Frontend Engineer / Design Engineer - US Government

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

You will leverage xAI’s models and algorithms to create a new generation of mission-critical AI products and experiences tailored for federal government and enterprise partners, scaling these solutions to support high-stakes operations around the world. This role mirrors the responsibilities of a hands-on designer in an AI startup focused on government missions: you’ll collaborate in a small, agile team to deliver secure, regulated projects, often in classified or compliance-heavy environments. A typical day may include:

• Distilling insights from user needs, model research, and government requirements into clear product directions, ensuring compliance with customer standards.
• Designing and prototyping interfaces for xAI products, future standalone products, and secure government or enterprise platforms, with an emphasis on usability in regulated settings.
• Specifying and evaluating model behavior, working closely with our research efforts, while benchmarking designs for performance, security, and auditability.
• Enhancing user experiences through iterative design, prompt tuning, or interface refinements, with a focus on secure and scalable deployment.
• Analyzing user feedback, system outputs, or request logs to ensure reliability in mission-critical workflows.
• Building internal design tooling or prototypes to streamline workflows and automate repetitive tasks in secure environments.
• Refining xAI design guidelines or developer resources based on government or enterprise feedback, prioritizing usability for stakeholders in regulated contexts.

Focus

• A passion for solving complex, real-world problems—particularly those tied to government missions or enterprise objectives—delivering measurable impact through AI-driven design.
• Proven ability to ship high-quality, secure designs and complete projects in challenging, regulated, or ambiguous environments.
• Adaptability to shifting priorities and requirements in a fast-paced, mission-driven startup setting.
• Exceptional communication skills to interface with customers—including government stakeholders—clarifying design requirements and driving projects to completion.
• Expertise in designing, implementing, and maintaining robust, scalable, and secure AI-driven user experiences that meet stringent compliance and operational standards.

Required Qualifications

• Government Partnership Experience: Demonstrated success working with government agencies, DoD, or federal contractors on AI, software, or design projects.
• Clearance Required: Active U.S. security clearance (e.g.,Top Secret, Top Secret SCI) is a requirement for this role
• 6 years of design experience, ideally in environments requiring high reliability or security.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, with experience documenting design solutions for diverse stakeholders.
• Ability to translate business, product, or mission needs into design solutions, particularly for government or enterprise clients.
• Proven experience implementing AI or machine learning interfaces with APIs, back-end systems, and front-end prototypes.
• Strong understanding of secure design principles and user experience in regulated contexts.
• Robust design background, preferably in fields such as Interaction Design, User Experience Design, Computer Science, or related disciplines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building evaluation frameworks for AI-driven designs and assessing usability in regulated or high-stakes contexts.
• Deep understanding of machine learning fundamentals—model interaction, evaluation, and user-facing tuning—with a focus on production-ready deployments.
• History of deploying AI-enhanced designs to production, ideally in secure or cloud-based government environments.
• Expertise in writing design documentation or maintaining resources for technical audiences, including government stakeholders.
• Ability to work with complex datasets, optimize user flows for performance, and scale designs for high-throughput, mission-critical workloads.
• Familiarity with secure design tools or infrastructure, particularly in government-aligned deployments.
• Strong portfolio showcasing your work in fast-paced, collaborative environments, with experience designing for both web and mobile platforms in regulated settings.

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 a 15 minute interview (“technical phone interview”) during which a member of our team will ask technical questions about your background or specialization. If you clear the initial phone interview, you will enter the main process, which consists of three technical interviews:

Please note that the Statement of Exceptional Work is a key deciding factor for consideration.

• 15 min Technical Screen
• 3x 45 min Technical Interviews, including a portfolio deep-dive, walking through your design process and past works, and a take-home design challenge.
• Meet and greet with the wider team.
• Our goal is to finish the main process within one week. All interviews will be conducted via Google Meet or in-person.

Annual Salary Range

$180,000 - $440,000 USD

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.

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Notice