Backend Engineer - API

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today, SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of making life multiplanetary and expanding consciousness to the stars. SpaceXSI is building Super Intelligence to understand the universe and help expand humanity’s knowledge and capabilities. We work across the full Super Intelligence stack: compute (Colossus supercomputers), models (Grok), and applications (Grok Bot, Grok Build, Grok Imagine, Grok Voice, and X). We're creating a powerful flywheel where more compute trains better models, better models power more useful products, and what we learn from people using those products shapes what we build next. ABOUT THE ROLE: As an ideal candidate you have a good understanding of how highly scalable and reliable production infrastructure is built. Most of our backend infrastructure is written in Rust. So familiarity with a compiled language such as C++, Rust, or Go is highly beneficial. RESPONSIBILITIES: Build the SpaceXAI 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: £107,000 - £262,000 GBP Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at SpaceXAI, which also includes equity, comprehensive healthcare and dental coverage, cash plan, income protection, life insurance, and various other discounts and perks. SpaceXAI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our Recruitment Privacy Notice .