Software Security Architect, Operating Systems | Consumer Devices

Details

OpenAI Consumer Devices is building the next generation of products that bring powerful AI into people’s everyday lives. The Operating Systems team turns sophisticated hardware and AI capabilities into a reliable, trusted platform by defining trust boundaries, integrating hardware-backed protections, isolating sensitive context, and establishing guardrails for safe, private, user-controlled AI applications and agents.

This is a senior, hands-on role responsible for defining the security architecture for OpenAI’s next-generation operating system. The role partners with hardware security architects and operating system, silicon, firmware, privacy, and product teams to protect users, devices, and data.

Responsibilities

• Define the operating system’s security architecture, trust boundaries, privilege model, and protections for sensitive user data.
• Partner with hardware security architects to integrate roots of trust, secure elements, trusted execution environments, and processor security capabilities into the operating system.
• Design foundational platform defenses, including secure boot, code signing, attestation, secure updates, key protection, and device recovery.
• Establish isolation and access controls across the kernel, applications, system services, and AI workloads.
• Define guardrails for how AI applications and agents access information, use sensors and tools, retain context, and act on a user’s behalf.
• Lead threat modeling and architecture reviews across the platform, translating emerging threats into practical, enforceable requirements.
• Prototype solutions, review security-critical systems code, and guide engineering teams through complex technical and product tradeoffs.

Requirements

• Deep experience designing or securing operating systems, kernels, embedded platforms, hypervisors, or other privileged systems software.
• Complex understanding of operating system internals, including memory protection, process isolation, executable loading, device drivers, and privilege boundaries.
• Experience building security architectures spanning hardware, firmware, operating systems, applications, and cloud services.
• Practical expertise in secure boot, code signing, device identity, attestation, trusted execution, and hardware-backed key protection.
• Ability to write or review systems code in C, C++, Rust, or comparable languages, with a strong grasp of secure development and exploit mitigation.
• Ability to build rigorous threat models, influence cross-functional engineering teams, and communicate security tradeoffs clearly.
• Commitment to user privacy, personal agency, and designing systems that earn trust.

Helpful Experience

• Shipping security technologies for consumer operating systems, mobile platforms, or connected devices.
• Kernel hardening, memory-safety mitigations, virtualization-based security, or secure enclave integration.
• Security architecture for AI agents, sensitive-context isolation, permissioned tool use, or prompt-injection resistance.
• Device provisioning, manufacturing security, secure recovery, or lifecycle security for hardware products.

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. Background checks are administered in accordance with applicable law.

Benefits

• Base salary of $268,000–$342,000 per year, plus equity.
• Performance-related bonuses for eligible employees.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.
• Pre-tax accounts for health, dependent care, and commuter expenses.
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer match.
• Paid parental, medical, and caregiver leave.
• Paid time off, paid company holidays, office closures, 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.
• Additional taxable fringe benefits may include charitable donation matching and wellness stipends.