OpenAI

Platform Engineer – Forward Deployed Engineering

OpenAI

full-time

Posted on:

Location Type: Hybrid

Location: San Francisco • California • New York • United States

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Salary

💰 $230,000 - $385,000 per year

About the role

  • Architect and build new platform capabilities: turn frontier customer signal into concrete designs, implementations, and APIs that become part of the OpenAI platform.
  • Incubate platform bets end-to-end: take ambiguous problems, form a crisp hypothesis, ship an initial capability, and iterate quickly based on what breaks in real usage.
  • Embed with design partners to learn fast: get close to production constraints, run deep technical discovery, and translate needs into product and platform requirements.
  • Partner with customer-tagged FDEs in the field: deploy and debug together, capture repeatable patterns, and convert field learnings into platform improvements.
  • Design and run pilot programs: define qualification criteria for early adopters, stand up internal/external alphas, and use pilots to harden both the platform and the rollout playbook.
  • Collaborate as part of cross-functional platform teams: partner closely with core product and engineering counterparts, often as a single virtual team, to align on architecture and get to production together.
  • Drive adoption outcomes: measure usage, identify blockers and failure modes, and prioritize the next platform increments that unlock repeatable value.

Requirements

  • Bring 5+ years of software engineering or ML engineering experience with a track record of shipping 0→1 capabilities that other engineers or customers depend on. Experience in high-ambiguity, fast-iteration environments (startups or product-centric teams) is a plus.
  • Have owned customer-adjacent technical work end-to-end, from scoping and hypothesis-setting through production adoption, and improved outcomes through structured iteration (instrumentation, evals, error analysis, and tightening success criteria over time).
  • Have built or operated systems where reliability, security, and governance materially shaped design (permissions/RBAC, auditability, data access boundaries, rollout safety, observability, and incident-driven hardening).
  • Communicate clearly across engineering, product, go-to-market, and executive audiences, simplifying complex ideas and translating technical tradeoffs into adoption impact, sequencing decisions, and measurable outcomes. You can credibly “pitch” a platform bet in a customer conversation.
  • Default to systems thinking: you turn ambiguous feedback, failures, and escalations into durable product requirements and reusable platform capabilities, not one-off fixes or bespoke delivery work.
Benefits
  • 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.
Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools
software engineeringML engineeringAPI developmentsystem reliabilitysecurity designgovernancedata access boundariesobservabilityincident managementstructured iteration
Soft Skills
communicationsystems thinkingcollaborationproblem-solvinghypothesis-settingiterationcustomer engagementtechnical discoveryadaptabilitysimplifying complex ideas