Model Runtime Engineer for Frontier AI on Custom Silicon

OpenAI, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 266,000 - 445,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health insurance

401(k) match

Paid parental leave

Flexible PTO

Job summary

OpenAI, Inc. is seeking a Software Engineer to build the model runtime for frontier models on OpenAI's custom silicon in San Francisco.

You will optimize inference throughput, latency, and reliability within the inference engine and coordinate with kernel, compiler, architecture, and silicon teams to remove bottlenecks across the stack. The role requires strong systems programming in C++, Rust, Python with experience in runtimes or model-serving infrastructure, and a capability to design

Qualifications

• Strong systems programming experience in C++, Rust, Python or comparable performance oriented environments.
• Built or optimized runtimes, distributed systems, compilers, kernels, or model-serving infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement the LLM inference runtime for frontier models running on custom silicon.
• Build scheduling, continuous batching, memory management, KV-cache management, and execution orchestration for high-performance inference.
• Develop distributed execution strategies across chips, hosts, and racks, including model partitioning, communication, and synchronization.
• Optimize end-to-end latency, throughput, memory efficiency, and hardware utilization across diverse model architectures and serving workloads.
• Partner with kernel, compiler, architecture, and silicon teams to co-design interfaces and remove performance bottlenecks across the stack.
• Enable new model features, execution patterns, numerical formats, and hardware capabilities in a reliable production runtime.
• Create profiling, observability, benchmarking, and performance-modeling tools that make runtime behavior measurable and actionable.
• Debug complex correctness, performance, and reliability issues spanning model code, runtime software, communication layers, and hardware.
• Turn workload insights into clear requirements for future generations of silicon and system architecture.

Skills

C++

Rust

Python

Distributed systems

Job description

OpenAI, Inc. is seeking a Software Engineer to build the model runtime for frontier models on OpenAI's custom silicon in San Francisco.

You will optimize inference throughput, latency, and reliability within the inference engine and coordinate with kernel, compiler, architecture, and silicon teams to remove bottlenecks across the stack. The role requires strong systems programming in C++, Rust, Python with experience in runtimes or model-serving infrastructure, and a capability to design