Scale Engineer

Software Engineer

Software EngineerL3Medium

This interview process is designed to assess candidates for the Software Engineer (L3) role at OpenAI. It evaluates technical proficiency, problem-solving skills, system design capabilities, and cultural fit within the company's innovative and collaborative environment.

Rounds·3

Timeline·~14d

Experience·1 - 3 yrs

Comp band·US$110000 - US$150000

Interview time·150 min

Evaluation

What they measure.

  • Problem-solving approach
  • Algorithmic thinking
  • Code quality and efficiency
  • Data structure knowledge

Preparation

How to prepare.

Tips

  1. Review fundamental data structures and algorithms (arrays, linked lists, trees, graphs, sorting, searching).
  2. Practice coding problems on platforms like LeetCode, HackerRank, or Coderbyte.
  3. Study system design concepts: databases, caching, load balancing, message queues, microservices.
  4. Understand common distributed systems patterns and trade-offs.
  5. Prepare for behavioral questions by reflecting on past experiences using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
  6. Research OpenAI's mission, values, and recent projects.
  7. Practice explaining your thought process clearly and concisely.

Study plan

Fig · Study plan — 04 phases

01 / 04
01

Phase 01 of 04

Data Structures and Algorithms Fundamentals

Weeks 1-2: Data Structures & Basic Algorithms. Solve LeetCode Easy/Medium.

Weeks 1-2: Focus on core data structures (arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, hash maps) and basic algorithms (sorting, searching). Practice implementing these from scratch and analyze their time and space complexity. Solve easy to medium LeetCode problems related to these topics.

Questions

Commonly asked.

  • Given an array of integers, find the contiguous subarray with the largest sum.
  • Design a system to store and retrieve user profiles.
  • How would you handle concurrency issues in a multi-threaded application?
  • Tell me about a time you disagreed with a teammate and how you resolved it.
  • Explain the difference between a process and a thread.
  • How would you design a rate limiter?
  • What are the trade-offs between monolithic and microservices architectures?
  • Describe a situation where you had to learn a new technology quickly.

Locations

Regional differences.

Fig · Regions — 02 locations

01 / 02

Location

San Francisco

Interview focus

System design for scalability and reliability.Deep understanding of distributed systems.Problem-solving in a cloud-native environment.

Common questions

  • How would you design a URL shortener service?
  • Explain the CAP theorem and its implications.
  • Describe a challenging technical problem you solved and how you approached it.

Tips

  • Familiarize yourself with cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or GCP.
  • Practice designing systems that handle high traffic.
  • Be prepared to discuss trade-offs in distributed system design.

Rounds

Round-by-round.

Expand a step for evaluation criteria, sample questions, and prep notes.

DSA

Coding questions at OpenAI.

Frequently reported on OpenAI loops

View all at OpenAI

Other guides

More at OpenAI.