Software Engineer, Youth Well-Being

Software Engineer · Senior · Full Time

San FranciscoUSD 230k – 385k20mo ago
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Role

What you'll do.

OpenAI's Youth Well-Being team is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to build foundational systems ensuring safe, age-appropriate AI experiences for families and teens across products like ChatGPT. This high-impact, 0→1 opportunity involves architecting identity infrastructure, age assurance pipelines, and guardian tools while ensuring regulatory compliance and ethical AI deployment at consumer scale.

Responsibilities

  • Youth Experience Architecture: Architect and implement teen and guardian experiences across OpenAI products, including ChatGPT
  • Age Assurance Systems: Build global age assurance systems that are privacy-preserving and tailored to regional compliance needs
  • Identity Infrastructure: Design and evolve identity infrastructure to support scalable, secure, and resilient user journeys at consumer internet scale
  • Safety Metrics Development: Help define safety and well-being metrics, and continuously improve user trust through technical interventions
  • Regulatory Compliance: Implement systems compliant with COPPA, GDPR-K, UK OSA, KOSA and other youth protection regulations
  • Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with engineers, data scientists, designers, user researchers, and policy experts
  • Guardian Tools Development: Build guardian tools that support both proactive and reactive interventions for family safety
  • System Architecture: Own complex, ambiguous problems end-to-end while adapting to fast-changing priorities

Qualifications

What we look for.

Technical

  • Identity Systems Experience

    Hands-on experience with identity platforms, auth/authz systems, or user verification at scale

  • Regulatory Compliance

    Experience with systems involving regulatory complexity (COPPA, GDPR-K, UK OSA, KOSA)

  • Youth Safety Focus

    Experience building products or infrastructure for users under 18, or strong interest in digital safety and youth well-being

  • Scalable Systems

    Proven ability to build and maintain systems at consumer internet scale

  • Full-Stack Development

    Proficiency in both frontend and backend technologies for complete product development

Education

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field preferred

  • Advanced Degree

    Master's degree in Computer Science or related field is a plus but not required

Experience

  • Senior-Level Experience

    5+ years of software engineering experience with focus on user-facing products

  • Identity Platform Experience

    3+ years working with authentication, authorization, and identity verification systems

  • Compliance Systems

    2+ years experience with regulatory compliance in product development

  • Cross-functional Leadership

    Demonstrated ability to work effectively across policy, research, legal, and product functions

Skills

Required

  • Python

    Strong proficiency in Python for backend development and AI system integration

  • Identity & Authentication

    Deep understanding of OAuth, OpenID Connect, and modern authentication protocols

  • System Design

    Ability to architect scalable, secure systems for consumer-scale applications

  • Regulatory Knowledge

    Understanding of youth protection regulations like COPPA, GDPR-K, and UK Online Safety Act

  • Database Design

    Experience with both SQL and NoSQL databases for user data and compliance systems

  • API Development

    Proficiency in designing and implementing RESTful APIs and GraphQL endpoints

  • Security Best Practices

    Strong understanding of security principles, especially for youth-facing applications

Preferred

  • TypeScript/JavaScript

    Nice to have

    Frontend development experience with React, Next.js, or similar modern frameworks

  • Cloud Platforms

    Nice to have

    Experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure for scalable cloud infrastructure

  • DevOps

    Nice to have

    Knowledge of Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines for reliable deployments

  • Educational Technology

    Nice to have

    Background in edtech or youth-focused product development

  • Machine Learning

    Nice to have

    Understanding of ML concepts and AI safety considerations

  • Legal Tech

    Nice to have

    Experience navigating legal constraints in product development

  • User Research

    Nice to have

    Familiarity with user research methodologies for sensitive user groups

Tech stack

Languages

PythonTypeScriptGoJavaScript

Frameworks

ReactNode.jsFastAPINext.js

Databases

PostgreSQLRedisMongoDB

Tools

DockerKubernetesAWSTerraformAuth0Datadog

Other

OAuth 2.0OpenID ConnectCOPPA ComplianceGDPR-KGraphQL

Compensation

Pay and benefits.

Base·USD 230,000 – 385,000

Equity·Stock options

Benefits

  • Equity Package

    Comprehensive equity compensation as part of total compensation

  • Health Insurance

    Premium medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and families

  • Unlimited PTO

    Flexible time off policy to support work-life balance

  • Parental Leave

    Generous paid parental leave for new parents

  • Learning & Development

    Professional development budget and opportunities for continuous learning

  • Mental Health Support

    Comprehensive mental health resources and counseling services

  • Remote Work Support

    Home office setup stipend and flexible work arrangements

  • AI Research Access

    Early access to cutting-edge AI models and research for personal and professional growth

Process

Interview steps.

  1. 01

    Application Review

    Initial screening of resume and portfolio focusing on relevant experience with identity systems and youth safety

  2. 02

    Recruiter Call

    30-minute phone screen discussing background, motivation, and basic technical experience

  3. 03

    Technical Screen

    60-minute coding interview focusing on system design and API development skills

  4. 04

    System Design Interview

    90-minute deep dive into designing scalable identity and age verification systems

  5. 05

    Cross-functional Interview

    60-minute discussion with policy and product team members about regulatory compliance and ethical considerations

  6. 06

    Values & Culture Fit

    45-minute interview assessing alignment with OpenAI's mission and approach to AI safety

  7. 07

    Final Interview

    60-minute conversation with senior leadership about technical vision and team collaboration

  8. 08

    Reference Checks

    Professional references verification and background check completion

Full posting

Original listing.

About the Team

The Youth Well-Being product team is part of the Integrity pillar at OpenAI, responsible for ensuring that our state-of-the-art AI technologies are deployed in safe, age-appropriate, and beneficial ways—especially for youth and families.

We work across OpenAI’s entire product surface area, from ChatGPT to future-facing tools, to architect safety and trust into the foundation of our systems. Our mission: empower families while meeting the highest standards of regulatory compliance and ethical responsibility.

This work is core to OpenAI’s mission to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity. Safety, especially for the most vulnerable users, is more important to us than unfettered growth.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior Software Engineer to help architect and build the foundational systems that power family- and youth-facing experiences at scale. You’ll help define how teens and guardians engage with OpenAI products—ensuring those experiences are safe, compliant, and empowering.

You’ll operate across a broad technical surface: building identity primitives, age assurance pipelines, and guardian tools that support both proactive and reactive interventions. You’ll collaborate closely with a cross-functional team of engineers, data scientists, designers, user researchers, and policy experts.

This is a high-impact, 0→1 opportunity to set the standard for how families interact with generative AI.

In this role, you will:

  • Architect and implement teen and guardian experiences across OpenAI products, including ChatGPT.

  • Build global age assurance systems that are privacy-preserving and tailored to regional compliance needs.

  • Design and evolve our identity infrastructure to support scalable, secure, and resilient user journeys at consumer internet scale.

  • Help define safety and well-being metrics, and continuously improve user trust through technical interventions.

You might thrive in this role if you:

  • Have built products or infrastructure for users under 18, or have a strong interest in digital safety, youth well-being, or educational technology.

  • Have hands-on experience with identity platforms, auth/authz systems, or user verification at scale.

  • Have worked on systems with regulatory complexity (e.g., COPPA, GDPR-K, UK OSA, KOSA) or experience navigating legal constraints in product development.

  • Are comfortable owning complex, ambiguous problems end-to-end, learning quickly, and adapting to fast-changing priorities.
    Can thrive in a cross-functional team, with strong collaboration across policy, research, legal, and product functions.

  • Care deeply about building systems that are not just performant, but also inclusive, thoughtful, and ethical.

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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