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Application Security Engineer (X Money)

xAI · Palo Alto / Austin / New York / Washington DC

Pay
$100K–$258K
From the posting
Posted
Sep 30, 2026
Tracked open for 25 days
Team
Information Technology
Full-time
xAI hiring
298 open roles
116 in engineering

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Typical security engineer pay at startups: $206K median, middle half $179K–$251K (201 posted ranges).

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:

We are seeking a skilled and innovative Application Security Engineer to join 𝕏 Money. In this role, you will protect the security and integrity of our payments and financial products throughout the software development lifecycle, with a particular focus on code security, CI/CD pipelines, and systems that move and hold customer funds. Experience securing fintech, payments, digital wallet, ledger, or similar high-value platforms, where fraud, abuse, and unauthorized transfers are a constant concern, is strongly preferred. 

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Conduct in-depth code reviews and static analysis to identify and mitigate security vulnerabilities in financial applications
  • Design and implement secure coding guidelines and best practices for development teams
  • Collaborate closely with development teams to integrate security practices throughout the CI/CD pipeline
  • Perform threat modeling and risk assessments for payments, wallets, ledgers, and related product surfaces, and develop mitigation strategies for fraud, abuse, and unauthorized movement of funds or credits
  • Manage vulnerability tracking and remediation efforts, providing guidance to development teams
  • Manage the bug bounty program, including intake, triage, researcher communication, and coordinated disclosure
  • Support incident response activities related to application security
  • Stay current on emerging threats against financial and cloud-native systems, and continuously strengthen our controls
  • Evaluate and secure software supply chains, including producing and maintaining Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs)
  • Design and implement agentic and LLM-based solutions that help detect, investigate, or prevent security problems

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or a related field
  • 3-5 years of experience in application security, with a strong focus on code security practices
  • Experience in payments, money transmission, digital wallets, or related financial platforms
  • Deep understanding of secure coding practices, application security frameworks, and common vulnerabilities (e.g., OWASP Top 10)
  • Proficiency in Python or Rust and experience with secure coding practices in these languages
  • Experience securing CI/CD pipelines and implementing DevSecOps practices
  • Familiarity with software supply chain security and SBOM generation tools
  • Experience with security testing tools (e.g., Burp Suite, OWASP ZAP) and static/dynamic code analysis
  • Experience securing payments, wallets, ledgers, or other high-value transaction systems, including controls against fraud, abuse, and integrity issues
  • Experience designing and implementing agentic and LLM-based solutions for security problems
  • Excellent communication skills, able to explain complex security issues to both technical and non-technical audiences

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

  • Hands-on experience securing applications on AWS; familiarity with other cloud platforms is a plus
  • Relevant security certifications (e.g., BSCP, OSCP, OSWE)
  • Experience managing bug bounty programs
  • Background in data privacy and compliance relevant to financial products and cloud-native applications
  • Experience with GitOps and infrastructure-as-code security
  • Experience building custom security tooling to enhance and automate security processes
  • Contributions to open-source security projects or tools

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

$100,000 - $258,000 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.

ITAR REQUIREMENTS:

  • To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here. 

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

From xAI's careers page. First seen Oct 2, 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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