AI Engineer, Special Programs - Top Secret Clearance

Palo Alto, CAfull timeOn Site

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mid

$135k–$230k

H1B: no

SpaceX The AI Engineer, Special Programs - Top Secret Clearance at SpaceX designs and deploys mission-critical AI solutions for U.S. federal agencies. The role involves integrating AI models with government systems, benchmarking models, and building internal tooling in secure environments.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and optimize integrations between AI frontier models (e.g., Grok family) and government systems, platforms, and data environments.
Identify pain points, scoping product specifications, and designing and building AI-powered software for government or enterprise use cases.
Benchmark models and develop evaluation frameworks to assess performance and address weaknesses, ensuring compliance with customer standards.
Enhancing model performance through system prompt tuning or fine-tuning, with an eye toward secure and scalable deployment.
Analyze request logs, prompt data, or system outputs to ensure reliability and audibility.
Build internal tooling to streamline workflows and automate repetitive tasks in secure environments.
Partner with agency stakeholders to understand requirements, prototype solutions, and iterate rapidly based on real-world feedback.
Ship production-grade code and features with a bias toward speed, simplicity, and measurable impact.

Qualification

Bachelor's degree in computer scienceActive Top-Secret or Top-Secret SCIExpertise in designingProficiency in Python and/or TypeScriptRobust engineering background

Required

Bachelor's degree in computer science, mathematics, computer engineering, physics, or data science.
1+ years of hands-on software engineering experience building scalable systems, APIs, or AI/ML applications.
Active Top-Secret or Top-Secret SCI.

Preferred

Demonstrated success working with government agencies, DoW, or federal contractors on AI, software, or data projects.
6+ years of software engineering experience, ideally in environments requiring high reliability or security.
Expertise in designing, implementing, and maintaining robust, scalable, and secure AI-driven solutions that meet stringent compliance and operational standards.
Proven experience implementing AI or machine learning products with APIs, back-end systems, and front-end interfaces.
Proficiency in Python and/or TypeScript.
Strong understanding of the HTTP protocol and secure API design.
Robust engineering background, preferably in fields such as Computer Science, Mathematics, Software Engineering, Physics, or Data Science.
Experience building evaluation frameworks for AI systems and assessing capabilities in regulated or high-stakes contexts.