SpaceX

Principal Software Engineer (Platform Team)

SpaceX
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5 months ago
Palo Alto, CA, USAStaff+
H1B sponsor

Base Salary

$210k - $295k/yr

Responsibilities

  • Define and drive the long-term technical vision and architecture for SpaceX’s AI platform and security infrastructure.
  • Own high-impact initiatives across strategy, design, implementation, and company-wide rollout.
  • Onboard frontier models, scale compute, and optimize proxy systems for security, efficiency, logging, and control.
  • Establish standards, mentor senior engineers, build reusable assets, and drive adoption of AI-first workflows.
  • Convert engineering knowledge into production software, trained models, automated systems, and managed reliable compute.
  • Develop risk-mitigation capabilities including AI code review, automated pull request tools, and safety systems.
  • Set best practices and technical direction for secure, lean, and effective applied AI.
  • Advise leadership and collaborate cross-functionally to align platform capabilities with company goals.

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or another engineering discipline plus 7+ years of professional experience building and scaling production platforms, or 9+ years of such experience in lieu of a degree.
  • Experience designing and operating large-scale AI/ML platforms, internal developer platforms, or mission-critical infrastructure.
  • Experience architecting and scaling AI gateways, secure proxy layers, or enterprise MLOps platforms serving hundreds of users.
  • Expertise with Docker and Kubernetes ecosystems, zero-trust security models, and multi-cloud or frontier-model integrations.
  • Deep expertise in MLOps, distributed compute, model lifecycle management, observability, and reliable systems.
  • Mastery of Python and broad expertise across modern languages and tooling.
  • Extensive infrastructure-as-code experience and a record of technical leadership, mentoring, and building shared platforms and standards.
  • Demonstrated ability to deliver transformative, responsible AI and automation solutions at organizational scale.
  • Must satisfy applicable U.S. ITAR citizenship, residency, refugee, asylee, or authorization requirements.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage.
  • 401(k) retirement plan.
  • Short- and long-term disability insurance and life insurance.
  • Paid parental leave.
  • Employee Stock Purchase Plan, potential discretionary bonuses, and long-term incentives may be available.
  • Approximately three weeks of paid vacation and 10 or more paid holidays annually.
  • Paid sick leave pursuant to company policy.
  • Applicants must meet U.S. ITAR authorization requirements.
  • The posting does not state a remote or hybrid work arrangement.
SpaceX

About SpaceX

10,000+ employees

SpaceX designs, manufactures, and launches orbital rockets and spacecraft, and operates Starlink, a global satellite internet network for consumers, businesses, and governments. Its revenue comes from commercial and government launch services (Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy, Dragon cargo and crew to the ISS) and subscription broadband with Starlink hardware and service. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Hawthorne, California, the privately held company serves NASA and commercial satellite operators, building most systems in-house.

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