Sr. Software Engineer, Ads Product
xAI
Palo Alto, CA · $180k–$330k a year · Posted November 6, 2026
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Where Palo Alto, CA ranks
Where Palo Alto, CA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #3Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills28% · of 100
- #3Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills in the West Coast28% · of 54
- #3Best cities for AI-skill jobs37% · of 100
- #3Best cities for AI-skill jobs in the West Coast37% · of 71
- #4Best cities for data and analytics pay after cost of living$207k · of 28
- #4Best all-round cities for mid-career professionals83 / 100 · of 100
Rankings about engineering jobs
- Best cities for software and engineering jobs #1 San Francisco (3,412 openings)
- Best cities for engineering pay after cost of living #1 San Mateo ($216k)
- Most requested AI skills in engineering jobs #1 AI tools in daily work (6.1%)
- AI tools named most often in engineering jobs #1 Claude (1.7%)
- Employers with the most engineering jobs #1 Amazon (2,992 roles)
Pay compared with the market
This listing pays about $255,000 a year. Across 28 open sr. software engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $169,000 to $217,500 and the median is $182,500. That is 40% above the median, above the middle half of those listings.
Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.
Sr. Software Engineer salaries by state · Check your own pay
How AI is used in this kind of work
Among software developers, AI is already used for some of the tasks. Measured exposure for software developers: 29% (some).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
Skills this job asks for
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About the job
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 help humanity understand the universe. Our teams are building the full Super Intelligence stack: from our Colossus supercomputers, to Grok models, to our suite of applications, including 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.
SR. SOFTWARE ENGINEER, ADS PRODUCT
X Ads is one of the highest-leverage product areas at X. You’ll work on systems that operate at massive scale, directly affect the business, and are being rebuilt with modern infrastructure and AI at the center. This is an opportunity to join a small, fast-moving team where early-career engineers can take on real ownership, learn from strong engineers, and ship products that matter.
We’re looking for high-slope software engineers who want to help rebuild and transform the X Ads Platform using SpaceXSI's infrastructure and AI stack. This role is a great fit for engineers who are early in their careers but learn quickly, ship fast, and want to work on products and systems that operate at massive scale. You do not need to have deep ads experience already, but you should be excited to learn how large-scale advertising systems work and how AI can make ads more relevant, useful, and effective.
You’ll work across product, backend systems, infrastructure, and AI-powered features that directly impact the majority of X’s revenue.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Build and ship product features across the X Ads Platform
Work on systems related to ad delivery, targeting, optimization, measurement, and advertiser experience
Use SpaceXSI's infrastructure and AI capabilities to improve the performance and quality of advertising products
Contribute to distributed systems that need to be reliable, fast, and scalable
Collaborate closely with engineers, product leads, and cross-functional partners to turn ideas into working products
Learn quickly, take ownership, and operate in a fast-moving environment where high-quality execution matters
Debug, maintain, and improve production systems that serve real users and drive significant business impact
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
5+ years of experience building software through internships, projects, research, open-source work, startups, or full-time roles
PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
Strong software engineering fundamentals
Ability to write clean, maintainable code and learn new codebases quickly
Strong problem-solving skills and comfort working through ambiguity
Interest in backend systems, distributed systems, data pipelines, product engineering, or AI applications
A bias toward action: you like shipping, learning from real users, and improving quickly
Strong ownership mindset and willingness to take responsibility for meaningful parts of the product
Excitement about building high-quality product experiences for advertisers and users
Experience with ads, recommendations, search, ranking, marketplaces, payments, analytics, or growth systems
Experience working with large-scale backend systems or data processing pipelines
Experience with React, Golang, Python, Rust, gRPC, Java, or Scala
Experience with machine learning, LLMs, experimentation, ranking, or optimization systems
Prior startup, research, internship, or high-impact project experience
Experience with React, Golang, Python. Rust, gRPC, and/or Java/Scala
Strong fundamentals, learning speed, and ability to ship
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.
SpaceXSI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our Recruitment Privacy Notice .