Principal Security Engineer, Infrastructure Security

Details

Security is at the foundation of OpenAI’s mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. The Security team protects OpenAI’s technology, people, and products, supporting all products and research through technical solutions and operational excellence.

OpenAI is seeking a Principal Security Engineer to join the Infrastructure Security team. The team protects the foundations of OpenAI’s research and production environments, including GPU supercomputing clusters, multi-cloud infrastructure, datacenters, networking, storage, and critical services supporting frontier AI models. The scope spans bare-metal hardware and firmware, Kubernetes clusters and service meshes, data storage, and access pathways for sensitive model weights and user data.

As a principal engineer, you will set technical direction and drive execution on high-impact infrastructure security programs, partnering across OpenAI to deliver durable controls that raise the security bar at scale.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end security outcomes for one or more critical infrastructure areas, including multi-quarter strategy, roadmaps, and delivery.
• Design and build security controls across physical hardware, firmware/BMC, operating systems, Kubernetes, networks, and CI/CD systems to defend against sophisticated adversaries and insider threats.
• Lead cross-functional programs to deploy security enhancements and control changes across large-scale infrastructure while balancing security guarantees with reliability and velocity.
• Take a generalist approach to building security controls, combining security expertise with broad technical skills to address evolving challenges.
• Lead or drive threat modeling and design reviews for major infrastructure changes, ensuring strong security foundations and operational excellence.
• Mentor and develop engineers across Infrastructure Security and partner teams through guidance, reviews, and technical leadership.

Requirements

• Deep understanding of security principles, best practices, and common vulnerabilities, with strong security judgment under ambiguity.
• A proactive mindset and the ability to identify and address security gaps or inefficiencies through automation and tooling.
• Expertise and curiosity in using frontier models and agents to solve security challenges.
• A track record of leading large, cross-organizational initiatives from concept to rollout, including navigating tradeoffs, driving alignment, and delivering measurable risk reduction.
• Deep expertise in securing cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, especially multi-cloud networks and infrastructure, and designing cloud-agnostic systems.
• Experience securing on-premises deployments and datacenters from construction through multi-tenant use.
• Familiarity with container security, orchestration security, and authentication and authorization.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to think critically and objectively assess security risks.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to convey complex security concepts to executive, technical, and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams to build secure, reliable systems that scale globally.

Benefits

• Base pay of $347,000–$490,000 per year, plus equity.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.
• Pre-tax Flexible Spending Accounts and commuter benefits.
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer match.
• Paid parental, medical, and caregiver leave.
• Paid time off, paid holidays, office closures, and sick or safe time as required by law.
• Mental health and wellness support.
• Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage.
• Annual learning and development stipend.
• Daily meals in offices and eligible meal delivery credits.
• Relocation support for eligible employees.
• Additional taxable fringe benefits may be provided.

OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. Background checks will be administered in accordance with applicable law.