OpenAI
System Software Engineer, Consumer Devices
About this role
OpenAI seeks a System Software Engineer to design and maintain foundational platform software for consumer devices, working across OS layers to ensure reliability, security, and performance. You'll own system components, build/update pipelines, optimize performance, and establish engineering practices in a hybrid San Francisco role.
What you'll do
- Design, implement, and debug system-level components across kernel and user space
- Configure and maintain OS platform services including init, networking, and security policies
- Build and operate image and update pipelines with reproducibility and rollback safety
- Profile and optimize system performance for CPU, memory, I/O, and power usage
- Establish platform observability through logging, crash capture, and diagnostics
- Collaborate cross-functionally to define interfaces and deliver end-to-end features
What they're looking for
- C/C++ and scripting language proficiency
- OS internals (concurrency, memory management, filesystems, networking)
- Systems debugging with debuggers, tracers, and profilers
- Platform service configuration and API design
- User-space foundations (service management, IPC, packaging, automation)
- Platform image building and update mechanism design
- Performance analysis and optimization
- Security concepts (secure boot, sandboxing, access controls)
Benefits
- Hybrid work (4 days onsite per week) in San Francisco
- Relocation assistance available
- Equal opportunity employer with inclusive hiring practices
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OpenAI
OpenAI builds AI infrastructure and products, including large-scale data center campuses for AI computing and generative AI applications for enterprise customers. The company is hiring civil engineers, project engineers, electrical design engineers, data center R&D engineers, and AI deployment engineers to expand its infrastructure capabilities and help customers deploy AI solutions.
View all jobs at OpenAILikely interview questions
- Walk us through your experience shipping production system software. What was your role in the full lifecycle from design through deployment, and what challenges did you encounter?
- Describe a time you debugged a complex issue across kernel and user-space boundaries. What tools did you use, and how did you isolate the root cause?