Camera Software Engineer, Consumer Devices

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 293,000 - 325,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a Camera Firmware Engineer to work in San Francisco, where you will lead the development of low-level camera software and ensure reliable camera system operations. This is a hands-on role, requiring collaboration across multiple teams.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience with embedded camera systems and strong C/C++ expertise. The position offers a hybrid work model and competitive compensation between $293K and $325K plus equity.

Qualifications

• Deep experience in sensor bring-up, driver development, and board-level debugging.
• Comfortable debugging across kernel and userspace boundaries.
• Familiarity with power, reset, clocking, and sequencing.
• Proven track record of building effective debug workflows.

Responsibilities

• Bring up new camera sensors on prototype and production boards.
• Develop and maintain low-level camera software including sensor drivers.
• Enable and validate core capture paths for development and production.
• Build and maintain camera bring-up tooling for automated sweeps.
• Partner closely with electrical engineering and systems teams.

Skills

Experience shipping embedded camera systems

Strong C/C++ experience with embedded systems

Understanding of camera hardware interfaces

Building reliable capture paths

Job description

Camera Software Engineer, Consumer Devices

Software - San Francisco

About the Team

The Consumer Products team at OpenAI builds end-to-end hardware and software systems that bring AI into the physical world. We work at the intersection of custom silicon, embedded systems, operating systems, and cloud services to deliver reliable, production-ready devices at scale.

Within Consumer Products, the camera stack is a critical sensing component. The team partners closely with electrical engineering, silicon vendors, systems, and higher-level perception and product teams to bring up new hardware, stabilize capture pipelines, and ensure camera systems are robust, debuggable, and ready for real-world deployment. This work spans early prototypes through production, with a strong emphasis on correctness, repeatability, and long-term reliability.

About the Role

As a Camera Firmware Engineer, you will own low-level camera enablement on custom hardware—from early board bring-up through stable production capture. You will develop and maintain the firmware and software that makes camera sensors reliable, controllable, and debuggable, forming the foundation for higher-level camera pipelines and product features.

This role is highly hands-on and systems-oriented. You will work close to the hardware, diagnose real-world timing and integration issues, and build tooling that accelerates iteration across the entire camera stack.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We follow a hybrid work model with four days per week in the office and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In This Role, You Will

• Bring up new camera sensors and modules on prototype and production boards, including link stability, sensor control, and correct power, reset, and clock sequencing.
• Develop and maintain low-level camera software, including sensor drivers, board configuration, and camera subsystem integration across hardware revisions.
• Enable and validate core capture paths for development and production, including RAW capture for debugging, still capture, and hardware-accelerated video encode and streaming with stable timestamps and long-duration reliability.
• Stand up camera control and repeatability features, including basic 3A loop exposure, manual overrides and locks, and deterministic presets to support validation and debugging.
• Build and maintain camera bring-up tooling, such as capture scripts, automated sweeps, manifests, and debugging utilities that make issues reproducible and easy to triage.
• Partner closely with electrical engineering, camera pipeline owners, and systems teams to define interfaces, unblock integration, and keep the camera stack stable as the device evolves.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have deep experience shipping embedded camera systems, including sensor bring-up, driver development, and board-level debugging.
• Have strong C/C++ experience with embedded or Linux-based systems; comfortable debugging across kernel and userspace boundaries.
• Have hands-on understanding of common camera hardware interfaces (for example, MIPI CSI and sensor control buses) and the practical realities of bring-up, including power, reset, clocking, and sequencing.
• Have a proven track record of building reliable capture paths and effective debug workflows that accelerate iteration through reproducible failures and well-scoped fixes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with common mobile or embedded SoC camera stacks and vendor frameworks.
• Experience integrating and debugging hardware acceleration blocks adjacent to camera pipelines, such as video encode and decode paths.
• Familiarity building higher-level capture pipelines (for example, GStreamer) on top of low-level camera enablement.

Compensation

$293K – $325K + Offers Equity

Equal Opportunity Employment

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

Accommodations

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.