Datacenter Hardware Operations Technician, AI Compute Infrastructure

OpenAI

full-time

Posted on: 9/24/2025

Origin: • 🇺🇸 United States

✨ AI Apply

💰 $144,000 - $228,000 per year

SeniorLead

LinuxOraclePrometheusUnix

About the role

Coordinate physical hardware activities and serve as OpenAI’s primary on-site hardware contact at a partner-operated campus
Collaborate with Oracle teams, vendors, and delivery teams to plan and coordinate maintenance, repairs, and lifecycle activities
Share technical requirements and verify that partner work supports OpenAI’s compute needs and quality targets
Coordinate schedules, spare-parts planning, and issue escalation to minimize downtime
Work with OpenAI fleet-health engineers to translate software-detected issues into on-site hardware actions
Track hardware trends and provide joint recommendations for design or operational improvements
Prepare documentation and runbooks that capture joint best practices for additional campuses
Offer technical guidance and context to partner personnel while respecting their operational ownership
Collaborate with supply-chain teams to plan spares and manage hardware lifecycle activities
Capture lessons learned and help develop standards and playbooks for future OpenAI infrastructure projects

7+ years of experience in datacenter hardware operations, hardware engineering, or large-scale server maintenance
At least 2 years in a senior or lead technician capacity
Deep knowledge of high-density server hardware, including x86 platforms, GPUs, storage devices, and power/cooling systems
Ability to diagnose hardware issues and coordinate complex repairs
Experience maintaining strong working relationships across organizations and vendors
Comfortable setting technical expectations and validating outcomes through collaboration (not direct management)
Adaptability to changing operational conditions and strategic and on-site problem solving
Clear communication skills and ability to build trust across partner teams, vendors, and internal stakeholders
Willingness and ability to be based full-time at a partner-operated campus
Candidates must be able to sit onsite in Abilene, Texas 5 days per week
Familiarity with large-scale cluster management or monitoring tools (IPMI, BMC, Prometheus, Nagios)
Experience with GPU-accelerated compute clusters or other high-performance computing hardware
Knowledge of Linux/Unix system administration and command-line diagnostic tools for hardware validation
Industry certifications such as CompTIA Server+, OEM hardware certifications, or equivalent
Experience applying Environmental Health and Safety best practices in mission-critical environments