Linux Systems Engineer for Frontier Compute

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI’s Frontier Systems Foundations team is seeking systems software engineers to build the OS foundation for frontier compute fleets. You will own the Linux host stack, image generation, and provisioning for large GPU clusters, enabling reliable, scalable operation.

You’ll collaborate with hardware and infrastructure teams to bring up new platforms, test firmware and drivers, and implement durable recovery paths that keep expansive fleets productive and accessible.

Qualifications

• Experience building production Linux systems on Ubuntu or Debian.
• Deep Linux kernel, modules, or driver experience.
• Ability to write production‑quality systems software and automation.
• Experience with system provisioning, rollback, and recovery testing.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain the Linux host software stack for large GPU clusters, including Ubuntu and OS images, kernel configuration and modules, drivers, packages, disks and storage configuration, and machine configuration.
• Design reproducible OS‑image builds, package and repository workflows, and system configuration for heterogeneous bare‑metal and cloud compute fleets.
• Integrate, test, and qualify kernels, modules, drivers, packages, and firmware across new and existing hardware platforms; build safe canary, rollback, and recovery paths for system changes.
• Bring up new hardware platforms and compute SKUs, working with hardware engineers and vendors to resolve firmware, driver, operating‑system, and compatibility issues.
• Debug complex system failures across boot and provisioning, firmware, disks, kernels and drivers, and workload interactions; turn recurring failure modes into durable fixes, tests, and automation.
• Improve provisioning, repave, maintenance, and recovery correctness by eliminating manual host‑by‑host intervention and making system behavior predictable at fleet scale.
• Build focused systems tooling and diagnostics that make the host software stack easier to validate, troubleshoot, and operate across the installed fleet.

Skills

Linux systems

Kernel development

Device drivers

Automation scripting

System debugging

Tools

Linux image engineering

Firmware integration

Provisioning tooling

Job description

OpenAI’s Frontier Systems Foundations team is seeking systems software engineers to build the OS foundation for frontier compute fleets. You will own the Linux host stack, image generation, and provisioning for large GPU clusters, enabling reliable, scalable operation.

You’ll collaborate with hardware and infrastructure teams to bring up new platforms, test firmware and drivers, and implement durable recovery paths that keep expansive fleets productive and accessible.