Systems R&D Engineer, Industrial Compute

Details

About the Team

The Scaling team is responsible for the architectural and engineering backbone of OpenAI’s infrastructure. We design and deliver advanced systems that support the deployment and operation of cutting-edge AI models. Our work spans system software, networking, platform architecture, fleet-level monitoring, and performance optimization.

As part of the Stargate initiative, the Industrial Compute team's mission is to build and operate the foundation that powers our research and products. To deliver on this mission, there is a critical need for advanced lab infrastructure and capabilities to perform rapid prototyping, targeted and end-to-end testing, and system qualification across the full software and hardware stack to ensure readiness and stability for fast and smooth deployment of our large-scale clusters.

Role summary

We are seeking an experienced engineer to lead advanced R&D, rapid prototyping, and build-out of in-house lab infrastructure to support system bring-up, testing, and qualification for next-generation systems. You will work closely with research, fleet, silicon, hardware health, and external vendors and partners to accelerate system qualification, increase deployment velocity, and improve platform and fleet robustness at scale.

In this role you will focus on detailed evaluation and systematic testing of early hardware, including servers, racks, NICs, switches, chips, optics, transceivers, and other lab prototype equipment. Your engineering work will span a broad range of software (systems, firmware, RDMA, collectives, cluster provisioning, orchestration, etc.) and/or hardware solutions (e.g., FPGA development) to manage lab infrastructure, support bring-up activities and perform extensive characterizations of new hardware through microbenchmarking, fault injection, impairment modeling, localized stress testing, and end-to-end evaluations.

Locations & work model

This role is based in San Francisco, CA or Seattle, WA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

Responsibilities

• Lead R&D and rapid prototyping of lab infrastructure for system bring-up and qualification
• Collaborate with research, fleet, silicon, hardware health teams and external vendors to validate early hardware designs
• Design and run systematic tests and characterizations for servers, racks, NICs, switches, chips, optics, transceivers, and prototype equipment
• Implement and maintain software and/or hardware tooling for lab automation, provisioning, orchestration, and monitoring
• Perform microbenchmarking, fault injection, impairment modeling, localized stress testing, and end-to-end evaluations to assess readiness and stability of large-scale clusters
• Drive improvements in deployment velocity, platform robustness, and fleet reliability

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field
• Strong background in system architecture and large-scale distributed systems
• AI/HPC networking expertise (high-performance multipath transport protocols, RDMA, RoCE, Infiniiband)
• 5+ years of software development experience in C/C++ and Python
• Experience developing and running large-scale distributed AI workloads
• Hands-on lab experience with datacenter hardware (racks, servers, switches, NICs, accelerators)
• Experience with low-level software and/or FPGA hardware development (e.g., firmware or RTL)

Benefits & additional details

• Base salary range: $310,000 — $460,000 (offers equity; total comp includes equity and potential bonuses)
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance with employer contributions to HSA
• Pre-tax accounts (Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, commuter accounts)
• 401(k) with employer match
• Paid parental, medical, and caregiver leave; PTO policies
• 13+ paid company holidays and office closures; sick/safe time per applicable law
• Mental health and wellness support; employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
• Annual learning & development stipend
• Daily meals in offices and meal delivery credits as eligible
• Relocation support for eligible employees

Other notes

• Background checks will be administered per applicable law and local fair chance ordinances for US-based candidates
• OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities