Software Engineer, Developer Productivity
Backend Engineer · Senior · Full Time
Opens OpenAI's application page
Role
What you'll do.
OpenAI's Engineering Acceleration team is seeking a Software Engineer for Developer Productivity to design and build foundational systems that accelerate engineering velocity across ChatGPT and API development. This role involves leveraging cutting-edge AI tools to revolutionize developer productivity while working with large-scale GPU infrastructure and modern cloud technologies.
Responsibilities
- Developer Tooling Architecture: Drive the design, development, and implementation of tools, systems, and processes that accelerate engineering velocity and reduce manual effort
- AI-Powered Productivity: Use OpenAI's latest AI tools to re-think and revolutionize team productivity methodologies
- Cross-Team Collaboration: Work closely with various teams within OpenAI to understand workflows, challenges, and needs for tool development
- Technical Foundation Building: Partner with product engineers to lay necessary technical foundations for new features and research capabilities
- Best Practices Guidance: Guide and advise product engineering teams on best practices for ensuring observable, scalable systems
- System Reliability: Maintain responsibility for system reliability including on-call rotation to respond to critical incidents
- Infrastructure Optimization: Optimize large-scale GPU node deployments across dozens of Kubernetes clusters in multiple regions
- CI/CD Pipeline Management: Design and maintain continuous integration and deployment pipelines using Buildkite and related tools
Qualifications
What we look for.
Technical
Infrastructure Development
3+ years of experience building tooling and infrastructure for developer teams
Programming Proficiency
Strong programming skills in Python and experience with FastAPI framework
Cloud Infrastructure
Hands-on experience with Kubernetes, Terraform, and large-scale distributed systems
Database Management
Proficiency with PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB, and Kafka for data processing and storage
DevOps Practices
Experience with CI/CD pipelines, containerization, and automated deployment strategies
System Design
Understanding of scalable system architecture and microservices patterns
Education
Technical Degree
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
Continuous Learning
Demonstrated ability to rapidly learn new technologies and share knowledge effectively
Experience
Software Engineering
5+ years of overall engineering experience with focus on infrastructure and tooling
Developer Productivity
3+ years specifically in infrastructure building tooling for developer teams
Large-Scale Systems
Experience working with high-traffic, distributed systems and GPU infrastructure
On-Call Operations
Experience with production system maintenance and incident response
Skills
Required
Python Programming
Expert-level proficiency in Python for backend development and automation
Kubernetes
Hands-on experience with container orchestration and cluster management
Infrastructure as Code
Proficiency with Terraform for cloud resource management
Database Technologies
Working knowledge of PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB, and Kafka
CI/CD Systems
Experience with Buildkite or similar continuous integration platforms
System Architecture
Understanding of distributed systems and scalable architecture patterns
Preferred
AI/ML Infrastructure
Nice to haveExperience with GPU computing and machine learning infrastructure
FastAPI Framework
Nice to haveSpecific experience with FastAPI for high-performance API development
Multi-Cloud Deployment
Nice to haveExperience with multi-region and multi-cloud infrastructure management
Observability Tools
Nice to haveFamiliarity with monitoring, logging, and alerting systems
Performance Optimization
Nice to haveExperience optimizing large-scale systems for performance and efficiency
Tech stack
Languages
Frameworks
Databases
Tools
Other
Compensation
Pay and benefits.
Base·USD 210,000 – 490,000
Equity·Stock options
Benefits
Equity Compensation
Competitive equity package as part of total compensation
Relocation Assistance
Full relocation assistance provided for new employees moving to San Francisco
Cutting-Edge Technology
Access to OpenAI's latest AI tools and technologies for professional development
Professional Growth
Opportunity to shape the future of AI technology and developer productivity
Equal Opportunity
Inclusive workplace committed to diversity and equal employment opportunities
Reasonable Accommodations
Support for applicants and employees with disabilities
Process
Interview steps.
- 01
Application Review
Initial screening of resume and application materials focusing on relevant experience
- 02
Phone/Video Screen
30-45 minute conversation with recruiter covering background and role interest
- 03
Technical Phone Interview
60-minute technical discussion covering system design and infrastructure experience
- 04
Technical Deep Dive
90-minute interview focusing on specific technical challenges and problem-solving approach
- 05
System Design Interview
60-minute session designing large-scale developer productivity systems
- 06
Team Fit Interview
45-minute cultural fit assessment with potential teammates
- 07
Final Interview
60-minute interview with senior leadership covering vision and strategic thinking
- 08
Reference Check
Verification of background and professional references
Full posting
Original listing.
About the Team
The Applied AI team safely brings OpenAI's technology to the world. We released ChatGPT, Plugins, DALL·E, and the APIs for GPT-4, GPT-3, embeddings, and fine-tuning. We also operate inference infrastructure at scale. There's a lot more on the immediate horizon.
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. We serve end-users directly through ChatGPT, and serve developers through our APIs, which power product features that were never before possible.
About the Role
The Engineering Acceleration team designs, builds and maintains the foundational systems that engineers use to build ChatGPT and the API. This is a fast-growing team and you will get a chance to own and define the strategy, vision, and plan for how to increase developer productivity.
In this role, you will:
Drive the design, development, and implementation of tools, systems, and processes that accelerate engineering velocity, reduce manual effort, and increase the quality of output.
Use our latest AI tools to re-think how we can be the most productive team in the industry.
Work closely with various teams within OpenAI to understand their workflows, challenges, and needs, and ensure the tools and systems built by the Engineering Acceleration team address these requirements.
Bring new features and research capabilities to the world by partnering with product engineers to lay the necessary technical foundations.
Guide and advise product engineering teams on best practices for ensuring observable, scalable systems.
Like all other teams, we are responsible for the reliability of the systems we build. This includes an on-call rotation to respond to critical incidents as needed.
You might thrive in this role if you:
Have 5+ years of experience in engineering, including 3+ years of experience in infrastructure building tooling for developers.
Have experience-driven empathy for the tools, frustrations, and processes that slow engineering teams down and lead to toil or burnout.
Have a voracious and intrinsic desire to learn and fill in missing skills—and an equally strong talent for sharing learnings clearly and concisely with others.
Are comfortable with ambiguity and rapidly changing conditions. You view changes as an opportunity to add structure and order when necessary.
As technical context: at the heart of our infrastructure is a large-scale deployment of GPU nodes running in dozens of Kubernetes clusters across regions. Some core technologies we build with include Terraform, Buildkite, Postgres, Cosmos DB, Kafka, Python, and FastAPI.
This role is exclusively based in our San Francisco HQ. We offer relocation assistance to new employee.
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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