Software Engineer - Sandbox Service
Company: xAI
Location: Palo Alto
Posted on: February 18, 2026
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Job Description:
Job Description Job Description 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 employees are
expected to have strong communication skills. They should be able
to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates.
About the team The Sandbox service team at xAI builds and maintains
a secure, scalable system that gives our models safe, controlled
access to computational environments. This infrastructure powers
critical workloads across training and product, enabling models to
run code, build software, interact with tools, and even control
applications with user interfaces. We provision containers and
virtual machines on large-scale clusters, granting models
interactive control over these remote environments. Our work spans
the full stack: from orchestrating massive jobs and resource
scheduling at the cluster level, to fine-tuning filesystem
performance on nodes. The Sandbox service enables Grok to safely
run and test code in real-time for user queries, and supports
reinforcement learning in training, where models interactively
explore tools ranging from compilers to productivity apps. About
the role Expect deeply technical work in a fast-moving environment.
We prioritize speed and rapid iteration without compromising on
reliability or performance. Ideal candidates have strong
backgrounds in at least the following: Expert knowledge of Rust,
C++ or Go Familiarity with Python Deep experience with either Linux
or Windows systems (familiarity with both is a strong plus)
Experience with virtualization and containerization technologies
(e.g., cgroups, KVM, gVisor, QEMU) Solid knowledge of the
networking stack Interview process After submitting your
application, the team reviews your statement of exceptional work
and CV. If your application passes this stage, you will be invited
to a 15 minute interview ("phone interview") during which a member
of our team will ask some basic technical questions. If you clear
the initial phone interview, you will enter the main process, which
consists of at least two technical interviews: Coding interview in
Rust or C++. Distributed systems design interview. Salary range
$180,000 - $440,000 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. For details on data processing, view
our Recruitment Privacy Notice.
Keywords: xAI, Concord , Software Engineer - Sandbox Service, IT / Software / Systems , Palo Alto, California
