Software Engineer, Client Infrastructure
Cursor · San Francisco, California
SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today, SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of making life multiplanetary and expanding consciousness to the stars.
SpaceXSI is building Super Intelligence to help humanity understand the universe. Our teams are building the full Super Intelligence stack: from our Colossus supercomputers, to Grok models, to our suite of applications, including Grok Bot, Grok Build, Grok Imagine, Grok Voice, and X. We're creating a powerful flywheel where more compute trains better models, better models power more useful products, and what we learn from people using those products shapes what we build next.
SOFTWARE ENGINEER, CLIENT INFRASTRUCTURE
As an Engineer on the Client Infrastructure team at SpaceXSI, you'll design and build the systems that make our desktop experience performant and stable for millions of developers. You'll work across the core architecture of the Cursor client, from build and distribution systems to performance instrumentation and shared abstractions that other teams rely on. The work is deeply technical and central to the company's success. Developers expect near-perfect performance and reliability from their trusted tools; your work will make that possible.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Build core client infrastructure: shared abstractions, build systems, and observability foundations
- Improve reliability and performance: eliminating memory leaks, crashes, and frame-time inconsistencies
- Design instrumentation and telemetry systems for profiling, structured logging, and performance measurement
- Partner with product teams to unlock faster release velocity, shipping updates to users daily
- Evaluate Electron vs. native approaches for critical code paths, guiding architectural tradeoffs
- Build internal tooling that enables other engineers to ship safely and quickly on the client platform
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
- Experience building or contributing to high-performance desktop applications (Electron-based or native)
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, math, or scientific discipline; OR 2+ years of professional experience building software in lieu of a degree
PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
- Deep experience in client infrastructure, build systems, performance, distribution, or observability
- Experience building or contributing to high-performance desktop applications, whether Electron-based or native
- Care deeply about performance, reliability, and developer experience, and have an eye for elegant systems design
- Thrive in environments that are fast-moving, collaborative, and product-focused
- Excited to push the limits of what's possible in AI-driven developer tools
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
- If there appears to be a fit, we'll reach out to schedule 2-3 short technicals. After, we'll schedule an onsite in our office, where you'll work on a small project, discuss ideas, and meet the team
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:
The annual compensation range for this role is listed below.
Annual Salary:
$140,000 - $225,000 USD
Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.
Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at SpaceXSI, 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.