AI Engineer, Special Programs

SpaceX

Confirmed live yesterday Low trust

Quick summary

Work type: On-site
Location: Palo Alto, CAWashington, DC
Salary: $135,000–$230,000 / yr
Posted: 159 days ago
Freshness: Confirmed live yesterday
Nearby: 99+ roles within 25 mi

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Salary context

Competitive pay

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $185k

This role $182k

$124k $241k

below market most similar roles pay here above market

This role pays less than 53% of similar roles. Most pay $150,475–$220,500 — the blue band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $182k versus about $185k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

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About SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft with the mission of enabling humans to become a multi-planetary species. It operates the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Starship launch vehicles, as well as the Starlink satellite internet constellation.

SpaceX currently has 851 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $130,000–$165,000 across 590 roles with salary data.

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At a glance

TL;DR · AI Engineer, Special Programs

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JOB TITLE: AI Engineer, Special Programs - Top Secret Clearance The AI Engineer, Special Programs - Top Secret Clearance joins the team to own the strategy, execution, and deployment of mission-critical AI solutions for U.S. federal agencies. This role involves designing and optimizing integrations between AI frontier models, such as the Grok family, and government systems. Key responsibilities include scoping product specifications, building AI-powered software, benchmarking models, and developing evaluation frameworks to ensure compliance and reliability. The engineer will perform system prompt tuning, fine-tuning, and log analysis to maintain audibility in secure environments. Required skills include proficiency in Python and TypeScript, experience with secure API design, and knowledge of infrastructure-as-code tools like Pulumi or Terraform. The work focuses on delivering high-stakes, production-grade machine learning products within regulated government data environments.

What does a AI Engineer earn in California?

Median $246150 from 100 postings across 17 companies.

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Skills

Python TypeScript Machine Learning AI APIs Fine-tuning Infrastructure-as-Code Terraform Pulumi HTTP Model Evaluation Data Science SDKs Scalable Systems

What you'll do

Design and optimize integrations between frontier AI models and government systems.
Scope product specifications and build AI-powered software for enterprise use cases.
Benchmark models and develop evaluation frameworks to ensure compliance with customer standards.
Enhance model performance through system prompt tuning and fine-tuning for secure deployment.
Analyze request logs and system outputs to ensure reliability and auditability.
Build internal tooling to automate repetitive tasks in secure environments.
Prototype solutions and iterate rapidly based on real-world feedback from agency stakeholders.
Ship production-grade code with a focus on speed, simplicity, and measurable impact.

What we're looking for

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 clearance.
U.S. citizen, national, lawful permanent resident, refugee, asylee, or eligible for Department of State authorization.
6+ years of software engineering experience, ideally in environments requiring high reliability or security (preferred).
Proficiency in Python and/or TypeScript (preferred).
Experience building evaluation frameworks for AI systems and assessing capabilities in regulated or high-stakes contexts (preferred).
TOP SECRET CLEARANCE.

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