Software Engineer, AI Infrastructure (Starshield)
About this role
Engineers on the Starshield team design, operate, and scale the infrastructure that supports critical national security missions for the US government. Daily responsibilities include building automation to manage on-premise compute resources, supporting GPU as a service for external customers, and collaborating directly with AI engineers across the board. The group leverages aerospace engineering experience to deploy the world's largest satellite constellation.
SpaceX is hiring infrastructure professionals with a background in site reliability engineering, developer operations, or GPU platforms to handle massive workloads at scale. Ideal candidates possess a solid foundation in Linux, containerization, and infrastructure automation while maintaining the discipline required for secure environments.
What you will do
- Manage GPU and CPU infrastructure deployments inside Top Secret datacenters.
- Provide support for GPU as a service to external customers on bare metal hardware and virtualized platforms.
- Design, validate, and productize infrastructure solutions for AI clusters operating at a scale of 100k+ GPUs.
- Develop automation tools to deploy and manage on-premise Kubernetes and AI clusters alongside operating systems.
- Deploy and maintain core infrastructure services including databases, monitoring platforms, and distributed storage systems.
- Collaborate closely with AI engineers to build scalable, operable, and maintainable software products.
- Improve the full service lifecycle from initial design and deployment through operation and ongoing refinement.
- Monitor supporting systems continuously to ensure high availability and identify proactive areas for technical improvement.
What you need
- Hold a bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, IT, or an engineering discipline with at least one year of professional experience in site reliability engineering or DevOps, or have three years of relevant SRE or DevOps experience in lieu of a degree.
- Bring a minimum of one year of professional working experience with Linux operating systems.
- Demonstrate practical experience with infrastructure tools such as Terraform or Ansible.
- Possess hands-on experience working with containerization technologies including OCI containers and Kubernetes.
- Show proficiency in scripting languages such as Bash or Python.
- Have core software development experience using Python, C++, or Go.
Nice to have
- 1+ years of experience with Python and Python-based development frameworks
- Experience managing Kubernetes clusters beyond basic usage
- Deep understanding of testing, continuous integration, build, deployment, and continuous monitoring
- Knowledge of NVIDIA GPU deployment stacks like Blackwell and Rubin
- Active Top Secret, Top Secret SCI, or DOE Level Q clearance
Benefits
- Long-term incentives in the form of company stock or long-term cash awards
- Potential discretionary bonuses and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan
- Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
- 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, and life insurance
- Paid parental leave, 3 weeks of paid vacation, and 10 or more paid holidays per year
- Company shuttles for roundtrip travel from select Seattle locations to the Redmond office
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the location and remote work policy for this position?
The position is located in Redmond, WA. Company shuttles are offered to employees for roundtrip travel from select Seattle locations to the SpaceX Redmond office Monday to Friday.
What is the salary range for this role?
The pay range for Level 1 is $125,000.00 to $165,000.00, and Level 2 is $145,000.00 to $200,000.00. The actual level and base salary are determined on a case-by-case basis based on job-related knowledge, skills, education, and experience.
Are security clearances required for employment?
This position requires successfully obtaining and maintaining a Top Secret Security Clearance as a condition of employment. Employees with an active clearance receive a 10% differential, up to an additional $20,000 annually, once officially briefed into a classified program.
What citizenship or work authorization is required?
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicants must be a U.S. citizen or national, a U.S. lawful permanent resident, a refugee, an asylee, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.