AI Engineer, Supercomputing, Special Programs - Top Secret Clearance
About this role
This role addresses the critical need to build robust, deterministic, and reliable tooling for engineers operating in highly secure, classified environments. The team is focused on developing the infrastructure that enables SpaceX engineers to function effectively at classified sites, directly impacting the success of missions to Mars. The AI Engineer, Platform Infrastructure, will be responsible for creating the core deployment mechanisms and validation frameworks that ensure these tools are foolproof and dependable.
The individual will concentrate on designing and implementing systems for deployment generation, maintaining necessary platform documentation, and establishing comprehensive testing and validation procedures. This work is essential because the quality of the infrastructure directly dictates how effectively cleared engineers can operate when direct support is unavailable. This role is ideal for an engineer who thrives on building reliable automation and infrastructure for complex, high-stakes systems.
Candidates who excel in developing automated deployment pipelines and who possess an understanding of low-level systems and container orchestration would be well-suited for this position. Success in this role requires a combination of software engineering skills and a strong commitment to security and operational reliability.
What you will do
- Design and build the deployment generator.
- Create and maintain platform documentation.
- Build the bundle pipeline.
- Implement profile-driven rendering for public cloud, enterprise on-prem, and classified air-gap targets based on profile selection.
- Build and maintain the cross-profile CI matrix.
- Build the testing and validation framework.
- Integrate with the existing Supercompute team's operators, Helm charts, and CRDs by consuming their work as inputs to the generator without modifying production infrastructure.
- Own the monitoring stack migration.
What you need
- A Bachelor's degree in a relevant field such as computer science, mathematics, computer engineering, physics, data science, or engineering discipline is required.
- Candidates must have at least one year of experience working with Go Lang and/or Python.
- One plus year of experience is necessary working with Kubernetes or similar tooling for automating, developing, and scaling containerized applications.
- Experience building CI/CD pipelines and deployment automation, such as Buildkite or GitHub Actions, is preferred.
- Familiarity with container image management is a beneficial skill.
- Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code tools like Pulumi or Terraform, along with an understanding of state management tradeoffs, is preferred.
- A solid understanding of Linux systems is a required skill.
- Experience building air-gapped or disconnected deployment tooling where all dependencies must be pre-staged is highly desirable.
Nice to have
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret or Top Secret SCI clearance
- Experience building CI/CD pipelines and deployment automation (Buildkite, GitHub Actions, or equivalent)
- Familiarity with container image management
- Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (Pulumi or Terraform)
- Experience with GPU infrastructure (NVIDIA drivers, CUDA, NCCL, InfiniBand/RoCE networking)
- Experience with PXE boot, cloud-init, squashfs, or other bare metal provisioning technologies
- Own the bare metal provisioning pipeline
Benefits
- Pay range: $135,000 - $230,000/per year
- Long-term incentives, including company stock, stock options, or long-term cash awards
- Potential discretionary bonuses
- Ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan
- Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
- Access to a 401(k) retirement plan
- Short and long-term disability insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid parental leave
- Various other discounts and perks
- 3 weeks of paid vacation
- 10 or more paid holidays per year
- Paid sick leave pursuant to Company policy
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote policy for this role?
The posting does not explicitly detail a remote work policy for this position.
What is the compensation range for this position?
The salary range for the AI Engineer role is listed as $135,000 - $230,000 per year.
What is the required tech stack?
The required experience includes Go Lang and/or Python, experience with Kubernetes, and familiarity with tools like Buildkite or GitHub Actions.
What is the team size?
The posting does not specify the exact size of the team.
What is the hiring process regarding security clearance?
Successfully obtaining and maintaining a Top Secret Security Clearance is a condition of employment, and applicants should initiate the application process promptly.