Sr. AI Engineer, Special Programs

About SpaceX

Role overview

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize integrations between frontier AI models and government systems, platforms, and data environments.
• Collaborate on custom SDKs, APIs, developer tools, and documentation for government and enterprise developers.
• Partner with agency stakeholders to understand requirements, prototype solutions, and iterate from real-world feedback.
• Ship production-grade code and features focused on speed, simplicity, and measurable impact.

Basic qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or another STEM discipline, or at least 2 years of professional software development experience in lieu of a degree.
• At least 5 years of hands-on software engineering experience building scalable systems, APIs, or AI/ML applications.
• Strong Python proficiency; other programming languages are a plus.

Preferred skills and experience

• Experience with large language models, generative AI, or agentic systems is preferred.
• Familiarity with government or public-sector technology or regulated industries is preferred.
• Product sensibility, problem-solving, intellectual curiosity, and communication skills are preferred.
• Experience with AI safety, governance, red-teaming, or responsible AI deployment is preferred.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure; Docker or Kubernetes; or API orchestration is preferred.
• Background in policy-adjacent technical roles, civic tech, or public-interest technology is preferred.
• Contributions to open-source AI projects or developer tools are preferred.

Additional requirements

• Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed.
• Travel to government sites may be required, up to 20%.
• Must successfully obtain and maintain a Top Secret Security Clearance as a condition of employment.

Compensation

• Annual base pay range for the Senior AI Engineer role is $220,000–$350,000.
• Actual level and base salary depend on job-related knowledge, skills, education, and experience.
• Additional rewards may include stock or long-term cash awards, bonuses, benefits, paid leave, and other perks.

ITAR eligibility

• Applicants must meet U.S. Government export-control eligibility requirements or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations.