Elon Musk’s xAI is hiring investment banking professionals, signaling a shift in how the AI lab is building its workforce. The company is recruiting experts in fields such as mergers and acquisitions, private credit, crypto, and quantitative trading, with roles described as “Finance Experts.” These employees will contribute to improving xAI’s models by providing high-quality data annotations and insights, particularly focused on financial data. They will collaborate with technical teams to develop annotation tools and analyze complex financial problems. Job postings indicate a standard workday of 8.5 hours—significantly shorter than the 80- to 100-hour weeks typical in investment banking. Pay ranges from $45 to $100 per hour, with an annual salary of approximately $99,450 to $221,000 before taxes. While these figures fall below the total compensation packages of top-tier banking roles—where first-year analysts earned an average base of over $110,000 and bonuses equal to about 50% of that, and associates made between $176,000 and $221,000 plus bonuses—xAI is offering a more balanced work-life structure. Candidates are asked to submit a resume, cover letter, and a brief description of an “exceptional work” achievement in no more than 100 words. The move reflects xAI’s broader strategy to integrate deep domain expertise into its AI development, particularly in finance—a sector where accurate, nuanced data is crucial for advanced model training. By attracting professionals with real-world financial experience, xAI aims to enhance the precision and practicality of its AI systems, especially as it pushes toward more sophisticated, real-world applications.