Sr. Software Engineer, Data Platform

Xai · Palo Alto, CA · Engineering

Posted 2026-11-07

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SR. SOFTWARE ENGINEER, DATA PLATFORM

The Data Platform team builds and operates the infrastructure responsible for all large-scale data transport and processing across the company. We own and manage core systems including Apache Kafka, HDFS, Spark, Flink, and Trino, enabling real-time ML pipelines, feed ranking, experimentation, analytics, and observability at petabyte scale. Our team deals with latency-critical workloads, high-throughput streaming, and distributed compute systems that require fault tolerance, performance, and absolute reliability.

As a software engineer on the Data Platform team, you will design, build, and operate the distributed systems powering SpaceXSI's data movement and compute. You will take ownership of infrastructure components that process trillions of events daily, driving the scalability, performance, and reliability of the systems that power product and ML workloads across the company.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Design and implement high-throughput, low-latency data ingestion and transport systems

Scale and optimize multi-tenant Kafka infrastructure supporting real-time workloads

Extend and tune Spark, Flink, and Trino for demanding production pipelines

Build interfaces, APIs, and pipelines enabling teams to query, process, and move data at petabyte scale

Debug and optimize distributed systems, with a focus on reliability and performance under load

Collaborate with ML, product, and infrastructure teams to unblock critical data workflows

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, math, or technical discipline; OR 5+ years of professional software development experience in lieu of a degree

Experience with Kafka, Flink, Spark, Trino, or Hadoop in production

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

Proficiency in Rust, Go, Scala or similar systems languages

Proven expertise in distributed systems, stream processing, or large-scale data platforms

Strong debugging, profiling, and performance optimization skills

Track record of shipping and maintaining critical infrastructure

Comfortable working in fast-moving, high-stakes environments with minimal guardrails

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

$180,000 - $330,000 USD

Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at SpaceXSI, 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.

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