below marketmost similar roles pay hereabove market
This role pays less than
51%
of similar roles. Most pay
$126,750–$188,895
— the blue band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$142k
versus about
$158k
for comparable roles.
Based on 240 similar postings.
Employer
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
796 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$130,000–$165,000
across 555 roles with salary data.
The Software Engineer (AI Data Engineering) joins the Artificial Intelligence Data Engineering Software team to build AI-powered tools and automation for launch vehicles and spacecraft. You will partner with engineers across avionics, propulsion, and structures to identify repetitive tasks and develop solutions that automate data review, flag anomalies, and surface insights from large telemetry datasets. Key responsibilities include designing agentic AI systems, multi-agent workflows, MCP servers, and RAG-based search, as well as building internal web dashboards and data pipelines. Required skills include Python programming, experience with automation tools or AI integrations, and a background in computer science, data science, engineering, math, or physics. You will utilize tools like pandas, NumPy, PostgreSQL, Docker, and Kubernetes to solve complex engineering problems in a flight-critical environment.
What does a Software Engineer earn in California?
Median $214500 from 1223 postings across 78 companies.
Partner with engineering teams to identify repetitive tasks and design automation tools to solve them.
Build data pipelines to process large volumes of telemetry, hardware design databases, and test records.
Design agentic AI systems, multi-agent workflows, and MCP servers for querying and analyzing internal data.
Integrate automation tools into CI/CD pipelines and existing mission workflows.
Develop internal web dashboards to provide visibility into mission status and data review results.
Prototype and iterate on tools to move them from initial concepts to production-grade states.
Test and validate all tools to ensure accuracy in flight-critical environments.
Track engineering hours saved to prioritize work based on return on investment.
What we're looking for
Bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, engineering, math, or physics; OR 4+ years of professional experience building automation for engineering use cases.
1+ years of software engineering experience focusing on automation tools and/or AI integrations.
1+ years of programming experience in Python.
Must be a U.S. citizen, national, lawful permanent resident, refugee, asylee, or eligible for required Department of State authorizations.
Track record of building tools adopted by end users, including gathering requirements and iterating on feedback (preferred).
Comfort processing large engineering or scientific datasets using tools such as pandas and NumPy (preferred).
Hands-on experience building complex agentic AI systems, multi-agent workflows, and MCP servers (preferred).
Full-stack experience building web applications or dashboards using React/TypeScript and Python backends (preferred).
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