OpenAI

Backend Software Engineer, API Enterprise Controls

OpenAI2 days ago
Location

San Francisco

Type

Full Time

Salary

USD 293,000 – 385,000

Level

Senior

Role

Backend Engineer

Posted

Jul 17, 2026

Full TimeSenior

The role

Summary

Backend Software Engineer focused on API Enterprise Controls at OpenAI's API Infrastructure organization. This product-engineering role requires 9+ years of backend systems expertise to design and ship enterprise-grade platform capabilities for authentication, identity management, service accounts, secure networking, compliance, and observability. You'll lead cross-functional initiatives with deep involvement in distributed systems, request routing, and developer-facing APIs while maintaining operational excellence and strong developer empathy.

What you'll do

End-to-End Backend Ownership: Own and deliver backend product capabilities across the full stack including authentication and identity management, service accounts and cryptographic key controls, secure networking infrastructure, compliance frameworks, observability systems, and operational workflows. Maintain architectural integrity and operational excellence across all owned systems.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner with Product, go-to-market, security, and infrastructure teams to identify enterprise needs, shape product roadmap priorities, and lead large-scale initiatives from initial discovery and design phases through successful launch and ongoing iteration. Serve as technical voice in strategic planning discussions.
Developer-Centric API Design: Design and refine developer-facing APIs with meticulous attention to configuration patterns, error handling, safe defaults, auditing capabilities, and notification systems. Embed exceptional developer experience principles into every system design decision, ensuring APIs are intuitive, trustworthy, and operationally transparent.
Distributed Systems Architecture and Operations: Design, build, operate, and debug highly reliable backend systems spanning relational and distributed databases, streaming infrastructure, request routing layers, and microservices architectures. Demonstrate strong operational ownership through debugging complex distributed system failures and implementing robust observability and monitoring.
Enterprise User Engagement: Engage directly with sophisticated enterprise customers and product teams to understand complex use cases and operational requirements. Translate ambiguous customer needs into clear technical specifications and validate solutions meet enterprise standards for security, compliance, and reliability.
Platform Scaling and Reliability: Drive continuous improvements to platform scalability, reliability, and security posture. Own reliability metrics, identify performance bottlenecks in authentication systems and request routing, implement safeguards for preventing security regressions, and maintain comprehensive audit trails for compliance requirements.

What we look for

Technical

Advanced Backend Systems DesignDemonstrate deep proficiency in designing and implementing distributed backend systems with strong fundamentals in software architecture, systems design patterns, and scalability principles. Experience building production systems that handle enterprise-scale traffic with high reliability requirements.
Distributed Systems and DatabasesProven experience architecting and operating distributed systems including knowledge of database design (both relational and NoSQL), transaction models, consistency guarantees, and data replication strategies. Familiarity with challenges in distributed computing including consensus algorithms, eventual consistency, and network partitioning.
Authentication and Identity SystemsStrong background implementing or operating authentication, authorization, and identity management systems. Understanding of OAuth 2.0, JWT, SAML, API key management, service accounts, and modern identity architectures. Experience with security best practices in credential handling and token lifecycle management.
Streaming and Event SystemsExperience with streaming platforms, event-driven architectures, and message queues. Familiarity with tools like Kafka, RabbitMQ, or similar systems. Understanding of ordering guarantees, exactly-once semantics, and backpressure in distributed streaming pipelines.
Programming Language ProficiencyStrong proficiency in one or more backend languages including Python, Go, Rust, TypeScript, or Java. Deep understanding of language ecosystems, concurrency models, memory management, and ability to write performant, maintainable code with strong software engineering fundamentals.
API Design and Developer ExperienceDemonstrated expertise designing developer-facing APIs with thoughtful consideration for usability, discoverability, backward compatibility, and error messaging. Experience with API versioning strategies, deprecation policies, and developer documentation practices that enhance adoption and reduce support burden.
DevOps and Operational ExcellenceStrong opinions and demonstrated experience in operational excellence including infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, observability and monitoring, incident response procedures, and on-call operational practices. Commitment to building systems that are easy to operate and debug.

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Related FieldBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience demonstrating strong foundational knowledge in algorithms, data structures, systems design, and software engineering principles.

Experience

Senior Backend Engineering BackgroundMinimum 9+ years of professional software engineering experience excluding internships, with substantial focus on backend systems, platform engineering, or product-driven infrastructure roles. Track record of progressing from individual contributor to technical leader roles with increasing scope and complexity.
API and Platform Capabilities ShippingProven track record of shipping complex API or platform capabilities that users and external developers depend on at scale. Experience taking features from conception through design, implementation, launch, and ongoing operational management with attention to reliability and user feedback.
Large Cross-Functional Initiative LeadershipDemonstrated ability to lead large, complex initiatives spanning multiple engineering teams and organizational functions. Experience influencing product direction, aligning stakeholders across engineering, product, go-to-market, security, and infrastructure teams, and navigating ambiguous requirements to clear solutions.
Enterprise Systems and ComplianceExperience building or operating systems serving enterprise customers with strict requirements for compliance, auditing, security controls, and observability. Understanding of regulatory frameworks like SOC 2, HIPAA, or similar compliance regimes and how to bake compliance into system architecture.
Production Incident and Debugging ExpertiseProven ability to debug complex production issues in distributed systems, analyze root causes effectively, and implement permanent solutions that prevent recurrence. Comfort with observability tools, log analysis, and systematic problem-solving under operational pressure.

Skills

Required skills

Backend Systems ArchitectureAdvanced capability in designing distributed backend systems with focus on scalability, reliability, and maintainability. Strong systems thinking and ability to make architectural tradeoffs considering performance, consistency, and operational complexity.
Production Backend LanguagesProduction-grade proficiency in at least one of: Python, Go, Rust, TypeScript, or Java. Ability to write clean, efficient, performant code with attention to software design patterns and code maintainability at scale.
Distributed Systems FundamentalsDeep understanding of distributed computing concepts including consistency models, fault tolerance, consensus algorithms, and network reliability. Ability to reason about system behavior under failure conditions and design resilience mechanisms.
Database Design and OperationsProficiency with relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL data stores. Understanding of schema design, indexing strategies, query optimization, replication, and operational considerations for production databases at scale.
API Design and Developer ExperienceExpertise designing intuitive, well-documented APIs with thoughtful error handling, clear semantics, and excellent developer ergonomics. Understanding of REST principles, API versioning, deprecation strategies, and developer feedback integration.
Authentication and Security FundamentalsStrong understanding of modern authentication mechanisms including OAuth 2.0, JWT, API key management, and cryptographic principles. Awareness of security best practices in credential handling, secret rotation, and access control.
Observability and DebuggingExpertise in building and operating observable systems with comprehensive logging, metrics, and tracing. Ability to debug complex production issues systematically and implement monitoring that surfaces operational insights.
Product Judgment and CommunicationStrong communication skills and ability to translate between technical constraints and product needs. Demonstrated empathy for developer experience and users, with ability to advocate for engineering quality and reliability standards.

Nice to have

Streaming Systems ExperienceHands-on experience building or operating message queues and streaming platforms like Kafka, RabbitMQ, or Pub/Sub. Understanding of ordering guarantees, backpressure handling, and event-driven architecture patterns.
Large-Scale Infrastructure WorkExperience working at companies operating significant infrastructure at scale or within infrastructure/platform teams building foundational systems. Familiarity with challenges in supporting millions of requests per second, multi-region deployments, or multi-tenant systems.
API Platform and Gateway ExperienceBackground working on API platforms, API gateways, or request routing layers. Understanding of routing strategies, load balancing, rate limiting, circuit breakers, and API gateway design patterns.
Open Source ContributionsActive contributions to open source projects, particularly in infrastructure, distributed systems, or backend libraries. Demonstrates communication skills, code review discipline, and commitment to software quality in collaborative environments.
Compliance and Security ArchitectureExperience designing systems for compliance with regulatory frameworks such as SOC 2, FedRAMP, or industry-specific requirements. Understanding of audit logging, access controls, and security controls as first-class architectural concerns.
Go or Rust ExpertiseAdvanced proficiency in systems-level languages like Go or Rust. These languages align with modern infrastructure and platform engineering practices for building performant, reliable systems.

Compensation & benefits

Salary

USD 293,000 – 385,000 (annual)

Stock options

Available

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OpenAI

OpenAI

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OpenAI is an American artificial intelligence research organization developing advanced AI models like GPT. Focused on ensuring AI benefits humanity, it creates tools for natural language processing and generative AI applications.

San Francisco, California, United StatesFounded 2015openai.com

Tech Stack

Languages
PythonGoRustTypeScript
Frameworks
REST API FrameworksgRPCEvent Processing Frameworks
Databases
PostgreSQLDistributed Key-Value StoresNoSQL Databases
Tools
KubernetesPrometheus and GrafanaELK Stack or DatadogGit and GitHubDockerCI/CD Platforms
Other
Distributed Systems Design PatternsAuthentication and Authorization StandardsMessage Queues and Event StreamingInfrastructure-as-CodeSecurity and Compliance Practices

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