Camera ISP Software Engineer, Consumer Products

Details

The Consumer Products team at OpenAI builds and ships end-to-end hardware and software experiences that bring frontier AI into the physical world. The Camera team delivers robust, production-ready imaging systems that operate under real-world constraints such as motion, power, latency, and manufacturing variation. Work spans early silicon and board bring-up through mass production and supports both user-facing experiences and on-device perception for AI-driven features.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end ISP tuning and bring-up, from early prototypes through production hardware.
• Tune core 3A and image-quality blocks including AE, AWB, AF, noise reduction (spatial and temporal), sharpening, tone mapping, color correction, HDR/WDR, flicker mitigation, lens shading, defect pixel correction, and related ISP stages.
• Build repeatable capture and evaluation workflows, combining controlled lab sweeps with real-world validation.
• Validate robustness across sensor, module, and manufacturing variation with clear, defensible success criteria.
• Deliver production-grade tuning artifacts, including versioned tuning packs, parameter manifests, change logs, and curated RAW and processed datasets with supporting documentation.
• Partner closely with camera firmware, systems, and hardware teams to debug pipelines, configure sensors, and resolve board-level and silicon-level issues as designs evolve.

Requirements

• Deep experience shipping ISP tuning for embedded or mobile camera products, from bring-up through production.
• Strong fundamentals across 3A (AE/AWB/AF), noise modeling, sharpening and detail trade-offs, tone mapping, and color pipelines.
• Proven ability to run data-driven tuning loops, including repeatable capture, rigorous evaluation, and disciplined versioning of tuning artifacts.
• Hands-on experience debugging end-to-end camera pipelines on real hardware, including RAW capture, processed outputs, and hardware-accelerated paths.
• Ability to collaborate cross-functionally and translate system-level constraints (power, latency, motion, reliability) into concrete tuning decisions and validation plans.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with common mobile or embedded SoC camera stacks and vendor frameworks.
• Experience tuning imaging pipelines explicitly for downstream machine-learning consumers, with iteration driven by model feedback.
• Experience designing motion-aware temporal imaging strategies that remain stable under rapid device or scene motion.

Benefits

• Base pay around the listed compensation ($325K) plus equity and potential performance-related bonuses.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.
• Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses.
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer match.
• Paid parental leave and paid medical/caregiver leave; flexible PTO and paid company holidays.
• Mental health and wellness support; employer-paid basic life and disability coverage.
• Annual learning and development stipend; daily meals in offices and meal delivery credits as eligible.
• Relocation support for eligible employees.

Location & Work Model

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. OpenAI uses a hybrid work model of four days in the office per week.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. The company emphasizes safety, diverse perspectives, and inclusion and provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.