# Software Engineer, Enterprise Controls
**Company:** [OpenAI](https://scaleengineer.com/companies/openai)
Backend software engineer position on OpenAI's Enterprise Controls & Console team, responsible for designing and building permissions, governance, and administration systems across ChatGPT, Codex, and OpenAI products. You will architect enterprise-grade distributed services, lead cross-functional technical initiatives, and maintain production reliability while translating complex organizational access needs into scalable authorization frameworks. This role requires 9+ years of backend engineering experience with demonstrated expertise in building production-grade systems and enterprise governance solutions.
**Role:** Backend Engineer
**Seniority:** Senior
**Locations:** San Francisco
**Salary:** 230000–385000 USD
[Apply](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai/88164d12-c8ed-4b62-ae26-dcb6f1cc8482)
Canonical: https://scaleengineer.com/jobs/openai/software-engineer-enterprise-controls
---
## Responsibilities

- Design and Build Authorization Systems: Architect backend services for permissions, authorization, and governance across ChatGPT, Codex, and OpenAI APIs. Develop comprehensive permission models that enable administrators to define granular access controls while ensuring systems remain intuitive and maintainable across multiple product surfaces.
- Develop Sharing and Collaboration Capabilities: Build sharing mechanisms between people and agents with clear, auditable access rules and enterprise controls. Create administrator-friendly governance interfaces that make access policies transparent and enforceable without requiring deep technical knowledge.
- Engineer Reusable Platform Services: Develop scalable, reusable backend services and APIs that support workspace administration and console experiences. Build shared control foundations that enable other product teams to safely introduce new capabilities while maintaining consistent governance principles.
- Lead Technical Architecture and Delivery: Own architecture and delivery for complex multi-team initiatives spanning permissions, governance, and access management. Align product and engineering partners on requirements, technical tradeoffs, and rollout plans, while maintaining hands-on involvement in implementation and problem-solving.
- Translate Enterprise Requirements to Technical Solutions: Convert ambiguous enterprise governance needs into clear system behavior, predictable permission models, and maintainable code. Partner with enterprise customers and internal stakeholders to understand complex organizational structures and access requirements, then implement solutions that scale across OpenAI's growing product suite.
- Ensure Reliability, Security, and Performance: Own operational excellence for all shipped services through comprehensive testing, observability infrastructure, production debugging, and continuous improvement. Implement security best practices, monitor system performance under load, and rapidly diagnose and resolve production incidents affecting enterprise customers.
- Participate in On-Call and Production Support: Support production systems through on-call rotations and incident response. Develop strong observability and monitoring practices to quickly identify issues, implement fixes, and prevent recurrence through root cause analysis and systematic improvements.

## Requirements

### education

- {"name":"Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Related Field","description":"Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or equivalent professional experience. Strong foundation in algorithms, data structures, and fundamental computer science concepts."}
- {"name":"Advanced Coursework or Self-Study","description":"Advanced study or practical experience in distributed systems, systems design, database technologies, or software architecture. This can be demonstrated through advanced degrees, specialized certifications, or documented professional projects."}

### technical

- {"name":"Backend Language Proficiency","description":"Strong proficiency in at least one backend programming language such as Python, Go, Rust, Java, or C++. Demonstrated ability to write clean, maintainable production code with strong fundamentals in software design patterns, object-oriented principles, and functional programming concepts where applicable."}
- {"name":"Distributed Systems and API Design","description":"Deep experience designing distributed services, RESTful and/or gRPC APIs, and scalable data models. Solid understanding of consistency models (eventual consistency, strong consistency), reliability patterns, scalability tradeoffs, and performance optimization in high-throughput systems."}
- {"name":"Authorization and Permissions Systems","description":"Hands-on experience building authorization, permissions, or enterprise governance systems. Proven ability to implement access control models (RBAC, ABAC, or similar), translate access policies into reliable application behavior, and audit permission enforcement at scale."}
- {"name":"Production Systems Expertise","description":"Track record of designing, deploying, and operating production services at scale. Experience with observability (logging, metrics, tracing), profiling, load testing, and production debugging. Familiarity with modern deployment practices, containerization, or infrastructure-as-code."}
- {"name":"Security and Data Protection","description":"Strong understanding of security principles including authentication, authorization, encryption, secure data handling, and compliance requirements. Experience protecting sensitive customer data and implementing security controls that satisfy enterprise governance and regulatory requirements."}

### experience

- {"name":"9+ Years Backend Engineering","description":"Minimum nine years of professional backend software engineering experience (excluding internships) with demonstrated expertise building and operating production services that customers depend on for critical use cases."}
- {"name":"Technical Leadership on Complex Initiatives","description":"Proven ability to provide technical leadership on substantial, cross-functional initiatives. Experience making architectural decisions, coordinating delivery across multiple teams, documenting systems, and mentoring other engineers while maintaining hands-on coding involvement."}
- {"name":"Production Reliability and Operations","description":"Demonstrated track record of owning production systems end-to-end. Experience diagnosing difficult production failures, improving system reliability through testing strategies, implementing comprehensive observability, and managing incidents that affect customers."}
- {"name":"Building Customer-Facing Products","description":"Experience shipping complex product or platform capabilities that external customers or internal teams depend on. Understanding of how backend systems directly impact product usability, feature velocity, and customer satisfaction."}

## Skills

### required

- {"name":"Backend Software Engineering","description":"Advanced proficiency in building scalable, production-grade backend systems with expertise in architecture, code quality, testing, and operational excellence."}
- {"name":"API and Microservices Design","description":"Expert-level experience designing and building APIs, microservices, and distributed service architectures that scale reliably across multiple deployment environments."}
- {"name":"Authorization and Access Control","description":"Deep expertise in designing and implementing authorization systems, permission models, and access control mechanisms that are both secure and understandable to end administrators."}
- {"name":"Software Systems Design","description":"Strong foundational knowledge of systems design principles including consistency, availability, partition tolerance, data modeling, and understanding tradeoffs between performance and reliability."}
- {"name":"Production Engineering","description":"Hands-on expertise in production deployment, observability implementation, incident response, performance optimization, and operational reliability of backend systems."}
- {"name":"Technical Communication","description":"Excellent ability to articulate complex technical decisions, document systems clearly, and align diverse stakeholders (product, engineering, enterprise customers) around technical strategies."}

### preferred

- {"name":"Enterprise SaaS Experience","description":"Previous experience building backend systems for enterprise SaaS products with requirements around multi-tenancy, data isolation, governance, compliance, and complex permission models."}
- {"name":"Large-Scale AI or ML Systems","description":"Experience building backend infrastructure for machine learning platforms, large language models, or AI applications where scale, latency, and reliability are critical."}
- {"name":"Open Source Contributions","description":"Active open source contributions demonstrating expertise in distributed systems, observability tools, infrastructure, or permission/governance frameworks."}
- {"name":"Cloud Platform Expertise","description":"Deep familiarity with modern cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) including serverless services, container orchestration, managed databases, and infrastructure-as-code practices."}
- {"name":"Event-Driven Architecture","description":"Experience building event-driven systems using message queues, event streaming platforms, or similar technologies for handling asynchronous workloads and ensuring data consistency."}

## Tech stack

### tools

- {"name":"Git/GitHub","description":"Version control and collaboration tools for managing codebase and code review processes."}
- {"name":"Docker","description":"Containerization platform for packaging services and ensuring consistent deployment across environments."}
- {"name":"Datadog/Prometheus","description":"Observability and monitoring platforms for tracking service metrics, creating alerts, and debugging production issues."}
- {"name":"PagerDuty","description":"On-call and incident management platform for coordinating production support and response."}
- {"name":"Terraform","description":"Infrastructure-as-code tool for managing cloud resources and deployment automation."}

### others

- {"name":"SQL","description":"Query language for designing efficient data schemas and optimizing permission lookups and access control queries."}
- {"name":"REST and GraphQL APIs","description":"API design patterns for building intuitive, scalable interfaces for permissions administration and governance."}
- {"name":"Authentication Protocols (OAuth, SAML, OIDC)","description":"Understanding of modern authentication standards essential for integrating enterprise identity providers and managing user access."}
- {"name":"RBAC and ABAC","description":"Role-based and attribute-based access control models for implementing flexible, maintainable permission systems."}

### databases

- {"name":"PostgreSQL","description":"Relational database commonly used for storing permissions, governance rules, and transactional data with ACID guarantees."}
- {"name":"Redis","description":"In-memory cache for high-speed access control decisions and session management."}
- {"name":"DynamoDB","description":"Managed NoSQL database option for highly scalable, distributed permission storage."}

### languages

- {"name":"Python","description":"General-purpose backend language commonly used for API services, permissions systems, and administrative tools."}
- {"name":"Go","description":"Systems programming language valued for building high-performance, scalable services with strong concurrency primitives."}
- {"name":"Rust","description":"Memory-safe systems language offering strong type safety and performance characteristics for backend services."}
- {"name":"Java","description":"Enterprise-grade language widely used for building large-scale distributed systems and enterprise governance platforms."}
- {"name":"C++","description":"High-performance language used in systems requiring maximum throughput and minimal latency."}

### frameworks

- {"name":"FastAPI/Flask","description":"Python web frameworks for building REST APIs and microservices."}
- {"name":"Django","description":"Comprehensive Python framework for building scalable backend applications with built-in authentication and permissions systems."}
- {"name":"gRPC","description":"Modern RPC framework for building high-performance, language-agnostic microservices with strong typing and streaming support."}
- {"name":"Kubernetes","description":"Container orchestration platform for deploying and managing containerized backend services at scale."}

## Benefits

### benefits

- {"name":"Comprehensive Health Insurance","description":"Medical, dental, and vision coverage with OpenAI subsidizing a significant portion of premiums for employees and their families."}
- {"name":"Equity Compensation","description":"Meaningful stock options and equity grants aligned with company performance, providing long-term wealth building opportunities as OpenAI scales."}
- {"name":"401(k) Retirement Plans","description":"Tax-advantaged retirement savings with employer matching contributions to support long-term financial planning."}
- {"name":"Flexible Time Off","description":"Unlimited paid time off and flexible work arrangements to maintain work-life balance while delivering on critical projects."}
- {"name":"Professional Development and Learning","description":"Opportunities for technical growth, conference attendance, online courses, and access to learning platforms to advance engineering expertise."}
- {"name":"Wellness Programs","description":"Mental health support, fitness benefits, wellness stipends, and access to counseling services."}
- {"name":"Parental Leave","description":"Generous parental leave policies for both primary and non-primary caregivers supporting family planning."}
- {"name":"Free Meals and Snacks","description":"On-site meals, beverages, and snacks at San Francisco headquarters to support employee wellbeing and team collaboration."}

## Compensation

- **max:** 280000
- **min:** 200000
- **currency:** USD
- **stockOptions:** true

## Interview process

### steps

- {"name":"Initial Screening Call","description":"Recruiter screening focused on background, technical experience, and motivation for joining OpenAI's Enterprise Controls team. Discussion of experience with authorization systems, backend engineering scale, and leadership approach."}
- {"name":"Technical Design Interview","description":"In-depth systems design interview exploring your approach to building authorization and permissions systems. Expect discussions on data modeling, API design, consistency models, and how you'd handle complex enterprise governance requirements at scale."}
- {"name":"Backend Engineering Interview","description":"Code-focused interview assessing proficiency in your preferred backend language. You may solve design problems or implement backend components related to permissions, distributed systems, or API development. Emphasis on code quality, testing strategies, and production readiness."}
- {"name":"Production Systems and Reliability Interview","description":"Discussion of your experience with production systems, incident response, observability, and operational excellence. You'll walk through examples of production issues you've debugged and describe your approach to reliability, monitoring, and performance optimization."}
- {"name":"Technical Leadership Interview","description":"Conversation focused on your ability to lead technical initiatives across multiple teams, make architectural decisions, coordinate with stakeholders, and maintain hands-on involvement. Expect questions about how you've managed ambiguity, influenced without authority, and shipped complex projects."}
- {"name":"Product and Communication Interview","description":"Assessment of your ability to translate complex enterprise requirements into clear technical decisions. Discussion of how you've worked with enterprise customers or product teams, understood their needs, and communicated tradeoffs effectively."}
- {"name":"Hiring Manager Interview","description":"Final conversation with the hiring manager to discuss team dynamics, your long-term goals, career growth opportunities, and the impact you could have on OpenAI's enterprise product strategy."}

## Full description
**About the Team**

Enterprise Controls & Console is part of Enterprise Engineering. We build the permissions, governance, and administration capabilities that help organizations use and deploy ChatGPT, Codex, and OpenAI products with confidence. We give administrators granular controls over access and security, helping ensure that people and agents operate within the boundaries their organizations define.

Our work combines complex backend platform engineering with enterprise product needs and touches every major product and model launch. We build scalable, reusable services and intuitive administration experiences, and provide a shared controls foundation that enables internal teams to introduce new capabilities safely.

**About the Role**

We are looking for an experienced backend software engineer to help shape and build the systems behind enterprise access, governance, and sharing. You will bring deep backend expertise and strong product judgment to problems that span multiple OpenAI products, including how people and agents share access and work together. You will lead technical design and delivery, translate ambiguous enterprise needs into clear system behavior, and remain hands-on from implementation through production operation. This role is based in San Francisco.

**In this role, you will:**

* Design and build backend services for permissions, authorization, and governance across ChatGPT, Codex, and OpenAI APIs.
* Develop sharing capabilities between people and agents, with clear access rules and enterprise controls that are understandable to administrators and users.
* Build reusable services and APIs that support workspace administration and console experiences as OpenAI products evolve.
* Lead architecture and delivery for complex initiatives, aligning product and engineering partners on requirements, tradeoffs, and rollout plans.
* Translate enterprise needs into clear configuration, predictable permission behavior, and maintainable systems that other product teams can build on.
* Own the reliability, security, and performance of the services you ship through testing, observability, production debugging, and continuous improvement.

**Your background might look something like:**

* 9+ years of professional backend software engineering experience, excluding internships, building and operating production services.
* Deep backend engineering expertise and a track record of shipping complex product or platform capabilities that customers depend on.
* Experience providing technical leadership for substantial initiatives, making architectural decisions, and coordinating delivery across teams while remaining hands-on.
* Strong proficiency in a backend language such as Python, Go, Rust, Java, or C++, with sound software design and systems fundamentals.
* Experience designing distributed services, APIs, and data models, with an understanding of reliability, consistency, scalability, and performance tradeoffs.
* Experience building authorization, permissions, or enterprise governance systems, including translating access policies into reliable application behavior.
* Strong product judgment and communication skills, with the ability to turn ambiguous user and administrator needs into practical technical decisions.
* A track record of owning production systems, diagnosing difficult failures, and improving security, testing, observability, and operational reliability.

**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](https://cdn.openai.com/policies/eeo-policy-statement.pdf).

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.

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We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this [link](https://form.asana.com/?k=bQ7w9h3iexRlicUdWRiwvg&d=57018692298241).

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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.