Research Engineer
OpenAI
Location
San Francisco
Employment Type
Full time
Location Type
Hybrid
Department
Research
Compensation
- $310K – $555K • Offers Equity
The base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. If the role is non-exempt, overtime pay will be provided consistent with applicable laws. In addition to the salary range listed above, total compensation also includes generous equity, performance-related bonus(es) for eligible employees, and the following benefits.
Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts
Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit)
401(k) retirement plan with employer match
Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)
Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees
13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time (1 hour per 30 hours worked, or more, as required by applicable state or local law)
Mental health and wellness support
Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
Annual learning and development stipend to fuel your professional growth
Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible
Relocation support for eligible employees
Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided.
More details about our benefits are available to candidates during the hiring process.
This role is at-will and OpenAI reserves the right to modify base pay and other compensation components at any time based on individual performance, team or company results, or market conditions.
About the Team
The Sora team is building large-scale ML capabilities from the ground up. We work at the intersection of research and infrastructure, designing and deploying the systems and algorithms that power high-impact, cross-functional initiatives. Our work bridges research ideas and production-grade systems in close collaboration with infrastructure, applied ML, and product teams.
About the Role
As a Senior Research Engineer, you will design, implement, and optimize large-scale ML systems. You’ll work across the stack—from algorithm design and model implementation to distributed systems and deployment—to bring state-of-the-art techniques into production. We’re looking for hands-on builders who thrive in early-stage, fast-paced environments, can navigate ambiguity, and are excited to create zero-to-one systems. This is not a purely research role—you’ll spend significant time writing and shipping high-quality code.
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, implement, and evaluate large-scale ML pipelines and core system components.
Build and integrate infrastructure to support model training, experimentation, and deployment.
Collaborate with research scientists to translate algorithmic ideas into robust, performant systems.
Own projects end-to-end—from prototype to large-scale production—balancing iteration speed with reliability
You might thrive in this role if you:
Have taken ML systems from concept to production at scale.
Have strong software engineering fundamentals (distributed systems, data storage, performance optimization) alongside applied ML skills.
Are comfortable working across boundaries of research, engineering, and infrastructure.
Enjoy both deep technical problem-solving and the scrappy execution required in a zero-to-one environment.
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.
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable law, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act. 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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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.
Compensation Range: $310K - $555K