Software Engineer, Fleet Management

Alfie; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 230,000 - 490,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Hybrid work model (3 days in office)

Job summary

OpenAI in San Francisco is seeking a Software Engineer, Operating Systems & Orchestration to design and build systems that manage both cloud and bare-metal fleets at scale. You will integrate nodes into unified clusters, enhancing reliability, performance, and the researcher experience in AI work.

You will collaborate with hardware, infra, and research teams, leverage Kubernetes, Terraform, and CI/CD pipelines, and apply automation to reduce toil while expanding capabilities across the compute

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering skills with experience in large-scale infrastructure environments.
• Broad knowledge of cluster-level systems (e.g., Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, Terraform, cloud providers).
• Deep expertise in server-level systems (e.g., systems, containerization, Chef, Linux kernels, firmware management, host routing).
• Passionate about optimizing the performance and reliability of large compute fleets.
• Thrive in dynamic environments and are eager to solve complex infrastructure challenges.
• Value automation, efficiency, and continuous improvement in everything you build.

Responsibilities

• Design and build systems to manage both cloud and bare-metal fleets at scale.
• Develop tools that integrate low-level hardware metrics with high-level job scheduling and cluster management algorithms.
• Leverage LLMs to coordinate vendor operations and optimize infrastructure workflows.
• Automate infrastructure processes, reducing repetitive toil and improving system reliability.
• Collaborate with hardware, infrastructure, and research teams to ensure seamless integration across the stack.
• Continuously improve tools, automation, processes, and documentation to enhance operational efficiency.

Skills

Large-scale infra

Kubernetes

CI/CD pipelines

Terraform

Cloud providers

Linux systems

Containerization

Chef

Firmware management

Tools

Terraform

Chef

Linux

Containerization

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

San Francisco On-site Full-time Mid $230k – $490k/yr 3 weeks ago

About the role

The Fleet team at OpenAI supports the computing environment that powers our cutting-edge research and product development. We oversee large-scale systems that span data centers, GPUs, networking, and more, ensuring high availability, performance, and efficiency. Our work enables OpenAI’s models to operate seamlessly at scale, supporting both internal research and external products like ChatGPT. We prioritize safety, reliability, and responsible AI deployment over unchecked growth.

About the Role

The Software Engineer, Operating Systems & Orchestration will focus on building systems to manage hardware, configurations, vendors, and the people interacting with our infrastructure. You will design and develop solutions that integrate individual nodes and servers into unified clusters, directly contributing to advancing AI research by streamlining the overall research user experience. This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will:

• Design and build systems to manage both cloud and bare-metal fleets at scale.
• Develop tools that integrate low-level hardware metrics with high-level job scheduling and cluster management algorithms.
• Leverage LLMs to coordinate vendor operations and optimize infrastructure workflows.
• Automate infrastructure processes, reducing repetitive toil and improving system reliability.
• Collaborate with hardware, infrastructure, and research teams to ensure seamless integration across the stack.
• Continuously improve tools, automation, processes, and documentation to enhance operational efficiency.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have strong software engineering skills with experience in large-scale infrastructure environments.
• Possess broad knowledge of cluster-level systems (e.g., Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, Terraform, cloud providers).
• Have deep expertise in server-level systems (e.g., systems, containerization, Chef, Linux kernels, firmware management, host routing).
• Are passionate about optimizing the performance and reliability of large compute fleets.
• Thrive in dynamic environments and are eager to solve complex infrastructure challenges.
• Value automation, efficiency, and continuous improvement in everything you build.

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 Aff­irmative 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.

To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.

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

At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.