Backend Engineer
at xAI
Posted 11 hours ago
No clicks
- Compensation
- Not specified
- City
- London
- Country
- United Kingdom
Currency: Not specified
Join xAI as a Backend Engineer to help operate and scale production systems powering the API. You will design, implement, and maintain reliable, horizontally scalable distributed systems, primarily using Rust (with knowledge of C++ or Go). You will work on observability and reliability best practices and operate with databases such as PostgreSQL, ClickHouse, and MongoDB. This is an in-person role based in London, UK with occasional coordination with a team in Palo Alto.
About xAI
xAI’s mission is to create AI systems that can accurately understand the universe and aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. Our team is small, highly motivated, and focused on engineering excellence. This organization is for individuals who appreciate challenging themselves and thrive on curiosity. We operate with a flat organizational structure. All employees are expected to be hands-on and to contribute directly to the company’s mission. Leadership is given to those who show initiative and consistently deliver excellence. Work ethic and strong prioritization skills are important. All employees are expected to have strong communication skills. They should be able to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates.
About the team
In this role you will work on xAI's production systems that power the API. The actual team matching will happen at the offer stage.
About the role
As an ideal candidate you have a good understanding of how highly scalable and reliable production infrastructure is built. You strive for perfection and listen carefully to your users in order to solve any pain points they might experience. Most of our backend infrastructure is written in Rust. So familiarity with a compiled language such as C++, Rust, or Go is highly beneficial.
- Expert knowledge of either Rust or C++,
- Experience in designing, implementing, and maintaining reliable and horizontally scalable distributed systems,
- Knowledge of service observability and reliability best practices,
- Experience in operating commonly used databases such as PostgreSQL, Clickhouse, and MongoDB.
Additionally, any of the below points will help a candidate stand out:
- Expert knowledge of Python,
- Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and containerized applications,
- Expert knowledge of TypeScript,
- Expert knowledge of gRPC (unary, response streaming, bi-directional streaming, REST mapping),
- Hands-on experience with LLM APIs, embeddings, or RAG patterns,
- Track record of delivering user-facing software at scale.
Location
This position is in-person in London, UK. We usually work from the office 5 days a week but allow for work-from-home days when required. Candidates must be willing to attend late meetings at least once a week to coordinate with the rest of our team in Palo Alto.
Interview process
After submitting your application, the team reviews your statement of exceptional work and CV. If your application passes this stage, the interview process is as follows:
- Initial technical screening during which a member of our team will ask some basic technical questions (15 minutes)
- Coding interview in either Rust / C++ / Go / Python (45 minutes)
- Distributed systems design (45 minutes)
- Final stage with our lead engineer Jaime Alonso Lorenzo (30 minutes)
All interviews will be conducted via Google Meet.
Benefits
Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at xAI, which also includes equity, comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a pension plan, short & long-term disability insurance, life insurance, and various other discounts and perks.
xAI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our Recruitment Privacy Notice.
