AI Engineer & Researcher - Pre-training

We are looking for talented engineers to join xAI, an organization dedicated to creating AI systems that accurately understand the universe and aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. Our small, highly motivated team values engineering excellence and is ideal for individuals who enjoy challenging themselves and thrive on curiosity. All engineers and researchers hold the title of 'Member of Technical Staff,' encouraging collaboration across multiple areas of the company.

We operate under a flat organizational structure, where all employees are expected to be hands-on, actively contributing to the company’s mission. Leadership opportunities are given to those who show initiative and consistently deliver excellence. Strong work ethic, prioritization skills, and communication abilities are essential for success in this role.

In xAI, there are no recruiters. Every application is directly reviewed by a technical member of our team.

Tech Stack:

• Python
• JAX and XLA
• Rust
• CUDA (C++ and Triton)

Location:

The role is based in the Bay Area (San Francisco and Palo Alto). Candidates should be located near the Bay Area or be open to relocation.

Focus Areas:

• Training trillion-parameter neural networks at scale and various smaller specialized models.
• Profiling, debugging, and optimizing multi-host GPU utilization.
• Improving the inference stack to serve millions of users.
• Implementing the latest state-of-the-art methods from deep learning literature.
• Innovating ideas that align with our goal of developing AI systems capable of understanding the universe and generating new knowledge.

Ideal Experience:

• Building distributed training systems for AI models in HPC clusters.
• Configuring and troubleshooting hardware and operating systems for optimal performance.
• Working with JAX/XLA for multi-host training.
• Writing custom CUDA kernels in C++ or via Triton.

Interview Process:

Upon submitting your application, our team reviews your CV and statement of exceptional work. If successful, you will be invited to a 15-minute phone interview with a team member who will ask basic questions. Candidates who clear the initial phone interview will progress to the main process, which consists of:

• Coding assessment in a language of your choice.
• Systems hands-on session to demonstrate practical skills in a live problem-solving scenario.
• Project deep-dive presentation, showcasing your past exceptional work to a small audience.
• Meet and greet with the wider team.

Our goal is to complete the main interview process within one week, and all assessments are directly conducted by technical team members via Google Meet.

Annual Salary Range:

$180,000 - $440,000 USD

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