achieve this, we are developing AI-first search/retrieval systems that enable LLM agents to efficiently access, process, and leverage vast knowledge bases — ultimately fostering agents that prioritize accuracy, rigorous reasoning, and an unbiased pursuit of knowledge. We are seeking expert engineers to architect and scale retrieval/search systems for data in all modalities (text, images, video, and audio) to elevate agent reasoning and decision-making.
Tech Stack
- Python
- Rust / C++
- Vector databases
- Spark
Focus
- Design and develop a real-time, web-scale search engine for LLM agent consumption, with a core goal of supporting maximum truth-seeking capabilities.
- Design and develop advanced techniques for precise and efficient search indexing, retrieval, and ranking at trillion-document scale across modalities.
- Integrate the search engine with xAI's core models to improve accuracy, speed, and relevance in real-time agent interactions, ensuring agents can discern and prioritize truthful information, while minimizing hallucinations.
- Ensure robustness and scalability of search infrastructure under high-load conditions while aligning with truth-seeking objectives.
Ideal Experiences (at least one from below)
- Expertise in building web-scale search engines, including but not limited to: indexing, information retrieval, search ranking, hybrid search, structured search, and semantic search.
- Strong engineering background with a passion for building high-performance, scalable distributed systems and optimizing latency and throughput.
- Experience working with LLMs, agents, embedding models, or knowledge-intensive tasks, including fine-tuning for retrieval tasks aimed at enhancing truthfulness.
- Proficient in managing and curating large datasets from diverse sources, with a focus on quality, verifiability, and efficiency to support maximum truth-seeking agents.
- Preference for candidates with extensive experience in building and scaling web-scale search engines, including hands-on involvement in production systems and experimental iterations.
Location
The role is based in the Bay Area [San Francisco and Palo Alto]. Candidates are expected to be located near the Bay Area or open to relocation.
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 four technical interviews:
- Coding assessment in a language of your choice.
- Systems hands-on: Demonstrate practical skills in a live problem-solving session.
- Project deep-dive: Present your past exceptional work to a small audience.
- Meet and greet with the wider team.
Our goal is to finish the main process within one week. All interviews will be conducted via Google Meet.
Annual Salary Range
$180,000 - $440,000 USD
Benefits
Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at xAI, 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.
xAI is an equal opportunity employer.
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