Software Engineer, Online Storage

Details

We are the Online Storage team powering ChatGPT, Sora, and the OpenAI APIs. We own the databases and online-storage infrastructure that serve OpenAI products and are building robust, high-performance, and scalable systems to meet global demand.

About the role

As OpenAI scales, you'll design and build large-scale database systems, APIs, and infrastructure that serve hundreds of millions of users globally. You'll work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment focused on safety, reliability, and performance. This role emphasizes operational excellence (defining SLAs and KPIs), performance and scalability, and owning systems end-to-end (including on-call rotation).

Responsibilities

• Design and build highly scalable, reliable, and performant databases and online storage systems
• Design and build simple and intuitive APIs for the underlying database
• Analyze and resolve performance and scalability bottlenecks
• Debug, instrument, and fix system issues — from root-cause analysis to long-term solutions
• Define technical strategy and guide development of robust infrastructure for high-scale production systems
• Collaborate closely with product teams to understand requirements and deliver impactful solutions
• Build internal tools to boost engineering productivity
• Own the reliability of systems you build and participate in on-call rotations

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have experience building (and rebuilding) production systems to support new product capabilities and growing scale
• Care about end-user experience and solving real customer needs
• Embrace a humble, collaborative mindset and support teammates
• Are comfortable owning problems end-to-end and learning on the fly
• Build internal tools when off-the-shelf solutions fall short
• Have hands-on experience with distributed systems such as data storage, caching, search, or other backend infrastructure
• Prioritize reliability, scalability, and performance of large-scale systems
• Thrive in ambiguous, fast-paced environments and enjoy iterating rapidly on product and research initiatives

Qualifications

• 4+ years of industry experience, including 2+ years leading large-scale, complex projects or technical initiatives as an engineer or tech lead
• Strong passion for building distributed systems at scale with focus on reliability, scalability, security, and continuous improvement
• Expertise in systems programming with hands-on experience in multi-threading and concurrency
• Proficiency in C++ and/or Python is highly preferred
• Preferable domain experience in databases, large-scale data systems, storage, caching, search, or other core distributed infrastructure components
• Excellent communication skills and ability to build consensus across technical and non-technical stakeholders

Compensation & other notes

• Base pay range (listed): $255K - $405K (USD). Total compensation may include equity, bonuses, and benefits and may vary by location and candidate factors.
• Relocation support is available for eligible employees.
• Background checks will be administered in accordance with applicable law.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts
• Pre-tax accounts (Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, commuter accounts)
• 401(k) with employer match
• Paid parental and medical/caregiver leave
• Flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt
• 13+ paid company holidays and occasional office closures
• 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

OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.