Job Summary:
SpaceX is a company focused on enabling human life on Mars through advanced technologies. The Principal Software Engineer for the Platform Team will lead the development of foundational tooling and security infrastructure to empower teams at SpaceX to harness AI effectively, driving technical vision and architecture for the AI platform.
Responsibilities:
• Define and drive the long-term technical vision and architecture for SpaceX’s AI platform and security infrastructure
• Lead high-impact initiatives with full ownership over strategy, design, implementation, and successful company-wide rollout
• Oversee onboarding of frontier models, massive compute scaling, and continuous optimization of proxy systems for security, efficiency, logging, and control
• Lead adoption efforts at scale — establishing standards, mentoring senior engineers, building reusable assets, and driving cultural change toward AI-first workflows
• Proactively identify and execute on the highest-leverage opportunities to turn ideas into production software, trained models, and automated systems with managed, reliable compute
• Invent and scale advanced risk-mitigation capabilities (AI code review, automated PR tools, safety systems) that protect and accelerate the business
• Establish best practices and technical direction for lean, secure, and maximally effective applied AI across the company
• Serve as a key technical advisor and collaborator with leadership and cross-functional teams to align platform capabilities with SpaceX’s most ambitious goals
Qualifications:
Required:
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or other engineering discipline and 7+ years of professional experience building and scaling production platforms; OR 9+ years of professional experience building and scaling production platforms in lieu of a degree
• Experience designing and operating large-scale AI/ML platforms, internal developer platforms, or mission-critical infrastructure
• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
Preferred:
• Demonstrated success architecting and scaling AI gateways, secure proxy layers, or enterprise MLOps platforms that serve hundreds of users
• Expert-level experience with Docker/Kubernetes ecosystems, zero-trust security models, and multi-cloud/frontier-model integrations
• Deep expertise in MLOps, distributed compute, model lifecycle management, and building highly observable, reliable systems
• Strong history of enabling organization-wide impact through technical leadership, mentoring, and creation of shared platforms and standards
• Entrepreneurial leadership with a proven ability to spot and deliver transformative solutions
• Mastery of Python and broad expertise across modern languages and tooling
• Extensive experience with infrastructure-as-code, advanced observability, and building platforms that others love to use
• Deep passion for responsible AI, developer velocity, and converting deep engineering knowledge into reliable automation at planetary scale
Company:
SpaceX develops and operates rockets, satellite networks, and AI infrastructure including launch, connectivity, and cloud services. Founded in 2002, the company is headquartered in Hawthorne, USA, with a team of 1001-5000 employees. The company is currently Late Stage.