Joblaze summary

In the role of Software Engineer for Compute Infra at SpaceXSI, the individual will focus on developing the infrastructure that supports virtual machines for various coding agents and applications. Key skills include experience with compute orchestration tools and a solid understanding of virtualization technologies, particularly within large-scale environments. This position is suited for engineers with a background in computer science or equivalent experience, particularly those who have worked with extensive VM fleets. The team operates one of the largest sets of sandbox clusters globally, emphasizing a robust and scalable infrastructure.

Joblaze insights

Listed today — first seen on Joblaze November 10, 2026. Last confirmed on Cursor's careers page November 10, 2026.
This exact title is also open at 1 other location at Cursor: San Francisco, CA.
Salary band is in line with the typical range for comparable tech roles (median ~$127,500).
Starts above 91% of 100 comparable mid other roles in United States that list Linux we track (median $125,000 across 22 companies). See Linux salary trends
Linux appears in 5.5% of 3459 comparable mid other roles in United States; Virtualization appears in 0.1% of 3459 comparable mid other roles in United States.

Quick facts

Is the Software Engineer, Compute Infra role remote?: No — this is an on-site role in San Francisco, CA, United States.
What's the salary range?: Cursor lists $140,000–$225,000 for this role.
How much experience is required?: At least 2 years of relevant experience for this Software Engineer, Compute Infra role.
Where is the role based?: Cursor is hiring for this position in San Francisco, CA, United States.
What's the tech stack?: Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: Kubernetes, Linux, Mesos, Virtualization.
What seniority level is this role?: Cursor targets mid-level candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?: Full-time for this Software Engineer, Compute Infra role at Cursor.

From the original posting

SOFTWARE ENGINEER, COMPUTE INFRA

As a Software Engineer on Compute Infra at SpaceXSI, you'll build the sandbox infrastructure that gives every agent its own VM. These VMs power coding agents, Grok Bot, reinforcement learning, and more. We operate one of the largest sets of sandbox clusters in the world, at millions of CPU cores, across third- and first-party datacenters. You'll own developing a cloud for agents, including the virtualization layer (Firecracker and Cloud Hypervisor microVMs), control plane scaling, and the networking/connectivity layer on top.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Rearchitect the control plane and scheduler to support 1 million concurrent VMs per cluster
Build a ublk block device that can dedupe, lazy load, and efficiently snapshot VM data
Design an egress proxy and network isolation to securely filter, monitor, and route agent traffic
Design resilient systems that can operate across a mixture of cloud and on-premise datacenters

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

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:

Experience building compute orchestration (e.g. Kubernetes, Mesos)
Experience building and operating large fleets of VMs or isolated sandboxes
Experience with the Linux kernel and virtualization technologies
Interest in the infrastructure primitives that future agents will require

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

Onsite role: must be able to work in person at the San Francisco or New York office

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.

Standard company text repeated across Cursor's postings is omitted here.

Software Engineer, Compute Infra

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