Full Stack Software Engineer, Product Explorations

Full Stack Engineer · Senior · Full Time

San FranciscoUSD 347k – 385k1d ago
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Role

What you'll do.

Join OpenAI's Product Explorations team as a Full Stack Software Engineer to transform cutting-edge AI model capabilities into impactful user experiences. This role offers high autonomy and ownership in a fast-paced, early-stage environment where you'll prototype ideas rapidly, collaborate across research and product teams, and scale the strongest concepts into production. Ideal candidates combine strong full stack engineering expertise with product intuition, thrive in ambiguous environments, and are excited about working at the intersection of AI model capabilities and user-centric product development.

Responsibilities

  • Identify High-Impact Product Opportunities: Systematically identify and evaluate promising product and technical opportunities across OpenAI's product portfolio. Synthesize insights from user feedback, market trends, and emerging AI capabilities to surface high-leverage initiatives that can meaningfully improve user engagement and business impact.
  • Rapid Prototyping and Iteration: Move swiftly from conceptual ideas to functional prototypes, enabling quick validation of product hypotheses. Build scrappy, focused implementations that test core assumptions without overengineering, allowing the team to learn from real user interaction and iterate based on feedback.
  • Full Stack Product Development: Architect and develop complete product experiences spanning frontend interfaces, backend services, and database infrastructure. Build scalable systems that unlock value from new model capabilities, ensuring smooth integration between user-facing experiences and underlying AI systems.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner seamlessly with Research, Applied, product, design, data science, and engineering teams. Facilitate alignment across diverse perspectives, translate technical constraints into product opportunities, and maintain clear communication channels to unblock dependencies and accelerate decision-making.
  • Data-Driven Validation and Scaling: Leverage user feedback, product analytics, and experimentation frameworks to rigorously validate which ideas merit scaling into larger product investments. Design and execute A/B tests, measure key metrics, and use data to inform prioritization decisions that maximize return on engineering investment.
  • Team Leadership and Culture: Drive alignment across teams and help shape a culture of speed, ownership, curiosity, and thoughtful experimentation. Mentor team members, establish best practices for rapid iteration, and champion a collaborative approach that balances moving quickly with maintaining high engineering standards.

Qualifications

What we look for.

Technical

  • Full Stack Web Development

    Demonstrated expertise building complete product experiences from frontend to backend. Proficiency in modern web development patterns, API design, and system architecture that can handle millions of concurrent users.

  • Backend Service Architecture

    Strong understanding of designing scalable backend systems, microservices patterns, and distributed systems. Experience building APIs that integrate with machine learning models and handle high-throughput workloads efficiently.

  • Frontend Development

    Advanced proficiency in building responsive, intuitive user interfaces. Experience with modern frontend frameworks and ability to create engaging experiences that effectively communicate AI model capabilities to end users.

  • Database Design and Optimization

    Experience designing relational and non-relational database schemas for production systems. Knowledge of query optimization, indexing strategies, and data consistency patterns at scale.

  • AI/ML Model Integration

    Experience integrating large language models or other AI systems into production applications. Understanding of token limits, latency requirements, prompt engineering, and API patterns for model interaction.

Education

  • Computer Science or Related Field

    Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or equivalent professional experience. Strong fundamental understanding of algorithms, data structures, and system design principles.

Experience

  • 5+ Years Full Stack Engineering

    Minimum five years of professional software engineering experience shipping full stack product features from prototype through production. Should have led the development of consumer-facing or B2B SaaS products at scale.

  • Startup or Early-Stage Environment

    Proven experience thriving in high-velocity, early-stage environments where ambiguity is the norm. Comfortable wearing multiple hats, making decisions with incomplete information, and pivoting quickly based on market feedback and product signals.

  • Product-Focused Engineering

    Track record of being product-minded and data-driven in engineering decisions. Examples of independently identifying features or improvements that meaningfully impacted user engagement, retention, or revenue metrics.

  • Cross-Functional Leadership

    Experience collaborating effectively with product managers, designers, data scientists, and researchers. Demonstrated ability to facilitate technical discussions, translate between engineering and non-technical stakeholders, and maintain alignment across silos.

Skills

Required

  • Python

    Production-level Python development for backend services, API development, and system integration. Modern Python practices including async/await, type hints, and web framework expertise.

  • TypeScript/JavaScript

    Advanced TypeScript for building type-safe, maintainable web applications. Experience with Node.js backend development or modern frontend frameworks like React, Vue, or similar technologies.

  • System Design

    Ability to architect scalable systems that handle millions of requests efficiently. Proficiency discussing tradeoffs between different architectural patterns and making informed engineering decisions.

  • SQL and Database Management

    Strong SQL writing skills and deep understanding of relational database design, optimization, and operational concerns. Experience with both transaction processing and analytical queries.

  • REST APIs and Web Standards

    Deep expertise designing and implementing RESTful or GraphQL APIs. Understanding of HTTP semantics, authentication/authorization patterns, and API versioning strategies.

  • Product Intuition

    Ability to think like a product manager alongside engineering expertise. Demonstrated skill in identifying features that matter for users and business, prioritizing ruthlessly, and saying no to low-impact work.

Preferred

  • LLM and Generative AI Experience

    Nice to have

    Professional experience building with large language models, prompt engineering, or other generative AI systems. Familiarity with OpenAI's APIs, LangChain, or similar frameworks is advantageous.

  • Containerization and DevOps

    Nice to have

    Practical experience with Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code. Comfort deploying and managing applications in cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure).

  • Data Analytics and Experimentation

    Nice to have

    Experience designing and analyzing A/B tests, writing analytics instrumentation, and leveraging data tools (SQL analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude). Understanding of statistical significance and experimental design.

  • Consumer or High-Scale SaaS

    Nice to have

    Background building products for millions of end users. Experience with performance optimization, observability, real-time systems, or handling viral growth scenarios.

  • Rapid Prototyping Frameworks

    Nice to have

    Familiarity with low-code tools, rapid development frameworks, or prototyping platforms. Experience shipping hackathon-quality projects to production or moving from concept to user-facing feature in days.

  • Research Collaboration

    Nice to have

    Background working alongside academic researchers or research teams. Ability to translate research papers, theoretical concepts, or experimental results into actionable product improvements.

Tech stack

Languages

PythonTypeScriptJavaScriptSQL

Frameworks

ReactFastAPINext.jsDjangoNode.js

Databases

PostgreSQLRedisMongoDBPinecone or Vector Databases

Tools

Git/GitHubDockerKubernetesOpenAI APICI/CD Platforms

Other

Prompt EngineeringA/B Testing and AnalyticsSystem Design and ArchitectureAgile/Iterative DevelopmentObservability and Monitoring

Compensation

Pay and benefits.

Base·USD 347,000 – 385,000

Benefits

  • Competitive Equity and Bonus

    Comprehensive compensation package including significant equity stakes in OpenAI, aligning your success with company growth. Performance-based bonuses tied to product impact and team objectives.

  • Comprehensive Health Coverage

    Extensive medical, dental, and vision insurance plans covering employees and dependents. Mental health services, wellness programs, and preventive care through top-tier providers.

  • 401(k) Retirement Plan

    Tax-advantaged retirement savings with company matching contributions, supporting long-term financial planning and security for career-focused engineers.

  • Unlimited Paid Time Off

    Flexible vacation and personal days policy reflecting trust in engineers' time management. Sabbatical opportunities for longer-term exploration and personal development after tenure milestones.

  • Remote Work Flexibility

    While this San Francisco-based role requires in-office presence, OpenAI offers flexible working arrangements and relocation assistance for new hires joining the team.

  • Professional Development

    Learning budgets for conferences, courses, and certifications. Access to internal knowledge sharing, mentorship from world-class AI researchers and engineers, and cutting-edge AI system exposure.

  • Relocation Support

    Comprehensive relocation package for external hires, including moving expenses, temporary housing assistance, and guidance navigating the San Francisco Bay Area.

  • Cutting-Edge Technology Access

    Unique opportunity to work with state-of-the-art AI models, research systems, and infrastructure. Early access to new capabilities and direct collaboration with researchers pushing boundaries of AI.

  • Mission-Driven Work

    Opportunity to shape the future of AI technology with direct impact on OpenAI's products used by millions. Contribute to ensuring AI benefits humanity while working on technically challenging problems.

Full posting

Original listing.

About the Team

The Product Explorations team is a small, high-ownership product exploration group focused on turning new model capabilities into impactful user experiences.

We operate across Applied and Research, working closely with product, engineering, design, and research partners to identify promising opportunities, prototype quickly, validate ideas, and determine which efforts should scale into larger product investments.

Our objective is broad: discover and build experiences that can meaningfully improve user engagement, product impact, and revenue across OpenAI’s products. We move quickly, follow strong product signals, and take ideas from early exploration to meaningful user impact.

About the Role

We are looking for product-minded full stack engineers to join the Product Explorations team and drive high-impact, net-new product explorations.

In this role, you will independently identify promising opportunities, move quickly from idea to prototype, and work across teams to validate and launch new experiences. You will operate with a high degree of autonomy, use strong product intuition, and make thoughtful decisions in ambiguous environments.

You may work on a new ChatGPT experience one week, explore a new model capability the next, and partner with Research or Applied teams to turn the strongest ideas into scalable products. This role is a strong fit for someone who enjoys building from scratch, iterating quickly, and working on projects where the path forward is not always obvious.

In this role, you will:

  • Identify and pursue high-leverage product and technical opportunities across OpenAI’s products

  • Move quickly from idea to prototype, validation, launch, and iteration

  • Build full stack product experiences that unlock value from new model capabilities

  • Work closely with Research, Applied, product, design, data science, and engineering partners

  • Use user feedback, product signals, and experimentation to determine which ideas should scale

  • Drive alignment across teams and helping shape a culture of speed, ownership, curiosity, and thoughtful experimentation

You might thrive in this role if you:

  • Have experience building and shipping full stack product experiences, from early prototypes through production

  • Thrive in early-stage, highly iterative environments and can move quickly from idea to execution with limited structure

  • Bring strong product intuition and an ability to identify what matters most for users and the business

  • Communicate clearly and collaborate effectively across engineering, product, design, and research

  • Bring a high degree of autonomy, agency, and ownership in ambiguous environments

  • Want to work at the intersection of model capabilities, product development, and user impact

Location:

  • 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.

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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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