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Software Engineer, Core Services

Cursor is hiring a Software Engineer, Core Services for a remote role open to applicants in United States. It pays $140k-$225k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Cursor.

Level's read on this job

  • Works on AI ●●●○ is how Level rates this software engineer role: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
  • The posting lists this role as remote.
  • Tools and skills the posting cites include Grok, Python and Kubernetes.
  • Level lists 113 other open roles at Cursor.
  • The role was posted in the last few days.

AI in this role

Builds and scales backend services, authentication systems, and agent workflows powering AI developer tools.

GrokPythonKubernetesAWSDocker
backenddistributed-systemsapi-designauthentication

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.

SOFTWARE ENGINEER, CORE SERVICES

As a Software Engineer on the Core Services team at SpaceXSI, you'll own the critical shared services that sit between our product surfaces and the infrastructure layer: auth, webhooks, and the backend systems that power agent workflows. SpaceXSI is redefining how developers write code, and your work is what makes that possible at scale. You'll build the systems that every product team depends on, ensuring they are reliable, well-abstracted, and ready for whatever comes next.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Own authentication: designing and implementing a scalable auth architecture that secures one of the most widely-used developer tools in the world

  • Powering the agent backend: owning the infrastructure behind Cursor's agent workflows, optimizing for end-to-end performance and reliability as agents become central to the developer experience

  • Build a robust webhook server: handling high-throughput event delivery with proper retry semantics, dead-letter queues, and observability so external integrations just work

  • Harden SCM integrations: building resilient abstractions over source control providers so Cursor stays rock-solid regardless of third-party conditions

  • Drive end-to-end agent reliability: partnering with the client and inference teams to improve the full path from user action to agent response, closing the loop on one of the hardest problems in AI-powered development

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Experience building and operating backend services in production. Experience working with APIs and third-party integrations.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

  • Experience with auth systems, API gateways, or webhook infrastructure

  • Experience working on agentic products or infrastructure and strong opinions on reliability and performance of complex multi-step systems

  • Care deeply about clean abstractions, well-defined service contracts, and making it easy for other engineers to build on top of your work

  • Strong software engineering fundamentals and enjoying owning the full lifecycle of production services

  • Experience with authentication/authorization frameworks (OAuth, JWTs, RBAC), event-driven architectures, or building developer-facing platform services is a plus

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

  • If there appears to be a fit, we'll reach out to schedule 2-3 short technicals. After, we'll schedule an onsite in our office, where you'll work on a small project, discuss ideas, and meet the team

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

The annual compensation range for this role is listed below.

Annual Salary:

$140,000 - $225,000 USD

Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

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.

How we rate this

Software Engineer, Core Services at Cursor rates 65 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.

Classification

Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ 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

BackendDistributed SystemsAPI DesignAuthenticationGrokPythonKubernetesAWS

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Pay

This job starts at
$140k
Typical software engineer job
$167k

This posting starts 16% below the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

  1. Tell me about a project where backend was part of your work. What did you do?
  2. Tell me about a project where distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
  3. Tell me about a project where api design was part of your work. What did you do?
  4. Tell me about a project where authentication was part of your work. What did you do?
  5. Walk me through how you've used Grok in your day-to-day work.

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: Backend, Distributed Systems, API Design, Authentication, and Grok. 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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