Data Engineer, Analytics
Data Engineer · Senior · Full Time
Opens OpenAI's application page
Role
What you'll do.
OpenAI is seeking an experienced Data Engineer to lead development of critical data pipelines powering AI safety systems, analytics, and business decisions. The role involves building scalable data infrastructure for ChatGPT and other AI products, collaborating with research teams, and handling massive-scale user event data in a high-growth AI company environment.
Responsibilities
- Data Pipeline Architecture: Design, build, and manage robust data pipelines ensuring seamless integration of user event data into the data warehouse
- Canonical Dataset Development: Develop and maintain canonical datasets to track critical product metrics including user growth, engagement, and revenue analytics
- Cross-functional Collaboration: Work with Infrastructure, Data Science, Product, Marketing, Finance, and Research teams to understand data requirements and deliver tailored solutions
- System Implementation: Implement fault-tolerant, scalable systems for high-volume data ingestion and real-time processing
- Data Architecture Leadership: Participate in strategic data architecture and engineering decisions, leveraging extensive experience to guide technical direction
- Security and Compliance: Ensure data security, integrity, and compliance with industry standards and OpenAI's safety requirements
- AI Research Support: Collaborate directly with ChatGPT researchers and ML teams to provide data infrastructure supporting model training and deployment
- Business Intelligence: Power critical business decisions through data-driven insights and analytics supporting rapid company growth
Qualifications
What we look for.
Technical
Data Engineering Experience
Minimum 3+ years of dedicated data engineering experience building production data systems
Software Engineering Background
8+ years total software engineering experience including data engineering roles
Programming Proficiency
Expert-level proficiency in Python, Scala, or Java for data engineering applications
Distributed Systems
Hands-on experience with Hadoop, Flink, and distributed storage systems (HDFS, S3)
Apache Spark Expertise
Strong Spark skills including writing, debugging, and optimizing Spark code for performance
ETL Orchestration
Experience with workflow schedulers like Airflow, Dagster, Prefect for production data pipelines
Education
Technical Degree
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related technical field preferred
Advanced Education
Master's degree in Data Science, Computer Science, or related field advantageous but not required
Experience
Large-Scale Data Systems
Experience building and maintaining data systems handling millions of daily events
Cloud Platforms
Hands-on experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure for scalable data infrastructure
Data Warehouse Design
Experience designing and implementing enterprise data warehouses and data lakes
Real-time Processing
Background in stream processing and real-time analytics for high-velocity data
ML Pipeline Integration
Experience supporting machine learning workflows and model training infrastructure
Skills
Required
Python Programming
Advanced Python skills for data pipeline development and automation
Apache Spark
Production experience with Spark for distributed data processing and analytics
ETL Development
Expertise in Extract, Transform, Load processes and data integration patterns
Distributed Systems
Understanding of distributed computing principles and fault-tolerant system design
Data Modeling
Skills in dimensional modeling, data warehousing concepts, and schema design
Workflow Orchestration
Experience with Airflow, Dagster, or similar tools for pipeline scheduling and monitoring
Preferred
Scala Programming
Nice to haveFunctional programming experience for advanced Spark applications
Java Development
Nice to haveEnterprise Java experience for large-scale distributed systems
Stream Processing
Nice to haveReal-time data processing with Kafka, Kinesis, or similar streaming platforms
Machine Learning Operations
Nice to haveMLOps experience supporting model training and deployment pipelines
Data Governance
Nice to haveKnowledge of data privacy, security, and regulatory compliance requirements
Performance Optimization
Nice to haveExperience optimizing data pipelines for cost efficiency and processing speed
Tech stack
Languages
Frameworks
Databases
Tools
Other
Compensation
Pay and benefits.
Base·USD 230,000 – 385,000
Equity·Stock options
Benefits
Equity Compensation
Significant equity package allowing employees to share in OpenAI's growth and success
Relocation Assistance
Full relocation support for candidates moving to San Francisco headquarters
Health Insurance
Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents
Disability Accommodations
Reasonable accommodations provided for applicants and employees with disabilities
Professional Development
Opportunities to work with cutting-edge AI research and collaborate with industry-leading researchers
Mission-Driven Work
Contribute to ensuring artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity
Equal Opportunity Employment
Inclusive workplace committed to diversity and equal opportunity regardless of background
Process
Interview steps.
- 01
Application Review
Initial screening of resume, portfolio, and technical background by recruiting team
- 02
Recruiter Phone Screen
30-minute conversation covering background, interest in OpenAI, and salary expectations
- 03
Technical Assessment
Take-home coding challenge focused on data engineering problems, ETL design, and Spark optimization
- 04
Technical Interview Round 1
1-hour virtual interview covering system design for data pipelines, distributed computing concepts, and SQL skills
- 05
Technical Interview Round 2
1-hour interview focusing on Spark programming, performance optimization, and troubleshooting scenarios
- 06
Cross-functional Interview
45-minute discussion with product or research team members about collaboration and data requirements
- 07
Final Interview
1-hour conversation with hiring manager covering cultural fit, career goals, and OpenAI's mission alignment
- 08
Reference Checks
Professional reference verification and background check completion before offer
Full posting
Original listing.
About the team
The Applied team works across research, engineering, product, and design to bring OpenAI’s technology to consumers and businesses.
We seek to learn from deployment and distribute the benefits of AI, while ensuring that this powerful tool is used responsibly and safely. Safety is more important to us than unfettered growth.
About the role:
We're seeking a Data Engineer to take the lead in building our data pipelines and core tables for OpenAI. These pipelines are crucial for powering analyses, safety systems that guide business decisions, product growth, and prevent bad actors. If you're passionate about working with data and are eager to create solutions with significant impact, we'd love to hear from you. This role also provides the opportunity to collaborate closely with the researchers behind ChatGPT and help them train new models to deliver to users. As we continue our rapid growth, we value data-driven insights, and your contributions will play a pivotal role in our trajectory. Join us in shaping the future of OpenAI!
In this role, you will:
Design, build and manage our data pipelines, ensuring all user event data is seamlessly integrated into our data warehouse.
Develop canonical datasets to track key product metrics including user growth, engagement, and revenue.
Work collaboratively with various teams, including, Infrastructure, Data Science, Product, Marketing, Finance, and Research to understand their data needs and provide solutions.
Implement robust and fault-tolerant systems for data ingestion and processing.
Participate in data architecture and engineering decisions, bringing your strong experience and knowledge to bear.
Ensure the security, integrity, and compliance of data according to industry and company standards.
You might thrive in this role if you:
Have 3+ years of experience as a data engineer and 8+ years of any software engineering experience(including data engineering).
Proficiency in at least one programming language commonly used within Data Engineering, such as Python, Scala, or Java.
Experience with distributed processing technologies and frameworks, such as Hadoop, Flink and distributed storage systems (e.g., HDFS, S3).
Expertise with any of ETL schedulers such as Airflow, Dagster, Prefect or similar frameworks.
Solid understanding of Spark and ability to write, debug and optimize Spark code.
This role is exclusively based in our San Francisco HQ. We offer relocation assistance to new employees.
About OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity.
We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.
For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.
Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.
To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.
We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.
OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy
At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.
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