Sr. Software Engineer, Linux Kernel
xAI · Palo Alto, CA; Seattle, WA
About this role
## SpaceXSI — Sr. Software Engineer, Linux Kernel SpaceXSI is building Super Intelligence to help humanity understand the universe. Our teams build the full Super Intelligence stack—from Colossus supercomputers and Grok models to a suite of applications (including Grok Bot, Grok Build, Grok Imagine, Grok Voice, and X). We’re creating a flywheel where more compute trains better models, better models power more useful products, and what we learn from users shapes what we build next. As a member of the Platform Core team, you’ll own the lowest layers of the software stack on the devices setting the pace for how fast we can push the frontier of AI. Your work will interface directly with the core hardware of the supercomputer and its network fabric—exposing the full capability of that hardware (limited only by physics) to the rest of the stack, while keeping the footprint small and robust. ### Responsibilities - Build and maintain a lean, high-reliability Linux-based operating system that underpins our supercomputer network fabric - Write (or rewrite) high-performance device drivers to extract maximum physical capability from our network and compute hardware - Manage deployment, operation, and debugging of our platform in production, including: - rigorous resolution and root-cause analysis of anomalies to improve reliability - developing and continuously improving observability and configuration management tools - Collaborate with hardware teams and external partners to design the next generation of supercomputer hardware, then bring up the OS and software stack on it ### Basic Qualifications - 5+ years of hands-on systems programming experience in C or C++ ### Preferred Skills and Experience - Strong operating systems fundamentals (scheduling, memory management, I/O) and the ability to explain how computers work from hardware to applications - Understanding of computer networking (host OS stack and common network devices like switches and routers) - Excellent written and verbal communication skills - Deep knowledge of the Linux kernel and its networking stack (transferable experience with another production-grade kernel is acceptable) - Proficiency with debugging tools across kernel, network, and userspace (e.g., ftrace, perf, Wireshark/tcpdump, eBPF, gdb, etc.) - Experience bringing up new hardware from scratch (e.g., flashing bare-metal software with JTAG; bootstrapping Linux kernel + rootfs) - Track record developing and optimizing device/peripheral drivers—ideally for high-speed interfaces and/or advanced considerations like DMA and cache coherency - Understanding of major peripheral interface standards (Ethernet, PCIe, I2C, SPI, etc.), including the ability to review schematics and debug interfaces - Experience with product security, OS/system hardening, and secure boot schemes ### Compensation and Benefits - **$200,000 – $375,000 USD** (base salary) - Total rewards include equity, comprehensive medical/vision/dental, 401(k), disability and life insurance, and additional discounts/perks *SpaceXSI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, see the Recruitment Privacy Notice: https://x.ai/legal/recruitment-privacy-notice*
Listing freshness
CronJobs last confirmed this listing 54m ago. If its source stops confirming the opening for seven days, this page is removed from active inventory.