Software Engineer, Backend — Dots

OpenAI, Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI, Inc. is seeking a Backend Engineer to design, build, and maintain backend services powering our product. You will collaborate with product, design, and engineering to turn ideas into reliable services from design to production.

You will develop data models, optimize databases, and integrate with third-party services, while improving reliability and security. Strong backend skills and clear communication are essential for success in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Experience building and operating backend applications in production.
• Strong proficiency in a backend programming language.
• Solid understanding of API design and data modeling.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure, automated testing, and deployment workflows.
• Ability to balance speed with quality and make practical technical decisions.
• Clear communication and a collaborative approach to solving problems.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain backend services and APIs.
• Develop data models and improve database performance.
• Build integrations with third-party services.
• Improve system reliability, security, and observability.
• Write tested, maintainable code and participate in code reviews.
• Investigate production issues and address their root causes.
• Help shape technical decisions as the product grows.

Skills

Backend language

APIs

Data modeling

Relational databases

Cloud infrastructure

Testing & CI

Code reviews

Collaborative / communication

Job description

About the Role

Dots is looking for a Backend Engineer to build the systems that power our product. You’ll work closely with product, design, and engineering to turn ideas into reliable services and deliver features from design through production.

In this role, you will:

• Design, build, and maintain backend services and APIs.
• Develop data models and improve database performance.
• Build integrations with third-party services.
• Improve system reliability, security, and observability.
• Write tested, maintainable code and participate in code reviews.
• Investigate production issues and address their root causes.
• Help shape technical decisions as the product grows.

You might thrive in this role if you have:

• Experience building and operating backend applications in production.
• Strong proficiency in a backend programming language.
• Solid understanding of API design, relational databases, and data modeling.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure, automated testing, and deployment workflows.
• Ability to balance speed with quality and make practical technical decisions.
• Clear communication and a collaborative approach to solving problems.

Nice to have:

• Experience with distributed systems, background jobs, and event-driven architectures.
• Familiarity with caching, queues, and performance optimization.
• Experience working on a small team or an early-stage product.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity.

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.

For additional information, please see OpenAI's Affir mative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.

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.

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

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