Researcher, Safety & Privacy

Details

About the Team

Our Safety Systems org ensures that OpenAI’s most capable models can be responsibly developed and deployed. We build evaluations, safeguards, and safety frameworks that help our models behave as intended in real-world settings.

Role description

We are seeking a Researcher in Privacy-Preserving Safety to help design and build the next generation of privacy-preserving safety systems for frontier AI models. This role sits at the intersection of AI safety, security, and privacy, with a focus on developing auditable, privacy-first mechanisms that enable robust harm detection and mitigation without exposing sensitive user data.

You will help define and operationalize frameworks for identifying and addressing frontier risks (for example, bioweapon instructions, malware creation, suicide/self-harm risks, jailbreaks), while ensuring that privacy guarantees remain intact—even under adversarial conditions. The role focuses on privacy-preserving monitoring, algorithmic auditing, secure enclaves, and adversarially robust safety enforcement protocols to scale automated safety systems while preserving user trust.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement privacy-first architectures for detecting and mitigating harmful model behaviors.
• Build frameworks for auditable private identification of high-risk content (jailbreaks, cyber threats, or weaponization instructions).
• Develop strict, auditable mechanisms triggered only by harm signals.
• Drive the development of automated safety systems that preserve privacy at every level.

Requirements

• Deep interest in privacy, security, and AI safety, motivated by building systems that are both trustworthy and effective at scale.
• PhD or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Cryptography, Security, Machine Learning, or related fields.
• Ability to translate ambiguous problem spaces into formal frameworks and deployable systems.
• Demonstrated proficiency in one or more of the following areas: privacy-preserving computation (for example, secure enclaves, multi-party computation (MPC), differential privacy), security and adversarial systems, machine learning safety or alignment, and designing robust systems under adversarial threat models.
• Experience with AI safety, jailbreak detection, or model alignment.
• Familiarity with privacy-preserving machine learning techniques, algorithmic auditing, and/or secure system design.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, 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 (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks).
• Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees.
• 13+ paid company holidays and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year, plus paid 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 meal delivery credits as eligible.
• Relocation support for eligible employees.
• Additional taxable fringe benefits such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. Background checks are administered in accordance with applicable law. OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.