Backend Engineer - API

About the Role

As a Backend Engineer - API at xAI, you will play a key role in building the xAI API that serves our models to developers worldwide. You will own the end-to-end system responsible for high-throughput inference, handling billions of tokens per minute with low latency and high availability.

Responsibilities

• Build the xAI API that serves our models to developers worldwide
• Own the end-to-end system responsible for high-throughput inference, handling billions of tokens per minute with low latency and high availability, including model serving infrastructure, request routing, SDK development, rate limiting, observability, and efficient scaling

Basic Qualifications

• Expert knowledge of either Rust or C++
• Experience in designing, implementing, and maintaining reliable and horizontally scalable distributed systems
• Knowledge of service observability and reliability best practices
• Experience in operating commonly used databases such as PostgreSQL, Clickhouse, and MongoDB

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience with LLM inference engines and serving frameworks (e.g., SGLang, TensorRT, vLLM)
• Experience designing or building with agent SDKs and agent orchestration frameworks
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and containerized applications
• Expert knowledge of gRPC (unary, response streaming, bi-directional streaming, REST mapping)

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Opportunity to work with a highly motivated and focused team
• Flat organisational structure
• Strong prioritisation skills
• Excellent communication skills

How to Apply

If you are a motivated and experienced Backend Engineer looking for a new challenge, please submit your application.