Startup Hiring Index · threadangellabs
xAI › Engineering

Human Data - Engineer

xAI · Palo Alto

Pay
$144K–$220K
From the posting
Posted
Aug 6, 2026
Tracked open for 81 days
Team
Human Data
Full-time
xAI hiring
298 open roles
116 in engineering
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Typical engineering pay at xAI: $180K–$440K — median of 52 listed ranges.

Across all startups we track: $170K–$242K for engineering roles (8,053 listed ranges).

About the role

SpaceXAI’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:

You will ensure engineering teams get the right data they need—high-quality tasks and evaluations—by crafting and executing high-value Human Data projects. You sit at the intersection of engineering and data operations: partnering with model teams, designing projects that capture meaningful signals, and driving data yield and eval lift. This is a hands-on technical role for engineers who deeply understand training and evaluation and want to influence data strategy.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Partner with model and engineering teams to understand needs and translate them into high-value data projects and evaluation strategies.
  • Own end-to-end delivery of critical data and eval projects that capture meaningful training signals and support rapid model development.
  • Build tools and systems to measure data effectiveness (data yield, eval lift, usage), and run evaluations yourself to continuously improve quality.
  • Maintain rigorous data integrity and truthfulness, including validation processes for factual accuracy; prioritize quality over quantity.
  • Research, implement, and evaluate techniques for data collection, annotation, generation, and multi-modal integration.
  • Shape Grok’s behavior and domain performance through targeted data work.
  • Design and improve annotation workflows, labeling interfaces, and related tools with a focus on data quality and integrity.
  • Act as a liaison between engineering, technical staff, and tutoring / Human Data teams to drive alignment and knowledge sharing.
  • Collaborate with Human Data Ops and stakeholders to scale projects, share learnings, and contribute to demand forecasting; report status, insights, and blockers for rapid decisions.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, or a related STEM discipline, or 4+ years of experience in lieu of a degree
  • Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams (engineering, research, product, or annotation/operations groups)
  • Demonstrated experience analyzing datasets to identify trends, anomalies, quality issues, or integrity problems

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

  • Master’s degree or higher in a relevant technical field
  • Direct experience curating, evaluating, or improving training or evaluation datasets for large language models or other AI/ML systems
  • Experience designing, supporting, or optimizing annotation tools, labeling interfaces, or data workflows that prioritize factual accuracy and data integrity
  • Familiarity with multimodal data (text + images, code, or other modalities) or domain-specific data (science, mathematics, programming, recent events, etc.)
  • Experience conducting model or dataset evaluations focused on quality, truthfulness, or alignment with product goals
  • Experience in a scripting language like Python
  • Experience in SQL or other data analysis tools

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

  • Weekend work may be required.
  • Travel to other SpaceXAI sites may be required.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

$144,000 - $220,000 USD

Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at SpaceXAI, which also includes equity, comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short & long-term disability insurance, life insurance, and various other discounts and perks.

SpaceXAI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our Recruitment Privacy Notice.

From xAI's careers page. First seen Aug 7, 2026, last verified Oct 25, 2026.

xAI hiring momentum

Open roles: 298, up 6 (+2%) over the last 30 days.

Jul 15, 2026 · 210Oct 25, 2026 · 298

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