Role Overview

The Data Engineer, Analytics position at OpenAI represents a rare opportunity to shape the data foundation of one of the world's most influential AI companies. Based exclusively at our San Francisco headquarters, you'll lead the development of mission-critical data pipelines that fuel everything from safety monitoring systems to product growth analytics and revenue tracking.

OpenAI's Applied team bridges research, engineering, product, and design to responsibly deploy transformative AI technologies. Your pipelines will power analyses that guide business strategy, protect against bad actors, and enable researchers behind ChatGPT to train next-generation models. With safety prioritized above unfettered growth, your work directly contributes to ensuring AI benefits humanity while mitigating risks.

This role demands senior-level expertise in distributed systems, ETL orchestration, and big data processing. You'll collaborate with Infrastructure, Data Science, Product, Marketing, Finance, and Research teams, translating diverse data needs into scalable solutions. As OpenAI scales rapidly, your data-driven insights will define our trajectory in the competitive AI landscape.

Relocation assistance is provided for qualified candidates committed to on-site work in San Francisco. This position suits experienced engineers passionate about data's role in AI advancement and safety.

Key Responsibilities

As OpenAI's Data Engineer, Analytics, you'll own the end-to-end data pipeline ecosystem:

• Architect and implement scalable data pipelines processing massive volumes of user event data
• Integrate all behavioral, engagement, and interaction data into our centralized data warehouse
• Build canonical datasets tracking core metrics: user acquisition, retention, engagement, and revenue
• Partner with Product teams to create growth analytics powering feature iteration decisions
• Collaborate with Safety teams to develop monitoring pipelines detecting anomalous behavior
• Work with Research to provide clean datasets enabling model training and evaluation
• Design fault-tolerant ingestion systems handling petabyte-scale daily volumes
• Optimize Spark jobs across distributed clusters for sub-hour processing SLAs
• Implement Airflow/Dagster workflows orchestrating complex multi-stage ETL processes
• Lead data architecture discussions shaping OpenAI's long-term platform strategy
• Ensure GDPR/CCPA compliance across all data processing pipelines
• Maintain pipeline observability with comprehensive monitoring and alerting
• Debug production incidents minimizing MTTR through root cause analysis
• Mentor junior engineers establishing data engineering best practices

Qualifications

Successful candidates demonstrate proven senior-level expertise:

• 3+ years Data Engineering experience; 8+ years total software engineering
• Expertise in Python/Scala/Java for production data systems
• Deep Spark knowledge: optimization, debugging, performance tuning
• Production experience with Airflow, Dagster, Prefect orchestration
• Hadoop ecosystem mastery including HDFS, YARN resource management
• Apache Flink or similar stream processing framework experience
• S3/HDFS distributed storage optimization at scale
• Cross-functional collaboration delivering business impact
• Data security/compliance implementation (SOC2, GDPR experience preferred)
• Experience building metrics platforms for executive decision-making

Salary & Benefits

OpenAI offers competitive compensation for senior Data Engineers in San Francisco:

• Base salary range: $220,000 - $350,000 annually (experience-dependent)
• Significant equity grants with meaningful ownership potential
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision coverage
• 401(k) with generous company matching
• Unlimited PTO and flexible vacation policy
• Full San Francisco relocation package
• Catered daily meals and unlimited snacks/beverages
• Professional development stipend ($10K+ annually)
• Wellness benefits including gym memberships
• Generous parental leave policies
• Commuter benefits and transportation stipends

Why Join OpenAI?

OpenAI isn't just another tech company—it's the frontier of artificial general intelligence. Your data pipelines will directly enable:

• Safety systems protecting billions of AI interactions daily
• ChatGPT model improvements reaching 100M+ weekly users
• Business decisions scaling revenue from $0 to billions
• Research breakthroughs published in top AI conferences

Work alongside the researchers who built GPT-4, DALL-E, and Whisper. Enjoy San Francisco HQ perks including catered meals, unlimited snacks, and collaborative spaces designed for innovation. OpenAI's safety-first culture ensures your work creates positive global impact while enjoying competitive compensation and rapid career growth.

How to Apply

Ready to power OpenAI's data future? Submit your application including:

• Resume highlighting relevant Data Engineering experience
• GitHub/portfolio showcasing Spark/ETL projects
• Statement of interest in OpenAI's safety mission

Interviews include technical coding, system design, and cross-functional collaboration assessments. Background checks required per company policy. OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity.

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