OpenAI

Engineering Manager, Core Services

OpenAI1 months ago
Location

San Francisco

Type

Full Time

Salary

USD 293,000 – 385,000

Level

Manager

Role

Engineering Manager

Posted

Feb 2, 2026

Full TimeManager

The role

Summary

OpenAI seeks an Engineering Manager for Core Services to lead mission-critical distributed systems teams that provide foundational infrastructure for AI products. The role involves managing high-performing infrastructure teams, building large-scale production platforms, and setting technical direction for platform foundations while partnering across product and infrastructure organizations.

What you'll do

Team Leadership: Manage and grow high-performing teams of infrastructure engineers focused on mission-critical systems
Platform Operations: Lead teams building and operating large-scale production platforms including cluster reliability, scaling, and rollout safety
Distributed Systems Management: Build and operate mission-critical distributed systems with strong operational rigor including SLOs, incident response, and capacity planning
Technical Direction: Set technical direction for platform foundations such as workflow orchestration, large-scale storage services, and core service foundations
Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner with product engineering, adjacent infrastructure teams, and finance/cost partners across OpenAI
Engineer Development: Coach, mentor, and develop engineers and emerging technical leaders within the organization
System Reliability: Ensure high availability and performance of foundational systems that OpenAI products depend on
Scaling Strategy: Drive major platform initiatives and help scale systems and teams as OpenAI grows rapidly

What we look for

Technical

Distributed Systems ExpertiseDeep experience with mission-critical distributed systems, microservices architecture, and service mesh technologies
Platform EngineeringProven track record building platform-like systems including orchestration, workflow execution, and service platforms
Large-scale StorageExperience with large-scale storage, blob, and file infrastructure systems handling petabyte-scale data
Multi-cloud ArchitectureHands-on experience building systems spanning multiple cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure)
Operational ExcellenceStrong background in SLOs, SLIs, incident response, capacity planning, and reliability engineering practices

Education

Bachelor's DegreeComputer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field preferred
Advanced DegreeMaster's degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience in distributed systems

Experience

Engineering Management5+ years of engineering management experience leading infrastructure or platform teams
Production Systems8+ years of experience operating mission-critical services in production environments
Scaling ExperienceProven experience scaling systems from thousands to millions of users
Technical LeadershipTrack record of setting technical direction and driving architectural decisions in complex environments

Skills

Required skills

Infrastructure ManagementLeading teams that run mission-critical infrastructure in production environments
Distributed SystemsOperating mission-critical services and core distributed systems building blocks
Platform ArchitectureBuilding platform-like systems including orchestration, workflow execution, and service platforms
Multi-cloud OperationsExperience building systems spanning multiple cloud environments
Problem OwnershipEnd-to-end problem ownership and ability to move fast in ambiguous environments

Nice to have

AI/ML InfrastructureExperience with infrastructure supporting AI/ML workloads and training pipelines
Cost OptimizationExperience with infrastructure cost management and optimization at scale
SecurityKnowledge of security best practices for distributed systems and data protection
Performance EngineeringExpertise in system performance optimization and capacity planning

Compensation & benefits

Salary

USD 293,000 – 385,000 (annual)

Stock options

Available

Benefits

Equity Compensation

Competitive equity package in one of the world's leading AI companies

Relocation Assistance

Comprehensive relocation support for new employees moving to San Francisco

Health Insurance

Premium health, dental, and vision insurance coverage

Professional Development

Learning and development budget for conferences, courses, and skill advancement

Flexible PTO

Generous paid time off policy to maintain work-life balance

AI Research Access

Unique opportunity to work with cutting-edge AI technology and research

Interview process

  1. 1
    Initial Screen — 30-minute phone/video call with recruiter to discuss background, interest, and role alignment
  2. 2
    Hiring Manager Interview — 45-minute technical and leadership discussion with hiring manager covering experience and management philosophy
  3. 3
    Technical Architecture — 60-minute system design interview focusing on large-scale distributed systems and platform architecture
  4. 4
    Leadership Panel — 45-minute behavioral interview with senior engineering leaders covering team management and stakeholder collaboration
  5. 5
    Cross-functional Interview — 30-minute discussion with product and infrastructure partners about collaboration and communication
  6. 6
    Final Interview — 45-minute executive interview with senior leadership covering strategic thinking and cultural fit
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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
GoPythonJavaRust
Frameworks
KubernetesgRPCApache KafkaIstio
Databases
PostgreSQLRedisCassandraClickHouse
Tools
DockerTerraformPrometheusGrafana
Other
AWSGoogle CloudAzureCDN

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