Software Engineer (Platform Team)

About the role

The Platform Team builds the core AI infrastructure and security systems that allow every engineering group at SpaceX to work with AI effectively. You will create gateways, proxy architectures, and shared tooling that help teams write code faster, analyze data, and ship tested applications on managed compute. Your work will directly speed up production and development across the company. You will own the design and operation of secure, scalable platforms that abstract complexity so other engineers can focus on their core problems. You will translate ambiguous product goals into robust infrastructure that unblocks hundreds of engineers simultaneously. You will be responsible for ensuring that AI systems are integrated safely, securely, and efficiently into the company's software supply chain. You will act as a technical leader, shaping best practices and standards for how AI infrastructure is built and consumed.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Architect and run secure, scalable AI platforms and proxy systems used company-wide
• Own the complete development cycle from design through deployment and ongoing iteration
• Encourage adoption by supporting engineers directly and building shared prompts, skills, and reusable infrastructure
• Spot high-value opportunities and build solutions that let users turn ideas into deployed apps and trained models quickly
• Partner with stakeholders to understand their needs and deliver platforms that connect AI to real workflows
• Integrate new frontier models, grow compute capacity, and improve proxy efficiency for logging, control, and security
• Build risk-reduction tools such as AI-assisted code review and pull request automation
• Convert engineering knowledge into automation and reliable data systems at scale
• Define and enforce platform standards that govern how AI tools are provisioned, accessed, and monitored
• Implement observability and debugging workflows for AI pipelines to accelerate incident response
• Design identity and access controls that enforce least-privilege across model APIs and compute resources
• Collaborate with security and compliance teams to ensure infrastructure meets regulatory and export control requirements
• Refactor legacy tooling into modular services that can be reused across multiple product lines

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, or another engineering field, OR 2+ years of professional experience shipping production software instead of a degree
• Hands-on experience building production software systems (platform, backend, or full stack)
• Demonstrated ability to design systems that are reliable, maintainable, and scalable under real-world loads
• Experience working with distributed systems concepts such as concurrency, networking, and fault tolerance
• Strong understanding of software development practices including testing, version control, and code review
• Comfort working in fast-paced, ambiguous environments where requirements evolve frequently
• Willingness to dive into unfamiliar technologies and deliver solutions with minimal guidance
• Commitment to writing clean, documented code that can be maintained by other engineers over time
• Ability to communicate technical trade-offs clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Willingness to rotate through on-call responsibilities and respond to platform outages quickly
• Proven track record of delivering projects on schedule while maintaining high quality standards
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams to align platform roadmaps with business goals
• Understanding of secure software development practices and common vulnerability patterns

Nice to have

• Background creating internal developer platforms, AI gateways, or secure proxy systems in production
• Practical work with Docker containers, security-oriented architecture, and integrations across multiple cloud compute and frontier model providers
• Familiarity with MLOps, model onboarding, compute orchestration, and infrastructure for large-scale AI workloads
• Track record of enabling others through tools, documentation, shared assets, or training that drives org-wide adoption
• Self-starter mindset with history of finding and delivering high-impact solutions
• Proficiency in Python plus experience with Go, Java, TypeScript, or similar languages
• Knowledge of Kubernetes, container orchestration, observability, and infrastructure-as-code tooling
• Understanding of AI risk mitigation, code generation, and developer productivity tools

Practical notes

• ITAR requirement: Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), refugee under 8 U.S.C. 1157, asylee under 8 U.S.C. 1158, or eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State
• Applicants needing reasonable accommodation for the application or interview process can contact EEOCompliance@spacex.com
• This role is based at the Starbase, TX location and requires presence at the site
• Employment is full-time and permanent
• New hires are expected to integrate with existing platform teams and contribute to production services quickly