Backend Engineer - API · xAI

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:03:55 GMT
Engineering

xAI · Palo Alto, CA · $180,000 - $440,000 USD · onsite

About the Role

As a Backend Engineer - API at xAI, you will play a crucial role in building the xAI API that serves our models to developers worldwide. You will own the end-to-end system responsible for high-throughput inference, handling billions of tokens per minute with low latency and high availability, including model serving infrastructure, request routing, SDK development, rate limiting, observability, and efficient scaling.

Responsibilities

Build the xAI API that serves our models to developers worldwide

Own the end-to-end system responsible for high-throughput inference, handling billions of tokens per minute with low latency and high availability, including model serving infrastructure, request routing, SDK development, rate limiting, observability, and efficient scaling

Basic Qualifications

Expert knowledge of either Rust or C++

Experience in designing, implementing, and maintaining reliable and horizontally scalable distributed systems

Knowledge of service observability and reliability best practices

Experience in operating commonly used databases such as PostgreSQL, Clickhouse, and MongoDB

Preferred Skills and Experience

Experience with LLM inference engines and serving frameworks (e.g., SGLang, TensorRT, vLLM)

Experience designing or building with agent SDKs and agent orchestration frameworks

Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and containerized applications

Expert knowledge of gRPC (unary, response streaming, bi-directional streaming, REST mapping)

Compensation and Benefits

$180,000 - $440,000 USD

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.