Principal InfraSec Engineer: Planet-Scale Security & Auth

OpenAI, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to join the Infrastructure Security team. You will set technical direction for core security services and drive long-term reliability at planet-scale across cloud and on-prem environments.

You will own architecture, lead cross-functional initiatives, mentor engineers, and push secure-by-default practices while advancing authentication, key management, and network security at OpenAI’s scale.

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering and shipping of reliable distributed systems in production.
• Experience building or operating critical infrastructure security at large scale (auth services, proxies, key management).
• Deep understanding of security principles, vulnerabilities, and risk mitigation.
• Ability to lead cross-team technical initiatives and drive measurable outcomes.
• Experience securing multi-cloud platforms and hybrid environments.
• Proactive mindset with automation to address security gaps.

Responsibilities

• Own architecture and roadmap for core security services (authN/Z, proxies, key management).
• Design and implement planet-scale security systems across hardware, OS, Kubernetes, networks, and CI/CD.
• Lead cross-functional launches and migration plans for large fleets and critical workflows.
• Build security primitives (identity, attestation, authorization, key lifecycle).
• Leverage frontier models/agents for automation and detection in cloud/on-prem environments.
• Lead design reviews and threat models; drive closure on systemic issues.
• Mentor InfraSec and partner engineers to raise engineering quality and security posture.

Skills

Security engineering

Distributed systems

Cloud platforms

Leadership

Automation

Threat modeling

Kubernetes

PKI / crypto

Communication

Tools

Terraform

CI/CD

CloudFormation

Job description

OpenAI is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to join the Infrastructure Security team. You will set technical direction for core security services and drive long-term reliability at planet-scale across cloud and on-prem environments.

You will own architecture, lead cross-functional initiatives, mentor engineers, and push secure-by-default practices while advancing authentication, key management, and network security at OpenAI’s scale.