OpenAI

AI

Staff+SoftwareEngineer,IdentityInfrastructureEngineering

$348–385k San Francisco, California, United States FULL TIME Remote Friendly
Market Sentiment
HIGH DEMAND

Neural analysis suggests this role is
optimal for Lead candidates.

The Brief

“Staff+ Software Engineer, Identity Infrastructure Engineering at OpenAI. Skills: identity infrastructure, cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, infrastructure-as-code, security-critical systems. Lead the architecture, development, and operation of identity infrastructure that spans cloud platforms, internal systems, and critical engineering services. Design and evolve systems for authentication, authorization, access governance, auditability, and policy enforcement with a focus on reliabili”

What You'll Achieve.

ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity; provide a secure and scalable platform for permissioning, orchestration, and innovative AI research; build secure, scalable, and reliable systems used broadly across the company; enable rapid development while maintaining security boundaries and operational rigor

Industry & Context.

AI
Eligibility Requirements

hybrid work model of three days in the office per week, relocation assistance to new employees

What They're Looking For.

Must Have

10+ years building and operating large-scale infrastructure, platform, or backend systems, Deep experience with cloud infrastructure, identity systems, distributed systems, and infrastructure-as-code, Experience leading complex technical initiatives across teams and driving architecture in ambiguous environments, Experience building security-critical systems involving authentication, authorization, access governance, privileged access, or policy enforcement, software engineering fundamentals with experience in Go, Rust, Python, or similar languages, Ability to debug across code, cloud infrastructure, identity systems, networking, and operations, High bar for reliability, security, auditability, and operational rigor in mission-critical systems

What You'll Do.

Lead the architecture

and operation of identity infrastructure that spans cloud platforms

and critical engineering services

Design and evolve systems for authentication

and policy enforcement with a focus on reliability

and secure-by-default design

Build foundational infrastructure and platform capabilities that are broadly used across engineering

Improve the reliability

and operational maturity of identity infrastructure that supports mission-critical systems and workflows

high-impact technical initiatives across security

and engineering teams

driving alignment and execution across multiple stakeholders

Partner closely with engineers

and security teams to build scalable access patterns and infrastructure that enable rapid development while maintaining security boundaries and operational rigor

Raise the engineering bar through technical judgment

thoughtful system design

operational excellence

and long-term ownership of critical infrastructure

How You'll Work.

Team & Collaboration

partner with teams across OpenAI—Applied Engineering, Research, IT, and Security; partner closely with engineers, researchers, and security teams

Process & Methodology

Lead ambiguous, high-impact technical initiatives across security, infrastructure, and engineering teams, driving alignment and execution across multiple stakeholders

Full Job Description

About the Team Security is at the foundation of OpenAI’s mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. The Identity Infrastructure Engineering team sits at the core of this effort, designing and building the identity and access management solutions that protect our model weights, customer data, and critical systems across multiple cloud environments. We partner with teams across OpenAI—Applied Engineering, Research, IT, and Security—to provide a secure and scalable platform for permissioning, orchestration, and innovative AI research. About the Role We’re looking for a Staff+ Software Engineer to help build and evolve the identity infrastructure that supports OpenAI’s research, engineering, and internal platforms. This role sits at the intersection of cloud infrastructure, identity systems, and software engineering. You’ll work across production systems, infrastructure-as-code, cloud control planes, identity providers, and operational infrastructure to build secure, scalable, and reliable systems used broadly across the company. The ideal candidate has experience building and operating large-scale, mission-critical systems with strong reliability and security requirements, and is comfortable writing production code, designing distributed systems, and driving ambiguous projects from 0 to 1 while building the operational rigor needed to run critical infrastructure over time. In this role, you will: - Lead the architecture, development, and operation of identity infrastructure that spans cloud platforms, internal systems, and critical engineering services. - Design and evolve systems for authentication, authorization, access governance, auditability, and policy enforcement with a strong focus on reliability, scalability, and secure-by-default design. - Build foundational infrastructure and platform capabilities that are broadly used across engineering, research, and security teams. - Improve the reliability, observability, performance

Free ATS check

Applying for this Staff+ Software Engineer, Identity Infrastructure Engineering role?

Most applicants get filtered before a human reads their resume. See if yours makes the cut.

How to Apply on Ashby

  • Ashby is a fast modern ATS — most applications take under 3 minutes.
  • The resume parser is strong; verify parsed experience dates and job titles.
  • Custom screening questions are often scored algorithmically — answer completely.
  • Location field affects geo-based screening; use your actual metro area.

ANONYMOUS · UNFILTERED

What do employees actually say about OpenAI?

Real rants from real employees. Read before you apply.

Read Company Rants →