Role Overview

The Security Observability team at OpenAI is the backbone of proactive threat detection and response. As a Software Engineer in this role, you'll architect data pipelines and observability platforms that provide unparalleled visibility into our infrastructure. Security isn't just a checkbox at OpenAI—it's foundational to our mission. You'll leverage Python, Golang, Terraform, and Azure to create resilient systems that support Detection & Response (D&R) teams, forensic investigations, and compliance.

This hybrid or remote role (with relocation to San Francisco, Seattle, or New York City available) demands a generalist engineer who thrives in ambiguity, pivots between SRE, databases, and security domains, and collaborates cross-functionally. With AI's rapid evolution, your work will prepare us for transformative technologies, prioritizing impact and a robust security culture.

OpenAI's commitment to safety means your contributions directly influence global AI deployment. Expect to handle high-stakes data flows, ensure 99.99% uptime, and innovate on security telemetry at petabyte scale.

Key Responsibilities

In this dynamic role, you'll wear multiple hats. Here's what your day-to-day looks like:

• Design scalable software systems for comprehensive security observability across multi-cloud infrastructure.
• Engineer data pipelines that ingest, process, and store logs, metrics, and traces from diverse sources like APIs, containers, and endpoints.
• Enhance system resilience through redundancy, failover mechanisms, and automated recovery processes.
• Partner with D&R teams to operationalize threat hunting and incident response workflows.
• Build forensic-grade data lakes supporting regulatory compliance (e.g., SOC 2, GDPR).
• Implement real-time monitoring dashboards using tools like Grafana or Kibana.
• Optimize query performance on massive datasets with partitioning and indexing strategies.
• Automate security data enrichment with threat intelligence feeds.
• Conduct chaos engineering experiments to validate observability under failure.
• Develop APIs for seamless integration with security tools and research platforms.
• Contribute to on-call rotations for production incident management.
• Champion best practices in code reviews, CI/CD, and infrastructure as code.
• Research and prototype next-gen observability tech like eBPF-based tracing.

These responsibilities evolve with OpenAI's products, ensuring you're always at the cutting edge.

Qualifications

To excel, bring these skills and experiences:

• 5+ years of software engineering, with deep Python/Golang expertise.
• Terraform mastery for IaC on Azure (bonus: Kubernetes, Helm).
• Proven data pipeline projects (Apache Airflow, Kafka, Spark).
• SRE background: SLOs, error budgets, observability stacks (Prometheus, Jaeger).
• Security domain knowledge: SIEM, UEBA, threat modeling.
• Generalist versatility across SQL/PostgreSQL, NoSQL/Cassandra, streaming systems.
• Collaborative communicator who translates security needs into engineering solutions.
• Proactive mindset for preempting risks in fast-paced environments.
• Experience with forensic tooling (e.g., Volatility, Wireshark analysis).
• BS/MS in CS or equivalent; security certifications (CISSP, OSCP) a plus.

If you've scaled observability at FAANG-scale or secured AI/ML workloads, you'll fit right in.

Salary & Benefits

OpenAI offers competitive compensation reflecting San Francisco market rates: $220,000 - $350,000 base salary plus equity, bonuses, and perks. Total comp can exceed $500K for top performers.

Benefits include:

• Top-tier medical, dental, vision with 100% premium coverage.
• 401(k) match up to 4%.
• Unlimited vacation and flexible hours.
• Relocation package with housing stipend.
• $10K+ annual learning budget.
• Generous parental leave (20 weeks).
• Wellness stipend ($1K/year).
• Equity in OpenAI—potential for life-changing upside.

Why Join OpenAI?

OpenAI isn't just a job; it's a mission. We're building safe AGI for humanity, powering tools like ChatGPT used by millions. Our Security team enables researchers to innovate fearlessly while mitigating risks.

Thrive in a flat, high-trust culture valuing impact over hierarchy. Work with world-class talent on problems that matter: from defending against nation-state threats to pioneering AI safety. Diversity fuels our success—we're equal opportunity employers championing inclusivity.

Perks like team retreats, AI hackathons, and direct mission impact make this unparalleled. Join us to shape AI's secure future.

How to Apply

Ready to secure the future of AI? Submit your resume, GitHub/portfolio, and a note on why OpenAI's security mission excites you. We review applications on a rolling basis—apply now!

Background checks required. OpenAI is EEO employer. Learn more at openai.com.