Software Engineer, API Frontiers

OpenAI

Backend engineer building reliable Responses API services for OpenAI’s AI research and deployment products. Designing agent workflows, improving latency, and operating distributed backend systems.

Posted 9/11/2026full-timeNew York City • California, New York • 🇺🇸 United StatesMid-LevelSenior💰 $266,000 - $445,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

Use this summary to align your resume positioning with the role.

Demonstrates expertise in designing and operating APIs and backend services, with a strong focus on performance optimization, observability, and developer collaboration. Proven ability to translate complex functionalities into reliable APIs while effectively diagnosing and resolving production issues.

Highest-signal resume keywords

API DevelopmentBackend ServicesDistributed SystemsPerformance OptimizationClear Communication

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

API DesignBackend DevelopmentConcurrencyAsynchronous ExecutionPerformance ProfilingObservabilityRustStreaming ProtocolsWebSocketsTask Delegation

Soft Skills

Developer EmpathyProduct JudgmentEffective Collaboration

Industry Keywords

Production FailuresRequest ProcessingLong-Running WorkflowsContext SharingBackground Execution

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Distributed SystemsRust

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Design, build, and operate APIs and backend services that bring frontier model capabilities to developers
Partner with Research, Safety, Codex, and API teams to define API behavior and deliver safe, staged launches
Build API capabilities for agent workflows, including task delegation, context sharing, and parallel execution
Strengthen long-running request reliability across timeouts, cancellation, streaming, and background execution
Improve request-processing performance and tail latency through profiling, efficient systems code, and persistent connections
Turn developer feedback and production failures into better observability, diagnostics, and lasting product improvements

Requirements

What you’ll need

5+ years of experience building and operating backend services or developer-facing APIs in production
Strong software engineering fundamentals
Practical knowledge of distributed systems, concurrency, and asynchronous execution
Ability to diagnose production failures and performance bottlenecks using observability data and profiling
Product judgment and developer empathy
Track record of translating complex capabilities into clear, dependable APIs
Experience taking ownership of ambiguous technical problems from defining an approach through shipping and improving the result
Clear communication and effective collaboration across engineering, research, product, and safety disciplines
Experience with Rust, streaming protocols or WebSockets, or long-running workflow systems is a plus

Benefits

Comp & perks

Equity
Performance-related bonus(es) for eligible employees
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)
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
Multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year
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
Daily meals in 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.
Reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities