What are the responsibilities and job description for the Core Network Development Engineer - xAI Networking position at xai?
About xAI
xAI’s mission is to create AI systems that can accurately understand the universe and aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. Our team is small, highly motivated, and focused on engineering excellence. This organization is for individuals who appreciate challenging themselves and thrive on curiosity. We operate with a flat organizational structure. All employees are expected to be hands-on and to contribute directly to the company’s mission. Leadership is given to those who show initiative and consistently deliver excellence. Work ethic and strong prioritization skills are important. All engineers are expected to have strong communication skills. They should be able to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates.
About the Role
xAI is building at a furious pace with the latest hardware to help people understand the universe and we are in need of Network Development Engineers (NDEs) who have at least 5 years of experience in hyper scale data center networks and their ancillary networks that power them.
You will own all the production networks that reside in the data centers, including our primary front and backend networks that train Grok and that customers use for inference. Engineers will own all aspects from design and development to build and operations. You will be expected to participate in a team oncall rota and to contribute to scaling and maintenance efforts.
Responsibilities Will Include
- Designing and implementing scalable network architectures for AI/HPC workloads.
- Automating network operations, monitoring, and troubleshooting using scripting and tools.
- Collaborating with cross-functional teams on data center buildouts and optimizations.
- Analyzing network performance metrics to identify and resolve bottlenecks.
- Ensuring high availability and security of production networks.
Location
Work will be in-office based out of either Palo Alto, California or Dublin, Ireland. There will be significant travel expected to Memphis, Tennessee for data center buildouts. For Dublin-based employees, additional travel to our head office in Palo Alto will be required for team collaboration. Travel to Memphis may account for up to 25-30% of time during peak buildout phases.
Required Qualifications
- A minimum of 5 years designing and operating hyper scale networks.
- At least 3 years in either or both the ethernet/infiniband AI/HPC space.
- Familiarity with networking protocols and tools (e.g., BGP, OSPF, ZTP etc.).
- Experience with Python scripting and the ability to automate repetitive tasks and to acquire pertinent metrics and analyze large sets of data.
- Deep understanding of RoCEv2.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
Preferred Experiences
- Experience in AI/ML infrastructure or large-scale GPU clusters.
- Proven track record in on-call rotations and incident response in high-stakes environments.
- Strong problem-solving skills and ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ambiguous setting.
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 an initial interview (45 minutes - 1 hour) 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 interviews:
- Coding assessment in a language of your choice.
- Data center network technologies
- Manager Interview.
- Meet and greet with the team with a presentation of a large scale solution or problem you owned, start to finish.
Our goal is to finish the main process within one week. We don’t rely on recruiters for assessments. Every application is reviewed by a member of our technical team. All interviews will be conducted via Google Meet.
Benefits
Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at xAI, which also includes equity, comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short & long-term disability insurance, life insurance, and various other discounts and perks.
xAI is an equal opportunity employer.
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