Abuse Investigator – AI Self-Improvement Risk

OpenAI

Abuse Investigator focused on AI Self-Improvement Risk, investigating models for safety risks at OpenAI. Engaging with technical and policy teams to develop safety mitigations.

Posted 4/16/2026full-timeSan Francisco • California • 🇺🇸 United StatesMid-LevelSenior💰 $288,000 - $320,000 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

PythonSQL

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Review leads, investigate model behavior, and identify cases where systems demonstrate agentic or autonomous patterns that introduce safety risks
Detect and analyze behaviors such as multi-step planning, capability chaining, tool use, persistence, and workaround behavior
Develop signals and tracking strategies to help proactively identify emerging agentic risk patterns across our platform
Identify gaps in existing safeguards, evaluations, or monitoring systems and propose improvements
Communicate investigation findings clearly to technical, policy, and leadership stakeholders
Be someone people enjoy working with and appreciate the opportunity to help others

Requirements

What you’ll need

Have deep expertise in investigating complex, adversarial, or emergent system behavior, ideally in AI safety, security, cyber, or trust & safety environments
Have strong familiarity with technical investigations, especially using SQL, Python, or similar tools, in a government, research, or technology setting
Have experience analyzing multi-step systems, automation, or agentic workflows, and understanding how behaviors emerge across interactions
Have at least 6 years of experience conducting investigations, threat analysis, or research in complex and ambiguous domains
Have experience identifying failure modes, unintended behaviors, or system-level risks, particularly in AI or software systems
Have at least two years of experience helping to develop automated or scalable approaches to detection or investigation
Experience presenting analytic work in technical, research, or policy settings

Benefits

Comp & perks

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.

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

SQLPythoninvestigating complex systemsthreat analysisanalyzing multi-step systemsautomationagentic workflowsdeveloping automated detectiondeveloping scalable approachesidentifying failure modes

Soft Skills

communicationcollaborationproblem-solvinginterpersonal skillsleadershipclarity in presenting findingsadaptabilitycritical thinkingempathysupportive attitude