Software Engineer, Hardware Job at OpenAI (San Francisco)

Software Engineer, Hardware

OpenAI

Location:
United States , San Francisco

Category:
IT - Software Development

Contract Type:
Not provided

Salary:

266000.00 - 455000.00 USD / Year

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Job Description:

As a software engineer on the Scaling team, you’ll help build and optimize the low-level stack that orchestrates computation and data movement across OpenAI’s supercomputing clusters. Your work will involve designing high-performance runtimes, building custom kernels, contributing to compiler infrastructure, and developing scalable simulation systems to validate and optimize distributed training workloads. You will work at the intersection of systems programming, ML infrastructure, and high-performance computing, helping to create both ergonomic developer APIs and highly efficient runtime systems. This means balancing ease of use and introspection with the need for stability and performance on our evolving hardware fleet.

Job Responsibility:

Design and build APIs and runtime components to orchestrate computation and data movement across heterogeneous ML workloads
Contribute to compiler infrastructure, including the development of optimizations and compiler passes to support evolving hardware
Engineer and optimize compute and data kernels, ensuring correctness, high performance, and portability across simulation and production environments
Profile and optimize system bottlenecks, especially around I/O, memory hierarchy, and interconnects, at both local and distributed scales
Develop simulation infrastructure to validate runtime behaviors, test training stack changes, and support early-stage hardware and system development
Rapidly deploy runtime and compiler updates to new supercomputing builds in close collaboration with hardware and research teams
Work across a diverse stack, primarily using Rust and Python, with opportunities to influence architecture decisions across the training framework

Requirements:

Proficient in systems programming (e.g., Rust, C++) and scripting languages like Python
Experience in one or more of the following areas: compiler development, kernel authoring, accelerator programming, runtime systems, distributed systems, or high-performance simulation
Deep curiosity for how large-scale systems work and enjoy making them faster, simpler, and more reliable
Excited to work in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment with evolving hardware and ML system demands
Value engineering excellence, technical leadership, and thoughtful system design

What we offer:

Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts
Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit)
401(k) retirement plan with employer match
Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus 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 multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time (1 hour per 30 hours worked, or more, as required by applicable state or local law)
Mental health and wellness support
Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
Annual learning and development stipend to fuel your professional growth
Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible
Relocation support for eligible employees
Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided
Offers Equity
Performance-related bonus(es) for eligible employees

Additional Information:

Job Posted:
February 21, 2026

Employment Type:

Fulltime

Work Type:

Hybrid work

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