Hardware Tools Engineer

Details

About the Team

OpenAI’s Hardware organization develops silicon and system-level solutions designed for the unique demands of advanced AI workloads. The team is responsible for building the next generation of AI-native silicon while working closely with software and research partners to co-design hardware tightly integrated with AI models. In addition to delivering production-grade silicon for OpenAI’s supercomputing infrastructure, the team also creates custom design tools and methodologies that accelerate innovation and enable hardware optimized specifically for AI.

Role

You will develop and evolve the tooling ecosystem that hardware engineers rely on every day — from hardware compilers and IR transformations to simulation, debugging, and automation infrastructure. The work spans software engineering, compiler concepts, and practical hardware workflows, with direct impact on how quickly and effectively we design next-generation AI systems.

You’ll collaborate closely with architects, RTL designers, and verification engineers to translate real engineering friction into durable, scalable tooling solutions.

Responsibilities

• Build and improve the software tooling that makes hardware teams faster: compilation, IR transforms, RTL generation, simulation, debug, and automation.
• Extend and integrate hardware compiler stacks (frontends, IR passes, lowering, scheduling, codegen to Verilog/SystemVerilog) and connect them to real design workflows.
• Improve developer experience and reliability: reproducible builds, better error messages, faster iteration loops, and dependable CI and regression infrastructure.
• Work closely with designers and verification engineers to turn real pain points into durable tools.
• Dive into RTL when needed: read and reason about Verilog/SystemVerilog to debug issues, validate tool output, and improve debuggability.
• Go down the stack when necessary, including gate-level views, synthesis results, and implementation artifacts.
• Help enable PPA optimization loops by building analysis and automation around area, timing, and power tradeoffs, and by improving tooling that impacts those outcomes.

Requirements

• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain software (projects, internships, research, open source, or equivalent experience).
• Strong computer science fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, debugging, and software design.
• Proficiency in at least one of Rust, C++, or Python (and willingness to learn the rest).
• Familiarity with digital design concepts and the ability to read RTL (Verilog/SystemVerilog) or equivalent hardware descriptions.
• Familiarity with compiler or IR-based ideas (representations, passes, transformations, lowering), through coursework or projects.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and iterating quickly with users of your tools.

Nice to have

• Exposure to compiler and hardware toolchains such as XLS/DSLX, LLVM, Chisel/FIRRTL, CIRCT/MLIR, or other novel hardware languages (HardCaml, SpinalHDL, Spade, PyMTL, Clash, BlueSpec, PyRope).
• Experience with Verilog tooling ecosystems (Yosys/RTLIL, Verilator, Slang) or writing tooling around them.
• Experience with build and test infrastructure (Bazel, CI systems, fuzzing, performance testing).
• Prior work touching synthesis, place and route, static timing analysis, or other PPA-related workflows.

Legal / Compliance Note

To comply with U.S. export control laws and regulations, candidates for this role may need to meet certain legal status requirements as provided in those laws and regulations.

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. OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.

Benefits

• Base pay range listed below; total compensation also includes generous equity and performance-related bonuses for eligible employees.
• 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 additional paid medical and caregiver leave.
• Paid time off (flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees).
• 13+ paid company holidays and multiple coordinated office closures.
• 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.
• Additional taxable fringe benefits (charitable donation matching, wellness stipends).