Model Engineer, Mid-Training

xAI is hiring a Model Engineer, Mid-Training in Palo Alto, United States. It pays $180k-$440k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on xAI.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this role is Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
The posting mentions PyTorch and JAX among its tools and skills.
xAI has 299 other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

PyTorchJAX

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.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Scale synthetic coding data to trillions of tokens with large-scale docker verification
Distill the intelligence of flagship models into flash models through synthetic data generation
Optimize mid-training data mixtures to boost the ceiling for RL
Engineer long-context data recipes
Develop robust and diverse evaluation for mid-training checkpoints

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

Experience writing production-quality code in Python, PyTorch, JAX, Rust, or C++

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

Familiarity across all kinds of scaling laws
Strong ability to design ML experiments
Familiarity with state-of-the-art techniques for curating AI training data for text, image, audio, and video modalities
Strong engineering abilities in large-scale data processing frameworks
Experience with ML and large model scaling
Experience with Spark, Ray, and other large-scale data processing frameworks

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

$180,000 - $440,000 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 we rate this

Model Engineer, Mid-Training at xAI rates 91 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Model Engineer, Mid-Training is an open job at xAI.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The listed salary is $180k-$440k a year.
The role is based in Palo Alto, CA.
The job was posted on October 31, 2025.
Applications are handled by xAI. Apply on xAI

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

PyTorchJAX

Questions you could be asked

What's a project where you used PyTorch hands-on?
Walk me through how you've used JAX in your day-to-day work.
How would you decide a model or AI system is ready to ship?
Tell me about a time a model underperformed in production. How did you find out, and what did you change?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: PyTorch and JAX. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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