Level

xAI

Software Engineer - Evals

xAI is hiring a Software Engineer - Evals in Palo Alto, United States. It pays $175k-$275k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on xAI.

Level's read on this job

  • Builds AI ●●●● is how Level rates this software engineer role: the job is building AI systems.
  • Pay on this posting starts in line with the typical software engineer posting on Level.
  • The posting mentions Python, PyTorch and JAX 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

Design and build model evaluation and testing infrastructure for frontier AI systems.

pythonpytorchjax
machine-learningevaluationstestingsoftware-engineering

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.

You will own and elevate our mission-critical research platform that directly accelerates SpaceXSI's frontier work.

The evals team creates and executes instruments for measuring model capabilities and behaviors. These instruments are used to clean datasets, provide feedback for experiments, and track growth throughout training. The evals team also diagnoses why agents fail and how to make improvements both short and long term. We manage the execution infrastructure, design data sets and grading schemes.

You will design, build, and ship delightful and bulletproof systems that engineers love to use every day. This role values a strong attention to details, first principles reasoning, and great taste.  

We are open to all levels from new grads to senior engineers.

Requirements

  • Software engineering proficiency and 3+ years of experience actively writing code.
  • A track record of shipping high quality projects and a strong sense of urgency.
  • Exceptional product taste -  you have a sharp sense for what “good” looks like in outputs, and you can translate fuzzy notions of quality, helpfulness, truthfulness, and safety into concrete, measurable criteria.
  • Strong attention to detail.

Bonus Points

  • Previously founded a startup or joined a fast-growing early-stage startup.
  • Familiarity with AI/ML workflows, annotation tools, or evals.
  • Experience creating and maintaining component libraries, design systems, or internal tools.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

$175,000 - $275,000 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 - Evals at xAI rates 90 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.

  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

Machine learningEvaluationsTestingSoftware EngineeringPythonPyTorchJAX

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Pay

This job starts at
$175k
Typical software engineer job
$168k

This posting starts close to the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

  1. Tell me about a project where machine learning was part of your work. What did you do?
  2. Tell me about a project where evaluations was part of your work. What did you do?
  3. Tell me about a project where testing was part of your work. What did you do?
  4. Tell me about a project where software engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
  5. Walk me through how you've used Python in your day-to-day work.

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: Machine learning, Evaluations, Testing, Software Engineering, and Python. 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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