Software Engineer, Codex Runtime

Details

With Codex we’re building an AI software engineer. One that you can pair with, delegate to, or even ask to take on future tasks proactively. The Codex team builds state-of-the-art AI systems that can write code, reason about software, and act as intelligent agents for developers and non-developers alike. The team operates across research, engineering, product, and infrastructure; owning the full lifecycle of experimentation, deployment, and iteration on novel coding capabilities.

Codex Runtime is the execution and infrastructure layer that turns Codex from a code generator into a real AI software engineer operating at scale. It provides secure, sandboxed environments where Codex can run commands, read and write files, execute tests, and iteratively improve its work across real codebases. More broadly, Codex Runtime is the distributed systems substrate that enables large numbers of supervised AI agents to run inside OpenAI’s and customers’ data centers, tackling increasingly complex goals over long time horizons. By giving agents a real working context and reliable execution environment, Codex Runtime makes it possible for Codex to validate its own changes, debug failures, and deliver production-ready results, defining how AI agents safely, reliably, and at scale interact with the world’s software.

Responsibilities

• Shape the evolution of Codex by identifying how teams actually use (and break) AI-powered software engineering, and drive changes across product, infrastructure, and model behavior to make Codex a reliable teammate for organizations.
• Build core team and enterprise primitives that make Codex usable at scale, including container orchestration, VM provisioning/configuration, execution sandboxes, shared block storage, RBAC, admin and audit surfaces, usage/rate limits and pricing controls, managed configuration and constraints, and analytics for visibility into usage.
• Design and own secure, observable, full-stack systems that power Codex across web, IDEs, CLI, and CI/CD, integrating with enterprise identity and governance systems (SSO/SAML/OIDC, SCIM, policy enforcement) and building data-access patterns that are performant, compliant, and trustworthy.
• Lead real-world deployments and launches by working directly with customers and GTM to roll Codex out across teams, using live usage and operational signals to iterate and turn messy, real-world feedback into scalable product and platform improvements.

Requirements

• Strong software engineering fundamentals and experience turning ideas into production-grade large-scale distributed systems, balancing speed, performance, cost, and user experience.
• Experience using AI-powered/agentic software development tools and familiarity with their strengths and weaknesses.
• Experience with orchestration of scaled containerization and/or virtualization systems (e.g., Kubernetes, OCI).
• Proficiency in one or more backend languages (for example: Python, Go, Rust) and strong understanding of concurrency and distributed systems concepts, with a focus on reliability, observability, and security.
• Experience building cross-cutting platform capabilities that unlock product velocity, comfortable working across services, APIs, and end-user product surfaces.
• Experience with team/enterprise foundations such as identity and access (SAML/OIDC), SCIM, RBAC, audit/compliance logging, policy enforcement, and data governance controls.
• Experience building developer tools and workflows (CLI/IDE/SDK), automation systems (triggers/scheduling), or integration platforms that connect products to a broader ecosystem of tools.
• Comfortable working directly with users/customers (or alongside GTM/solutions teams) and translating diverse requirements into opinionated, scalable implementations.
• Comfortable in 0→1 environments, navigating ambiguity, and bringing product thinking to technical trade-offs.

Benefits & Compensation

• Base salary range: $255,000 – $325,000 (offers equity; total compensation includes 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 (up to 24 weeks for birth parents, 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), 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 periodic company office closures; 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 (charitable donation matching, wellness stipends, etc.).

About OpenAI & Hiring Notes

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose AI benefits all of humanity. The company is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on protected characteristics. Background checks will be administered in accordance with applicable law. OpenAI is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.