Operating Systems Engineer
OpenAI
Job Overview
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Job Description
About The Team
The Consumer Products team at OpenAI builds end-to-end hardware and software systems that bring AI into the physical world. They operate at the intersection of custom silicon, embedded systems, operating systems, and cloud services to deliver production-ready devices at scale.
About The Role
The Operating Systems Engineer will build and harden the OS foundations for OpenAI products. The role focuses on developing core OS components from kernel to userspace, enhancing security, privacy, performance, power, and reliability. You will engage with embedded, firmware, hardware, application, and product engineering teams.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain end-to-end OS capabilities including kernel and userspace services.
- Build core OS services and design security and privacy mechanisms.
- Implement performance, power, and debugging protocols, including tracing and profiling.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams for stable platform interfaces.
- Contribute to release readiness and production hardening efforts.
Required Qualifications
- Strong systems programming experience (Linux, BSD, etc.)
- Professional proficiency in C and C++.
- Experience in developing OS services, daemons and debugging across kernel/userspace.
- Understanding of security fundamentals in OS design.
Preferred Skills
- Experience with Rust in systems contexts.
- Familiarity with OS security hardening and observability tools.
- Performance and power optimization experience.
- Exposure to hardware bring-up and OTA systems is a plus.
What Success Looks Like
The OS will be secure by default, privacy preserving, highly performant and power efficient, with rapid and effective debugging capabilities along with clear system interfaces.
Working Style
You must take ownership across system boundaries and communicate clearly with partner teams, balancing tradeoffs between security, performance, and development speed.
About OpenAI
OpenAI is dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose AI benefits all of humanity. They push the boundaries of AI while ensuring safety, inclusion, and innovation. OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and providing reasonable accommodations.
Compensation
The compensation range for this role is $230K - $385K.
Key skills/competency
- Operating Systems
- Kernel Development
- Systems Programming
- C/C++
- Security
- Debugging
- Performance
- Power Optimization
- Embedded Systems
- Observability
How to Get Hired at OpenAI
- Research OpenAI's culture: Review mission, projects, and team success stories.
- Customize your resume: Highlight kernel, systems programming, and security skills.
- Showcase debugging expertise: Detail tracing, profiling, and root cause analysis cases.
- Prepare technical demos: Practice OS development scenarios and problem solving.
- Network on LinkedIn: Connect with current and former OpenAI engineers.
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