OpenAI

Scaling

HostSystemsSoftwareEngineer

$266–445k San Francisco, California, United States FULL TIME
Market Sentiment
HIGH DEMAND

Neural analysis suggests this role is
optimal for Senior candidates.

The Brief

“Host Systems Software Engineer at OpenAI. Skills: Systems software, Linux kernel, RDMA, PCIe. Design host-side systems software. Implement host-side systems software”

Industry & Context.

Scaling
Problems you'll solve

Debugging; Diagnose issues; Troubleshooting

What They're Looking For.

Must Have

Low-level systems software experience, C or C++ programming, Python and Linux tooling proficiency, Linux systems fundamentals, Debug across hardware/software boundaries, Hands-on kernel drivers experience, Hands-on kernel networking experience, Hands-on RDMA experience, Hands-on PCIe experience, Hands-on DMA experience, Hands-on NIC software experience, Hands-on accelerator software experience, Hands-on high-performance I/O experience, Own complex software projects, Build systems from scratch, Cross-functional communication skills

Nice to Have

Linux kernel drivers development, OS-level performance-critical components development, RDMA or RoCE familiarity, ibverbs familiarity, Kernel networking familiarity, Congestion-control concepts familiarity, PCIe experience, DMA experience, Peer-to-peer communication experience, SR-IOV experience, IOMMU experience, dma-buf experience, Accelerator subsystems experience, I/O subsystems experience, Accelerator bring-up experience, NIC bring-up experience, SoC bring-up experience, Custom hardware platforms bring-up, Profiling high-throughput systems, Optimizing high-throughput systems, Profiling low-latency systems, Optimizing low-latency systems, Rust familiarity, Rust systems programming experience

What You'll Do.

Design host-side systems software

Implement host-side systems software

Debug host-side systems software

Optimize software paths

Develop software around PCIe

Develop software around DMA

Develop software around NICs

Develop software around accelerators

Develop software around memory movement

Develop software around device interaction

Bring up new hardware platforms

Diagnose complex issues

Build tooling for integration

Build tooling for testing

Build tooling for diagnostics

Build tooling for observability

Build tooling for qualification

Build tooling for performance characterization

Collaborate with hardware teams

Collaborate with networking teams

Collaborate with platform teams

Integrate new capabilities

Work with external vendors

Integrate technologies

Drive issues to resolution

Contribute across systems software stack

Shape technical direction

Shape engineering practices

How You'll Work.

Team & Collaboration

Cross-functional teams; Hardware teams; Networking teams; Platform teams; External vendors

Communication Scope

Cross-functional communication

Process & Methodology

Project ownership

Full Job Description

About the Team OpenAI’s Hardware organization develops custom silicon and system-level solutions for the unique demands of advanced AI workloads. The team works across hardware, systems architecture, and software to build infrastructure that enables high-performance, AI-native computing at scale. In close partnership with research, software, and external vendors, we bring up new platforms, integrate emerging technologies, and develop the host-side systems software needed to make these systems performant, reliable, and production-ready. About the Role We’re looking for an experienced systems software engineer to help define and build the host software stack for our custom next-generation AI systems. You will work close to the hardware on performance-critical software, including Linux kernel drivers, high-throughput I/O paths, and system-scale networking and RDMA. This role spans architecture, implementation, platform bring-up, debugging, and performance optimization. You will work across hardware and software boundaries to make new systems usable end to end, from low-level device interfaces through userspace tooling and production validation. In this role you will: - Design, implement, and debug host-side systems software for AI infrastructure, including Linux kernel drivers and supporting userspace components. - Build and optimize software paths for high-throughput, low-latency communication, including RDMA and related networking functionality. - Develop software around PCIe, DMA, NICs, accelerators, memory movement, and device interaction. - Bring up new hardware platforms and diagnose complex issues across kernel, firmware, networking, and hardware boundaries. - Build tooling for integration, testing, diagnostics, observability, qualification, and performance characterization. - Collaborate with hardware, networking, and platform teams to define interfaces and integrate new capabilities. - Work with external vendors where needed to integrate technologies and drive

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