Software Engineer - Kernels/CUDA (C++)

ABOUT xAI xAI’s mission is to create AI systems that can accurately understand the universe and aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. Our team is small, highly motivated, and focused on engineering excellence. This organization is for individuals who appreciate challenging themselves and thrive on curiosity. We operate with a flat organizational structure. All employees are expected to be hands-on and to contribute directly to the company’s mission. Leadership is given to those who show initiative and consistently deliver excellence. Work ethic and strong prioritization skills are important. All employees are expected to have strong communication skills. They should be able to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates. ABOUT THE ROLE: We are building one of the world’s largest AI supercomputers from the ground up. As part of the Compute Infrastructure team, you will own both the raw GPU supercomputer and the platform layer that runs on top of it. You will work across the full stack — from low-level GPU kernel optimizations and Linux kernel internals to massive-scale orchestration and virtualization — to make training and inference at xAI as fast, reliable, and scalable as possible. This is a broad, high-impact role that combines hardcore supercompute and compute infrastructure work. Your contributions will directly accelerate Grok’s training speed and overall AI progress. RESPONSIBILITIES : Design, build, and optimize massive GPU clusters for extreme-scale training and inference workloads Develop and tune low-level CUDA kernels (GeMM, Attention, etc.), using CUTLASS, Tensor Cores, and Nsight for maximum performance Profile, debug, and eliminate bottlenecks across GPU memory hierarchy, networking fabric, filesystems, and multi-GPU operation Collaborate closely with AI research teams to deliver production-grade performance and scalability PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE: Deep low-level systems programming (C/C++/PTX/SASS) Strong experience with large-scale GPU clusters or distributed compute infrastructure at production scale Hands-on work with GPU kernel optimization (CUTLASS, custom kernels, Nsight profiling) Track record of building or running high-performance infrastructure for AI workloads (training or inference platforms) Ability to reason from first principles and optimize for both memory-bound and compute-bound scenarios 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. xAI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our  Recruitment Privacy Notice .