Role at a glance
- Salary
- $180K – $440K/yr
- Location
- Palo Alto, California, United States
- Work arrangement
- On-site
- Employment
- Full-time
- Experience
- Proven expertise in distributed systems, stream processing, or large-scale data platforms.
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Role Summary
The Data Platform team builds and operates infrastructure for large-scale data transport and processing across the company, including Kafka, HDFS, Spark, Flink, and Trino. The software engineer designs, builds, and operates distributed systems supporting real-time ML pipelines, feed ranking, experimentation, analytics, observability, and product workloads at petabyte scale.
What You'll Do
- Design and implement high-throughput, low-latency data ingestion and transport systems.
- Scale and optimize multi-tenant Kafka infrastructure supporting real-time workloads.
- Extend and tune Spark, Flink, and Trino for demanding production pipelines.
- Build interfaces, APIs, and pipelines for querying, processing, and moving data at petabyte scale.
- Debug and optimize distributed systems for reliability and performance under load.
- Collaborate with ML, product, and infrastructure teams to unblock critical data workflows.
Generated from the employer's posting. Verify important details before applying.
View full postingQualifications
Proven expertise in distributed systems, stream processing, or large-scale data platforms; proficiency in Rust, Go, Scala or similar systems languages; hands-on production experience with Kafka, Flink, Spark, Trino, or Hadoop; strong debugging, profiling, and performance optimization skills; a track record of shipping and maintaining critical infrastructure; comfortable working in fast-moving, high-stakes environments with minimal guardrails.
Required
- Distributed systems, stream processing, or large-scale data platforms
- Rust, Go, Scala, or similar systems languages
- Production experience with Kafka, Flink, Spark, Trino, or Hadoop
- Debugging, profiling, and performance optimization
- Shipping and maintaining critical infrastructure
Original job description
Content provided by the employer
Original job description
Content provided by the employer
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 Data Platform team builds and operates the infrastructure responsible for all large-scale data transport and processing across the company. We own and manage core systems including Apache Kafka, HDFS, Spark, Flink, and Trino, enabling real-time ML pipelines, feed ranking, experimentation, analytics, and observability at petabyte scale. Our team deals with latency-critical workloads, high-throughput streaming, and distributed compute systems that require fault tolerance, performance, and absolute reliability.
As a software engineer on the Data Platform team, you will design, build, and operate the distributed systems powering SpaceXAI's data movement and compute. You will take ownership of infrastructure components that process trillions of events daily, driving the scalability, performance, and reliability of the systems that power product and ML workloads across the company.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Design and implement high-throughput, low-latency data ingestion and transport systems.
- Scale and optimize multi-tenant Kafka infrastructure supporting real-time workloads.
- Extend and tune Spark, Flink, and Trino for demanding production pipelines.
- Build interfaces, APIs, and pipelines enabling teams to query, process, and move data at petabyte scale.
- Debug and optimize distributed systems, with a focus on reliability and performance under load.
- Collaborate with ML, product, and infrastructure teams to unblock critical data workflows.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
- Proven expertise in distributed systems, stream processing, or large-scale data platforms.
- Proficiency in Rust, Go, Scala or similar systems languages.
- Hands-on experience with Kafka, Flink, Spark, Trino, or Hadoop*in production.
- Strong debugging, profiling, and performance optimization skills.
- Track record of shipping and maintaining critical infrastructure.
- Comfortable working in fast-moving, high-stakes environments with minimal guardrails.
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:
$180,000 - $440,000 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.
About the company
xAI
Large Enterprise
xAI is a cutting-edge technology company focused on developing advanced artificial intelligence solutions to enhance human capabilities and optimize decision-making processes. Founded by a team of leading experts in AI and machine learning, xAI aims to address complex challenges across various industries, including healthcare, finance, and transportation. By prioritizing ethical AI development, the company is committed to creating innovative tools that empower organizations to harness the full potential of artificial intelligence while ensuring transparency and accountability.
xAI is a cutting-edge technology company focused on developing advanced artificial intelligence solutions to enhance human capabilities and optimize decision-making processes. Founded by a team of leading experts in AI and machine learning, xAI aims to address complex challenges across various industries, including healthcare, finance, and transportation. By prioritizing ethical AI development, the company is committed to creating innovative tools that empower organizations to harness the full potential of artificial intelligence while ensuring transparency and accountability.