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Sr. Software Engineer, Kernels/CUDA (C++)

X.ai

Palo Alto, CAJob$200–375K/yrPosted todayStill listed today

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At a glance

Compensation
$200–375K/yr
Location
Palo Alto, CA
Work Authorization
Not specified

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Job overview

SpaceXSI is building a large AI supercomputer and seeks a senior software engineer for its Compute Infrastructure team. The role spans GPU kernel optimization, Linux kernel internals, orchestration, and virtualization, supporting training and inference workloads. The engineer will work across the GPU supercomputer and its platform layer to improve performance, reliability, and scalability, and collaborate with AI research teams.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

C++ (Programming Language)Nvidia CUDAGraphics Processing Unit (GPU)Distributed ComputingLow-Level Systems ProgrammingC/C++PTXSASSGPU Cluster InfrastructureDistributed Compute InfrastructureGPU Kernel OptimizationCUTLASSCustom KernelsNsight ProfilingAI Workload InfrastructureFirst-Principles ReasoningMemory-Bound OptimizationCompute-Bound Optimization

Qualifications

5+ Years Systems Programming

Benefits

Medical Insurance
Vision Insurance
Dental Insurance
401(k) Match

Full job description

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today, SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of making life multiplanetary and expanding consciousness to the stars.

SpaceXSI is building Super Intelligence to help humanity understand the universe. Our teams are building the full Super Intelligence stack: from our Colossus supercomputers, to Grok models, to our suite of applications, including Grok Bot, Grok Build, Grok Imagine, Grok Voice, and X. We're creating a powerful flywheel where more compute trains better models, better models power more useful products, and what we learn from people using those products shapes what we build next.

SR. SOFTWARE ENGINEER, KERNELS/CUDA (C++) We are building one of the world’s largest AI supercomputers from the ground up. As part of the Compute Infrastructure team, you will own both the raw GPU supercomputer and the platform layer that runs on top of it. You will work across the full stack — from low-level GPU kernel optimizations and Linux kernel internals to massive-scale orchestration and virtualization — to make training and inference at SpaceXSI as fast, reliable, and scalable as possible. This is a broad, high-impact role that combines hardcore supercompute and compute infrastructure work. Your contributions will directly accelerate Grok’s training speed and overall AI progress. RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Design, build, and optimize massive GPU clusters for extreme-scale training and inference workloads
  • Develop and tune low-level CUDA kernels (GeMM, Attention, etc.), using CUTLASS, Tensor Cores, and Nsight for maximum performance
  • Profile, debug, and eliminate bottlenecks across GPU memory hierarchy, networking fabric, filesystems, and multi-GPU operation
  • Collaborate closely with AI research teams to deliver production-grade performance and scalability

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

  • 5+ years of experience with low-level system programming in C/C++

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

  • Deep low-level systems programming (C/C++/PTX/SASS)
  • Strong experience with large-scale GPU clusters or distributed compute infrastructure at production scale
  • Hands-on work with GPU kernel optimization (CUTLASS, custom kernels, Nsight profiling)
  • Track record of building or running high-performance infrastructure for AI workloads (training or inference platforms)
  • Ability to reason from first principles and optimize for both memory-bound and compute-bound scenarios

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS: $200,000 - $375,000 USD Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at SpaceXSI, 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. SpaceXSI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our Recruitment Privacy Notice.

How this job compares

Set against the 41,980 open Software Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 5, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$200–375K/yr
  • California median$165–246K/yr7,809 salary ranges
  • US median$135–218K/yr33,365 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $288K, is 40% above the California median midpoint ($205K) — in the top quarter of Software Engineer salary ranges in California.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 9,727 open Software Engineer jobs in California and 41,980 across the US. 8% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in California
Experience
This posting asks for at least 5 years of experience; Software Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for 5 years at the median (34,185 postings).
Education
13,985 of the 41,980 open Software Engineer jobs (33%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 5, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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