Software Engineer - Search Infrastructure at SpaceXAI
Palo Alto, CA
$150,000–$400,000from the description
Aug 5, 2026
Palo Alto, CA
Sep 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A backend engineering role focused on designing and operating large-scale search infrastructure — real-time indexing, query execution, and data pipelines — that must handle high write and query throughput under strict latency and reliability constraints. The work spans the full production lifecycle: building core systems, monitoring, incident response, and performance tuning. Suited to engineers with deep distributed systems or storage experience who want to own infrastructure end-to-end.
Senior level · 5+ years · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
What the occupation pays Median $138,970 (middle half $107,524–$175,762). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Aug 6, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (5)
The job title is 'Backend Engineer' with no seniority modifier, but the 5+ years requirement and scope of ownership (incident lead, technical direction) support a Senior classification.
The posting names Rust, C++, and JVM-based languages as a single interchangeable requirement; Rust is used as the primary name with C++ and common JVM languages listed as alternatives.
The compensation range ($150,000–$400,000) is unusually wide; the posting notes that base salary is supplemented by equity and benefits, which may explain the breadth.
The preferred skill (open-source contributions) appears under a clearly secondary 'Preferred Skills and Experience' heading.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): open-source search/infrastructure contributions.
Read the full posting
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