Software Engineer, Plugin Ecosystem

We Love AI Jobs; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 185,000 - 490,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Hybrid work model

Job summary

We Love AI Jobs is seeking a Software Engineer for the Plugin Ecosystem at OpenAI in San Francisco (Hybrid). You’ll design and ship APIs, SDKs, and services that let developers extend ChatGPT and Codex, collaborating with cross-functional teams to improve plugin reliability and usage.

This role focuses on model-tool interaction, plugin discovery and admin experiences, and ensures safe, scalable plugin infrastructure. Relocation assistance is available, with a hybrid work model in San Francisco.

Qualifications

• Experience designing APIs, SDKs, and services for developers.
• Ability to improve model–tool interaction and plugin reliability.
• Experience working with cross-functional teams (Engineering, Research, Product, Safety).

Responsibilities

• Design and ship APIs, SDKs, and services for plugin developers.
• Improve how models select and use plugins and measure reliability.
• Build plugin creation, discovery, permissions, and admin experiences.
• Collaborate across Engineering, Product, Research, Security, and Trust & Safety.

Skills

APIs

SDKs

Backend systems

Web interfaces

Identity and permissions

Integration systems

Model-tool interaction

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Tools

ChatGPT

Codex

OpenAI API

Job description

# Software Engineer, Plugin EcosystemOpenAISan Francisco (Hybrid)Full-time$185,000 – $490,000 / yearAI tools:ChatGPTCodexModel Context Protocol (MCP)Upload your resume once and Scout applies for youApply with ScoutShare this job:LinkedInXSave imageThis product engineering role builds the APIs, services, and user experiences that let people create and use plugins across ChatGPT and Codex. You’ll work with engineering, research, product, and safety teams to improve plugin reliability and how models select and use tools.* Permanent* Hybrid### Skills and expertiseAPIsSDKsBackend systemsWeb interfacesIdentity and permissionsIntegration systemsModel-tool interactionModel Context Protocol (MCP)### Key responsibilities* Design and ship APIs, SDKs, and services that developers use to extend ChatGPT and Codex.* Improve how models select and use plugins, diagnosing failures and measuring reliability with Research.* Build plugin creation, discovery, permissions, and administrative experiences for users and organizations.## How this job comparesCompared with 1,047 open mid-level engineering jobs on October 10, 2026.Pay: This job pays $185K to $490K a year. The 452 open mid-level engineering jobs that publish US pay start at $138K on average, so this job starts about 34% higher.Similar open jobs: We Love AI Jobs lists 1,047 open mid-level engineering jobs at 274 companies.Remote work: This job is hybrid. 104 of the 1,047 mid-level engineering jobs (10%) are remote.AI in this role: Medium. The role uses AI tools and works with AI systems as a regular part of the job. The role builds ChatGPT and Codex extensions and works to improve how models choose and use plugins. It includes applied AI and model-tool interaction, alongside broader product and backend engineering work.## Full descriptionAbout the TeamThe Plugin Ecosystem team builds the platform and product experiences that let people extend ChatGPT and Codex. We work on plugins, skills, connectors, interactive apps, and open standards like the Model Context Protocol (MCP). We make plugins easy to discover, install, and use, ensure they’re invoked at the right time, and help people find new ways to get value from them.We want anyone to be able to turn a useful workflow into a plugin, share it, and have other people use it. A plugin can package instructions and skills with connections to the tools and data it needs. Our work spans creation and publishing, reliable execution across our products, clear permissions and approvals, and the controls admins need to bring plugins to their organizations. We work closely with research to improve plugin quality as models evolve.About the RoleWe’re looking for product-minded engineers to build the systems behind plugins and improve how models use them. Depending on your focus, you may scale generalist infrastructure and identity-related integrations across products, or improve plugin quality at the intersection of backend engineering and applied AI or work on the product experience itself to drive plugin usage. You’ll work across teams and own problems from diagnosis and design through implementation and release.This role is based in San Francisco. 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 ship APIs, SDKs, and services that developers use to extend ChatGPT and Codex.• Build intuitive experiences that help users discover, install, and use plugins to get more done.• Make plugins easier to create, test, publish, update, and share.• Improve when and how models use plugins, from choosing the right plugin to completing a task. Work with Research to diagnose failures and measure improvements as models evolve.• Improve plugin reliability and interaction quality across ChatGPT and Codex, including interactive apps, with clear error messages and recovery paths.• Build consistent permissions, approvals, and admin controls that help individuals and organizations confidently adopt plugins.• Work with developers and partners to turn recurring problems into improvements to the platform, tooling, and documentation.• Collaborate across engineering, Product, Research, Security, and Trust & Safety to scale plugin infrastructure and deliver safe, reliable execution.You might thrive int his role if you:• Care about product quality and can make complex capabilities feel intuitive, from discovering a useful plugin to completing a task with it.• Have strong opinions about APIs and abstractions, and can explain the tradeoffs behind your decisions. Experience with identity, permissions, or integration-heavy systems is especially valuable.• Enjoy talking with users and developers, understanding what they’re trying to accomplish, and turning recurring problems into product and platform improvements.• Can move between product questions and technical details, collaborate across teams, and take an ambiguous problem through to production.• Are comfortable working across web interfaces and backend systems. Experience building applied AI systems, diagnosing model–tool interactions, and measuring reliability and quality is especially valuable.• Have built products people rely on or software that other developers use, such as an API or SDK, an open-source project, a developer platform, or internal tools with real users.About OpenAIOpenAI 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.