Mobile Android Engineer

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 engineers and researchers are expected to have strong communication skills. They should be able to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates.

About the Role

We’re seeking an exceptional Android engineer to join a small, high-impact team dedicated to creating the world’s most valuable AI application, judged by the impact it delivers to users. You’ll shape cutting-edge mobile experiences, blending technical mastery with a keen product sense to deliver brilliance that resonates with users. An ideal candidate meets at least the following requirements:

• Expert in Kotlin, with deep knowledge of Jetpack Compose and the Android View system.
• Proficient in performance optimization—memory, CPU, GPU—using low-level tools to deliver blazing-fast systems.
• Experienced in designing and shipping intuitive, pixel-perfect mobile UIs that redefine how users interact with AI, driven by a strong sense of product design and user needs.
• Skilled in concurrency and reactive programming (Coroutines, Flow) for responsive, real-time apps.
• Built high-throughput integrations with APIs (REST, gRPC) or AI model outputs, ensuring seamless data flow while aligning with product goals.
• Capable of owning complex features end-to-end, from architecture to Play Store deployment, with a focus on speed, scalability, and delivering measurable user value.

Additionally, experience in any of the following may set you apart:

• Deep expertise in the Android ecosystem and related development tools (Android Studio, Gradle, etc.).
• Rust for working with our backend components.
• Media3 or ExoPlayer for real-time audio processing.
• A proven track record of shipping standout apps or features that demonstrate both technical excellence and exceptional product intuition.

What You’ll Do

• Dream up and craft delightful, intuitive user experiences that redefine how people interact with AI on mobile, balancing technical innovation with a deep understanding of user behavior and needs.
• Obsess over every pixel, animation, and interaction, ensuring the experience feels magical, seamless, and purposeful—delivering joy and utility in equal measure.
• Build blazing-fast, highly performant systems where every millisecond counts, while ensuring the product solves real user problems.
• Drive technical and product decisions, collaborating with AI researchers, designers, and engineers to deploy state-of-the-art models globally, with an eye toward maximizing user impact.

Who You Are

• Technically Exceptional: You possess deep expertise in Android development, particularly with Kotlin. We seek individuals who operate at the highest levels of their craft.
• Efficient: You excel at delivering results swiftly, often in a fraction of the time others require. Speed is a core value at xAI—we must act decisively to succeed.
• Hardworking
• High Agency: You don’t wait for direction—you take initiative, propose bold ideas, and make things happen, both technically and from a product perspective.
• Product-Minded: You have a sharp product sense, with an ability to empathize with users, anticipate their needs, and translate that into features that delight and deliver value.

Location

You can work out of xAI’s Palo Alto or San Francisco office.

Interview Process

After submitting your application, the team reviews your CV and statement of exceptional work. If your application passes this stage, you will be invited to a 15 minute interview (“phone interview”) during which a member of our team will ask some basic questions. If you clear the initial phone interview, you will enter the main process, which consists of four technical interviews:

1. Coding assessment in a language of your choice.
2. Systems hands-on: Demonstrate practical skills in a live problem-solving session.
3. Project deep-dive: Present your past exceptional work to a small audience.
4. Meet and greet with the wider team.

Our goal is to finish the main process within one week. All interviews will be conducted via Google Meet.

Annual Salary Range

$180,000 - $440,000 USD

xAI is an equal opportunity employer and does not unlawfully discriminate based on race, color, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, medical conditions, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act.

For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:

xAI reasonably believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment:

• Access to information technology systems and confidential information, including proprietary and trade secret information, and/or user data;
• Interacting with internal and/or external clients and colleagues; and
• Exercising sound judgment.

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