Senior Staff Software Engineer, Identity Infrastructure Engineering

Details

Security is at the foundation of OpenAI’s mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. The Identity Infrastructure Engineering team designs and builds identity and access management solutions that protect model weights, customer data, and critical systems across multiple cloud environments. The team partners with Applied Engineering, Research, IT, and Security to provide a secure and scalable platform for permissioning, orchestration, and AI research.

This role focuses on building and evolving identity infrastructure supporting OpenAI’s research, engineering, and internal platforms. It sits at the intersection of cloud infrastructure, identity systems, and software engineering, spanning production systems, infrastructure-as-code, cloud control planes, identity providers, and operational infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture, development, and operation of identity infrastructure spanning cloud platforms, internal systems, and critical engineering services.
• Design and evolve systems for authentication, authorization, access governance, auditability, and policy enforcement, with a focus on reliability, scalability, and secure-by-default design.
• Build foundational infrastructure and platform capabilities used across engineering, research, and security teams.
• Improve the reliability, observability, performance, and operational maturity of identity infrastructure supporting mission-critical systems and workflows.
• Lead ambiguous, high-impact technical initiatives across security, infrastructure, and engineering teams, driving alignment and execution across multiple stakeholders.
• Partner with engineers, researchers, and security teams to build scalable access patterns and infrastructure while maintaining strong security boundaries and operational rigor.
• Raise the engineering bar through strong technical judgment, thoughtful system design, operational excellence, and long-term ownership of critical infrastructure.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience building and operating large-scale infrastructure, platform, or backend systems.
• Deep experience with cloud infrastructure, identity systems, distributed systems, and infrastructure-as-code.
• Experience leading complex technical initiatives across teams and driving architecture in ambiguous environments.
• Experience building security-critical systems involving authentication, authorization, access governance, privileged access, or policy enforcement.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals with experience in Go, Rust, Python, or similar languages.
• Ability to debug across code, cloud infrastructure, identity systems, networking, and operations.
• High standards for reliability, security, auditability, and operational rigor in mission-critical systems.

Work Arrangement

This role is based in San Francisco, California, and follows a hybrid work model requiring three days in the office per week.

Compensation And Benefits

• Base salary: $347,700–$385,000 USD per year.
• Equity, performance-related bonuses for eligible employees, and benefits including medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer match.
• Paid parental, medical, and caregiver leave.
• Paid time off, company holidays, and paid sick or safe time.
• Mental health and wellness support.
• Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage.
• Annual learning and development stipend.
• Daily office meals and eligible meal delivery credits.
• Relocation support for eligible employees.
• Additional taxable fringe benefits may include charitable donation matching and wellness stipends.

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