Software Engineer, Ads Product
xAI is hiring a Software Engineer, Ads Product in Palo Alto, United States. It pays $150k-$350k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on xAI.
Level's read on this job
- Level rates this software engineer role Works on AI ●●●○: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- The posting mentions software engineering, backend and distributed systems among its tools and skills.
- Level classes it as a mid-level role.
- xAI has 296 other open roles on Level.
AI in this role
Build and scale AI-driven ad delivery, targeting, and optimization systems for the X Ads Platform using SpaceXSI infrastructure.
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.
ABOUT THE ROLE:
X Ads is one of the highest-leverage product areas at X. You’ll work on systems that operate at massive scale, directly affect the business, and are being rebuilt with modern infrastructure and AI at the center. This is an opportunity to join a small, fast-moving team where early-career engineers can take on real ownership, learn from strong engineers, and ship products that matter.
We’re looking for high-slope software engineers who want to help rebuild and transform the X Ads Platform using SpaceXSI's infrastructure and AI stack.
This role is a great fit for engineers who are early in their careers but learn quickly, ship fast, and want to work on products and systems that operate at massive scale. You do not need to have deep ads experience already, but you should be excited to learn how large-scale advertising systems work and how AI can make ads more relevant, useful, and effective.
You’ll work across product, backend systems, infrastructure, and AI-powered features that directly impact the majority of X’s revenue.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Build and ship product features across the X Ads Platform.
- Work on systems related to ad delivery, targeting, optimization, measurement, and advertiser experience.
- Use SpaceXSI's infrastructure and AI capabilities to improve the performance and quality of advertising products.
- Contribute to distributed systems that need to be reliable, fast, and scalable.
- Collaborate closely with engineers, product leads, and cross-functional partners to turn ideas into working products.
- Learn quickly, take ownership, and operate in a fast-moving environment where high-quality execution matters.
- Debug, maintain, and improve production systems that serve real users and drive significant business impact.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
- Strong software engineering fundamentals.
- Ability to write clean, maintainable code and learn new codebases quickly.
- Strong problem-solving skills and comfort working through ambiguity.
- Experience building software through internships, projects, research, open-source work, startups, or full-time roles.
- Interest in backend systems, distributed systems, data pipelines, product engineering, or AI applications.
- A bias toward action: you like shipping, learning from real users, and improving quickly.
- Strong ownership mindset and willingness to take responsibility for meaningful parts of the product.
- Excitement about building high-quality product experiences for advertisers and users.
PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
- Experience with ads, recommendations, search, ranking, marketplaces, payments, analytics, or growth systems.
- Experience working with large-scale backend systems or data processing pipelines.
- Experience with React, Golang, Python, Rust, gRPC, Java, or Scala.
- Experience with machine learning, LLMs, experimentation, ranking, or optimization systems.
- Prior startup, research, internship, or high-impact project experience.
You do not need to know every technology listed below. We care more about strong fundamentals, learning speed, and ability to ship.
- React
- Golang
- Python
- Rust
- gRPC
- Java / Scala
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:
$150,000 - $350,000 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
Software Engineer, Ads Product at xAI rates 60 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- ●●●● 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.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Also common in software engineer jobs at this level
Pay
- This job starts at
- $150k
- Typical software engineer job
- $168k
This posting starts 11% below the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a project where software engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where backend was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where ads platform was part of your work. What did you do?
- Describe a typical day in a role like this one: which parts run through AI directly?
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Software Engineering, Backend, Distributed Systems, and Ads Platform. 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.
- Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.
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