Member of Technical Staff - Sandbox Service
xAI seeks a Member of Technical Staff for the Sandbox Service team to build secure, scalable infrastructure enabling models to run code and interact with tools. This senior role requires deep expertise in Rust, C++, or Go, plus Linux/Windows and virtualization, offering a base salary of £107k-£262k GBP plus equity and comprehensive benefits.
Responsibilities
- Build and maintain a secure, scalable sandbox system for models to run code and interact with tools
- Provision containers and virtual machines on large-scale clusters
- Orchestrate massive jobs and resource scheduling at the cluster level
- Fine-tune filesystem performance on nodes
- Enable Grok to safely run and test code in real-time for user queries
About the role
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
The Sandbox service team at xAI builds and maintains a secure, scalable system that gives our models safe, controlled access to computational environments. This infrastructure powers critical workloads across training and product, enabling models to run code, build software, interact with tools, and even control applications with user interfaces.
We provision containers and virtual machines on large-scale clusters, granting models interactive control over these remote environments. Our work spans the full stack: from orchestrating massive jobs and resource scheduling at the cluster level, to fine-tuning filesystem performance on nodes.
The Sandbox service enables Grok to safely run and test code in real-time for user queries, and supports reinforcement learning in training, where models interactively explore tools ranging from compilers to productivity apps.
BASIC
QUALIFICATIONS
- Expert knowledge of Rust, C++ or Go
- Familiarity with Python
- Deep experience with either Linux or Windows systems (familiarity with both is a strong plus)
- Experience with virtualisation and containerisation technologies (e.g., cgroups, KVM, gVisor, QEMU)
- Solid knowledge of the networking stack
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
£107,000 - £262,000 GBP
Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at xAI, which also includes equity, comprehensive healthcare and dental coverage, cash plan, income protection, life insurance, and various other discounts and perks.
xAI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our Recruitment Privacy Notice .