Software Engineer - Data Acquisition / Web CrawlingSan Francisco & Palo Alto, CA

Software Engineer - Data Acquisition / Web Crawling

Join a cutting-edge Data Acquisition team at xAI, where you'll power the future of AI by building world-class systems to collect and process hundreds of petabytes of data across diverse modalities web, code, images, audio, video, and beyond. As a Software Engineer specializing in Data Acquisition and Web Crawling, you'll architect and operate large-scale distributed systems that fuel groundbreaking models like Grok 3 and its successors, delivering the high-quality data that drives xAI's mission to understand the universe.

You'll work closely with pre-training, reasoning, multimodal, and other teams to meet their unique data needs, collaborating with researchers to define precise requirements and deploy large-scale classifiers for filtering and categorizing vast datasets. This is your opportunity to tackle complex, petabyte-scale challenges, pushing the boundaries of data engineering to create the foundation for the world's most advanced AI systems.

This role is for hands-on engineers who thrive on solving tough problems, working in a flat, fast-paced environment where initiative and excellence shape leadership. If you're passionate about building robust, high-throughput data pipelines and want to directly impact the evolution of transformative AI, this is your chance to shine.

What You'll Do

• Building petabyte-scale, high-throughput data processing systems managing hundreds of petabytes to exabytes of data.
• Designing and operating large-scale distributed systems and pipelines processing hundreds of thousands to millions of operations per second.
• Managing workloads across large cloud compute clusters.
• Pre-processing datasets for AI training.
• Building and operating large-scale crawlers, gathering and communicating requirements clearly and concisely.

Who You Are

Tech Stack

Interview Process

After submitting your application, the team reviews your CV and statement of exceptional work. If your application passes this stage, you will be invited to a 15 minute interview ("phone interview") during which a member of our team will ask some basic questions. If you clear the initial phone interview, you will enter the main process, which consists of four technical interviews :

Our goal is to finish the main process within one week. All interviews will be conducted via Google Meet.

Location

The role is based in the Bay Area [San Francisco and Palo Alto]. Candidates are expected to be located near the Bay Area or open to relocation.

Annual Salary Range $180,000 - $440,000 USD

xAI is an equal opportunity employer and does not unlawfully discriminate based on race, color, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, medical conditions, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws.