Software Engineer, Core Services

at OpenAI

📍 San Francisco, United States

USD 230,000-385,000 per year

MIDDLE

✅ Hybrid

✅ Relocation

Tech Stack
Tag name is followed by "@" symbol and proficiency level value. About proficiency levels:

1-2 — basic awareness. Minimal hands-on experience, and a rudimentary understanding of the technology's purpose;

3-6 — daily use. Comfortable and regular usage, capable of handling common tasks and challenges related to the technology;

7-9 — you are an expert, you can teach others, you know all the pitfalls and tricks;

10 — exceptional knowledge, comprehensive understanding, and adeptness in all aspects of the technology, including advanced problem-solving. Think twice before claiming or demanding such level.

AI CI/CD @ 3 Communication @ 6 Distributed Systems @ 3 Memcached @ 3 Networking Performance Optimization @ 3 Redis @ 3

Details

The Core Services team builds and manages foundational services that bridge core infrastructure, including compute, storage, and networking, with product engineering teams. The team enables product teams to move quickly, build reliably, and scale efficiently.

As a software engineer on the Core Services team, you will design and operate critical backend platforms, including caching systems, workflow orchestration, metadata stores, and file services. You will build highly reliable, scalable, and performant systems that serve as the backbone of customer-facing products.

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

Responsibilities

Design, build, and maintain shared infrastructure services such as caching layers, workflow orchestration with Temporal, metadata stores, and file storage services.
Collaborate with product teams to provide scalable and reliable primitives that abstract the complexities of distributed systems.
Improve the performance, resilience, and scalability of core services powering customer-facing applications.

Requirements

Experience with distributed systems.
Experience with caching infrastructure such as Redis or Memcached, metadata storage such as FoundationDB, or workflow orchestration systems such as Temporal or Cadence.
Experience running containerized services in cloud environments.
Experience integrating services into automated build, test, and release workflows using CI/CD.
Understanding of trade-offs in consistency models, replication strategies, and performance optimization in multi-region systems.
Strong communication and collaboration skills with cross-functional teams.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. The company is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.

Benefits

Base salary of $230,000–$385,000 per year, plus equity.
Medical, dental, and vision insurance, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.
Pre-tax flexible spending and commuter accounts.
401(k) retirement plan with employer match.
Paid parental, medical, and caregiver leave.
Paid time off, company holidays, and 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 office meals and eligible meal delivery credits.
Relocation support for eligible employees.