Full-Stack Software Engineer, Emerging Products

Full Stack Engineer · Senior · Full Time

San FranciscoUSD 295k – 445k5d ago
Apply for this role

Opens OpenAI's application page

Role

What you'll do.

Join OpenAI's Emerging Products team as a Full-Stack Software Engineer to design and launch cutting-edge AI-powered products from concept to scale. This senior role combines full-stack development with strong frontend focus, requiring you to navigate ambiguous 0-to-1 projects, make architectural decisions that balance speed and scalability, and collaborate cross-functionally with product, design, and research teams in San Francisco's Mission Bay office.

Responsibilities

  • Build and Ship Full-Stack Product Experiments: Design, develop, and deploy high-quality product experiments across the entire technology stack, from React-based frontend interfaces to backend API systems. Take ownership of end-to-end implementation, ensuring rapid iteration cycles and maintaining code quality standards throughout the prototype and validation phases.
  • Translate Ambiguous Requirements into Testable Concepts: Convert emerging technical capabilities and user research insights into concrete, testable product hypotheses. Leverage analytics and user feedback to guide iteration decisions, determining which experiments warrant continued investment, strategic pivoting, or scaling to production.
  • Own 0-to-1 Technical Architecture: Lead technical direction for experimental projects by making sound architectural decisions that balance rapid prototyping with scalability. Establish development patterns and infrastructure choices that enable successful concepts to transition from lab environment to enterprise-grade production systems.
  • Cross-Functional Product Collaboration: Partner closely with design, product management, research, and infrastructure engineering teams throughout the product lifecycle. Participate in dogfooding sessions, contribute to technical feasibility assessments, and facilitate seamless handoffs when experiments transition to core product teams.
  • Navigate Ambiguity with Structured Problem-Solving: Operate independently in high-ambiguity environments by creating lightweight structure, making pragmatic technical tradeoffs, and communicating decisions clearly across non-technical disciplines. Demonstrate ownership by defining success metrics and ensuring alignment with team objectives.

Qualifications

What we look for.

Technical

  • Full-Stack Web Development

    Demonstrated expertise building end-to-end web applications with strong frontend architecture skills using modern component frameworks and corresponding backend API design with proven ability to make sound full-stack architectural tradeoffs.

  • Frontend Engineering Excellence

    Advanced proficiency with frontend frameworks and responsive UI implementation, with ability to create intuitive interfaces for complex applications and experience optimizing frontend performance in production environments.

  • Backend Systems Depth

    Solid understanding of backend architecture, API design, database schema design, and systems-level considerations including scalability, reliability, and security patterns. Sufficient depth to evaluate tradeoffs between rapid prototyping and production readiness.

  • Product Engineering Mindset

    Experience shipping user-facing products with deep understanding of how technical decisions impact user experience, metrics interpretation, A/B testing frameworks, and the ability to balance engineering excellence with time-to-market demands.

  • Rapid Prototyping & Iteration

    Proven ability to move quickly through technical ambiguity, establish development velocity in nascent projects, and iterate based on real user feedback and product analytics without extensive upfront planning.

Education

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Related Field

    Formal education in computer science, software engineering, or equivalent practical experience demonstrating deep foundational knowledge of algorithms, data structures, and system design principles.

  • Equivalent Professional Experience

    Alternatively, substantial professional software engineering experience (typically 5+ years) demonstrating mastery of full-stack development, systems thinking, and product-oriented engineering without formal degree requirement.

Experience

  • 0-to-1 Product Development

    Track record of owning complete product lifecycle from ideation through launch in early-stage environments. Experience launching experimental products, identifying what resonates with users, and making data-driven decisions about scaling versus pivoting.

  • Startup or High-Ownership Environments

    Background building products in fast-moving contexts such as startups, founder-led companies, or high-growth organizations where individual engineers wear multiple hats and navigate significant autonomy with minimal process overhead.

  • Cross-Functional Collaboration at Scale

    Experience working effectively across product, design, data science, and infrastructure teams in matrix environments. Demonstrated ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and translate ambiguous product requirements into engineering specifications.

  • Evidence-Based Product Decisions

    Practical experience using analytics, user research, and product metrics to validate hypotheses, make prioritization decisions, and guide iteration strategy. Comfort with both qualitative user feedback and quantitative performance data.

Skills

Required

  • React or Modern Frontend Framework

    Advanced proficiency with React, Vue, or equivalent component-based framework for building scalable, performant user interfaces with strong understanding of state management, hooks, and modern frontend patterns.

  • Backend API Development

    Solid experience designing and implementing RESTful or GraphQL APIs, understanding HTTP semantics, authentication/authorization patterns, rate limiting, and API versioning strategies for scalability.

  • Database Design and Optimization

    Practical knowledge of relational and/or NoSQL databases, schema design, query optimization, indexing strategies, and understanding of consistency/availability tradeoffs in distributed systems.

  • Version Control and CI/CD

    Strong proficiency with Git-based workflows, code review practices, and experience setting up or working with continuous integration/deployment pipelines to ensure code quality and deployment velocity.

  • System Design and Architectural Thinking

    Ability to evaluate architectural tradeoffs, design scalable systems, make technology selection decisions, and communicate technical decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

  • Product Metrics and Analytics

    Familiarity with analytics instrumentation, A/B testing frameworks, conversion funnels, and ability to interpret product data to inform engineering priorities and technical decisions.

Preferred

  • TypeScript/JavaScript

    Nice to have

    Expertise in TypeScript for building type-safe full-stack applications, reducing runtime errors and improving code maintainability at scale. JavaScript proficiency across both frontend and Node.js backend contexts.

  • Python Backend Development

    Nice to have

    Experience with Python frameworks like FastAPI, Django, or Flask for building robust backend services, particularly valuable for AI/ML-adjacent applications and OpenAI's technology ecosystem.

  • AI/LLM Integration Experience

    Nice to have

    Prior experience integrating large language models, AI APIs, or machine learning services into user-facing products. Familiarity with prompt engineering, token management, and LLM-specific architectural considerations.

  • Cloud Infrastructure

    Nice to have

    Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) including deployment, scaling, monitoring, and cost optimization. Understanding of containerization with Docker and orchestration patterns.

  • Agile/Lean Product Development

    Nice to have

    Practical experience with lean startup methodologies, rapid experimentation frameworks, or agile development practices in environments prioritizing speed and validated learning over comprehensive upfront planning.

  • Design System Implementation

    Nice to have

    Experience building or contributing to design systems, component libraries, or shared UI infrastructure that enables rapid prototyping and consistent user experiences across multiple product experiments.

Tech stack

Languages

TypeScriptJavaScriptPython

Frameworks

ReactNode.jsNext.jsFastAPI or Django

Databases

PostgreSQLMongoDB or FirebaseRedis

Tools

Git and GitHubDockerFigmaVercel or AWSSegment or Mixpanel

Other

REST and GraphQL APIsAuthentication and Authorization (OAuth2, JWT)API IntegrationPerformance Optimization

Compensation

Pay and benefits.

Base·USD 295,000 – 445,000

Equity·Stock options

Process

Interview steps.

  1. 01

    Application Review

    Hiring team reviews your resume, portfolio, and cover letter to assess your background in full-stack development, product shipping experience, and demonstrated ability in 0-to-1 environments.

  2. 02

    Recruiter Phone Screen

    Initial conversation with OpenAI recruiter to discuss your background, interest in the Emerging Products team, and alignment with role expectations around product ownership and full-stack capabilities.

  3. 03

    Technical Screening (Take-Home or Live Coding)

    Full-stack coding assessment evaluating your ability to build functional features across frontend and backend, design scalable architectures, and problem-solve under realistic constraints similar to rapid prototyping scenarios.

  4. 04

    Product Design and Architecture Interview

    Conversation with senior engineers and product managers exploring your approach to ambiguous product problems, technical decision-making, and ability to balance speed with sound architecture in 0-to-1 contexts.

  5. 05

    Cross-Functional Panel Interview

    Interactions with design, product, and research team members to assess collaboration style, communication clarity across disciplines, and ability to incorporate user research and data into technical decisions.

  6. 06

    Hiring Manager Interview

    Final conversation with the team lead focused on long-term fit, autonomy and ownership in ambiguous environments, learning agility, and alignment with OpenAI's mission around AI product development.

Full posting

Original listing.

About the Team

The Emerging Products team is a lean, high-output product lab group that builds products at the forefront of model capabilities. We collaborate across all teams within the company, from research and infrastructure to consumer products.

The team is responsible for identifying new product opportunities, building them quickly, dogfooding them internally, and then launching the successful products to users. We use data, user research, and analytics to inform our ideas, and make decisions on what experiments are worth iterating, stopping, or scaling.

About the Role

We’re looking for a senior, product-minded software engineer to own ambiguous 0-to-1 work from idea through prototype, validation, and handoff. This is a full-stack role with a strong frontend and product emphasis: you will build the interfaces and supporting backend systems needed to test new experiences quickly, while making sound architectural choices that enable successful concepts to scale. This role is based in our Mission Bay office in San Francisco.

In this role, you will:

  • Build and ship high-quality, product experiments across the full stack.

  • Turn ambiguous user needs and emerging technical capabilities into testable product concepts, using research and metrics to guide iteration.

  • Own technical direction for 0-to-1 projects, balancing speed, reliability, and a clear path from prototype to scalable product.

  • Partner closely with design, product, research, and engineering teams to dogfood, evaluate, launch, and transition successful experiments.

You might thrive in this role if you:

  • Have a track record of building and shipping end-to-end products in fast-moving, startup, founder-led, growth, or other high-ownership environments.

  • Bring strong frontend engineering skills and enough backend and systems depth to make sound full-stack architectural decisions.

  • Pair product intuition with evidence, using user research and product data to identify opportunities and make pragmatic tradeoffs.

  • Operate with a high degree of autonomy, move quickly through ambiguity, and create lightweight structure where little exists.

  • Communicate clearly across disciplines and are willing to learn whatever is needed to move a product forward.

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.

Redirects to OpenAI's application page.

Other roles

More at OpenAI.

View all 112 roles