Lead Platform Engineer, Simulation & Training Infra

OpenAI; California (MO); On-site; USD 190,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the architecture and evolution of the Simulation Platform. You will own key interfaces between research and engineering, building systems, APIs, and patterns that enable researchers to run experiments safely in training environments.

This role suits a senior backend or infrastructure engineer with strong technical judgment, product sense for technical users, and the ability to drive cross-team execution while upholding engineering quality

Qualifications

• Significant experience building and scaling backend or infrastructure systems.
• Deep strength in API design, systems design, and engineering fundamentals.
• Detail-oriented with a strong focus on correctness, reliability, and operability.
• Ability to work directly with demanding technical users while maintaining engineering discipline.
• Track record of leading cross-functional technical efforts and delivering clear outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and evolve the integration between the Codex harness and research training infrastructure.
• Build a platform for LLMs to train and be evaluated in simulated environments that closely mirror deployment settings.
• Own major integration surfaces end-to-end from architecture and API design through rollout and maintenance.
• Build reliable execution systems that can support demanding training workloads at scale.
• Collaborate with research, agent, infrastructure, and platform teams to enable new use cases and harness capabilities.
• Design clean, stable interfaces and workflows for highly technical internal users.
• Prevent one-off workarounds by establishing durable abstractions and clear ownership.
• Raise the bar for correctness, reliability, operational rigor, and engineering judgment across the system.

Skills

Python

API design

Systems design

Backend engineering

Rust

Job description

OpenAI is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the architecture and evolution of the Simulation Platform. You will own key interfaces between research and engineering, building systems, APIs, and patterns that enable researchers to run experiments safely in training environments.

This role suits a senior backend or infrastructure engineer with strong technical judgment, product sense for technical users, and the ability to drive cross-team execution while upholding engineering quality