--- title: 'Capacity Systems Software Engineer at OpenAI' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/capacity-systems-software-engineer-openai-san-francisco-zy5h34rxwkm4' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-17' --- # Capacity Systems Software Engineer at OpenAI - **Company:** [OpenAI](https://feeny.ai/companies/openai) - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Compensation:** $293k–$385k - **Employment:** full-time - **Posted:** 2026-05-22 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-17 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai/11c51b12-3ba0-4a7a-a0d2-ed0661324dc3/application **Skills:** Python, Go, Java, TypeScript, Distributed systems, Backend services, Internal platforms, Workflow systems, API design, Data pipelines, System design, Software architecture, SQL, Data warehouses, Orchestration frameworks, Analytics platforms, Distributed data systems, Planning systems, Forecasting platforms, Optimization engines > Design and build software platforms, APIs, and data systems to unify Industrial Compute planning, forecasting, and operational decision-making. Partner with cross-functional teams to replace spreadsheet workflows with scalable automation and visibility tools. ## Job description ## About the Team OpenAI's Industrial Compute organization is responsible for planning, delivering, operating, and optimizing the compute infrastructure that powers frontier AI. As OpenAI scales toward becoming an intelligence utility, Industrial Compute coordinates a complex lifecycle spanning infrastructure strategy, capacity planning, provider partnerships, fleet operations, product demand, and financial planning. The organization manages one of the largest and fastest-growing compute footprints in the world, where decisions around capacity allocation, deployment readiness, utilization, reliability, and product demand directly impact product availability, customer experience, and business performance. The Capacity Systems team builds the software platforms, data systems, and automation frameworks that connect these functions into a shared operating model. We transform fragmented planning workflows into scalable systems that enable teams to understand what compute was contracted, delivered, healthy, allocated, and ultimately converted into business and research outcomes. ## About the Role We are seeking a Capacity Systems Software Engineer to build the platforms and services that power Industrial Compute planning, forecasting, optimization, and operational decision-making. In this role, you will design and develop software systems that connect infrastructure delivery, fleet health, capacity allocation, demand forecasting, deployment readiness, financial planning, and product consumption into a unified system of record. Your work will help OpenAI make better decisions about where compute should be deployed, how capacity should be allocated, and how infrastructure investments translate into business value. You will partner closely with Capacity Planning, Fleet Operations, Infrastructure Engineering, Product, Finance, Supply Chain, and Strategic Sourcing teams to replace spreadsheet-driven workflows with scalable software systems that enable visibility, automation, and decision support across OpenAI's global compute footprint. This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy building internal platforms, operational systems, workflow automation, and data-intensive applications that sit at the intersection of software, infrastructure, and business operations. This role is based in San Francisco and follows OpenAI's hybrid work model of 3 days per week in the office. ## Why This Role Matters Demand for compute is growing faster than traditional planning systems can support. Capacity decisions increasingly require understanding complex tradeoffs across infrastructure delivery, fleet health, model deployment, latency, utilization, cost, revenue impact, and operational risk. The systems built by this team help transform compute from a collection of disconnected operational signals into a measurable, optimizable business capability. Success in this role will help create a world where every major unit of compute can be traced from infrastructure commitment through delivered business value, enabling faster launches, higher utilization, improved operational efficiency, and better decision-making across OpenAI. ## Key Responsibilities - Design and build software systems that serve as the system of record for Industrial Compute planning and operations. - Develop backend services, APIs, workflows, and data platforms that support capacity forecasting, allocation, deployment readiness, and operational planning. - Build applications that connect infrastructure delivery, fleet health, capacity utilization, product demand, and financial planning into a shared operational view. - Build planning and scenario-modeling systems that help leaders understand tradeoffs across capacity, utilization, cost, reliability, launch timing, and business impact. - Create workflow automation and decision-support tooling that improves planning accuracy and reduces operational overhead. - Partner with Capacity Planning, Fleet Operations, Product, Finance, Infrastructure Engineering, Supply Chain, and Strategic Sourcing teams to understand operational workflows and translate them into software systems. - Drive architecture decisions across planning platforms, operational tooling, and internal infrastructure systems. - Improve data quality, observability, and operational visibility across Industrial Compute programs. - Build extensible software foundations that scale alongside OpenAI's rapidly growing infrastructure footprint. ## Qualifications - 5+ years of experience in software engineering, platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, or related technical disciplines. - Strong programming experience in Python, Go, Java, TypeScript, or similar languages. - Experience building distributed systems, backend services, internal platforms, workflow systems, or operational tooling. - Experience designing APIs, data pipelines, and integrations across multiple systems. - Strong system design and software architecture skills. - Experience working with large operational datasets and business-critical workflows. - Ability to operate effectively in highly cross-functional environments and translate ambiguous operational challenges into scalable technical solutions. - Strong ownership mindset and ability to independently drive complex projects. ## Preferred Skills - Experience building planning systems, forecasting platforms, optimization engines, or decision-support tools. - Experience with SQL, data warehouses, orchestration frameworks, analytics platforms, and distributed data systems. - Experience supporting infrastructure, cloud platforms, data centers, hardware deployment programs, or large-scale operational environments. - Familiarity with capacity planning, supply chain systems, financial modeling, or infrastructure operations. - Experience replacing spreadsheet-driven workflows with scalable software platforms. - Experience building systems that support scenario planning, forecasting, optimization, or resource allocation. - Familiarity with AI infrastructure, hyperscale compute environments, or large-scale distributed systems. ## 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](https://cdn.openai.com/policies/eeo-policy-statement.pdf). Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. 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. To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through [this form](https://form.asana.com/?d=57018692298241&k=5MqR40fZd7jlxVUh5J-UeA). No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this [link](https://form.asana.com/?k=bQ7w9h3iexRlicUdWRiwvg&d=57018692298241). [OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy](https://cdn.openai.com/policies/global-employee-and-contractor-privacy-policy.pdf) 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. ## About OpenAI ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company with a mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity. - **Entity Type**: Private – structured as a nonprofit parent (OpenAI Foundation) governing a for-profit public benefit corporation (OpenAI Group). The company has confidentially submitted a draft S-1 registration statement to the SEC, signaling a potential future IPO. - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA - **Founded**: 2015 - **Founders**: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, Wojciech Zaremba, and others ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Artificial intelligence research and deployment - **Target customers**: B2B (enterprises via API and platform), B2C (ChatGPT users), and developers (API, open-source models) - **Mission**: To ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) – AI systems that are generally smarter than humans – benefits all of humanity. ## Products & Services - **[ChatGPT](https://openai.com/chatgpt)**: Conversational AI assistant available via web and mobile, used by consumers and integrated into enterprise workflows. - **[GPT-4 API](https://openai.com/product)**: Large language model accessed via API for developers to build AI-powered applications (text generation, summarization, code assistance, etc.). - **[DALL-E](https://openai.com/dall-e-3)**: Image generation model that creates images from natural language descriptions. - **[Whisper](https://openai.com/research/whisper)**: Open-source speech recognition system. - **[OpenAI Agents](https://openai.com/)**: Emerging product category focused on autonomous AI agents that can perform tasks on behalf of users (announced June 2026). ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed in the provided sources. Widely reported in the press at ~$300 billion as of early 2026 (post-funding round), but this figure is not confirmed by OpenAI’s official materials. - **Key Metric**: Total funding exceeds $13 billion from Microsoft and other investors. The company has also confidentially filed a draft S-1 with the SEC (see [openai.com](https://openai.com/) – “Confidential submission of draft S-1”). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Microsoft (strategic partner and largest investor), with additional participation from Thrive Capital, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and others. - **Growth Signals**: Active hiring with 721 open roles posted; expansion into agent-based products; confidential IPO filing; continued deployment of frontier models. ## Competitive Advantages - **First-mover & brand recognition**: ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer app in history, establishing OpenAI as the household name in generative AI. - **Research leadership**: Consistently publishes cutting-edge research (GPT-4, DALL-E 3, Whisper, etc.) and attracts top AI talent. - **Compute & infrastructure**: Exclusive partnership with Microsoft provides massive cloud computing resources (Azure) for training and inference. - **Unique governance structure**: The nonprofit parent ensures mission alignment (AGI benefiting humanity) while the for-profit arm can raise capital and scale products. ## Strategic Focus - **Safe AGI development**: Continued emphasis on safety research, alignment, and responsible deployment (e.g., safety systems, model provenance). - **Enterprise expansion**: Growing ChatGPT Enterprise and API offerings for businesses. - **Agentic AI**: Building autonomous agents that can “transform work” (announced June 2026). - **IPO preparation**: Confidential S-1 filing indicates intent to go public, which will require increased financial transparency and governance maturity. ## Why Work Here - **Culture & values**: OpenAI’s stated values include “Humanity first,” “Act with humility,” “Feel the AGI,” and “Ship joy.” Operating principles emphasize agency, creativity, rapid iteration, and intense focus. - **Benefits**: Competitive health insurance, mental healthcare support, 24-week paid birth-parent leave (plus 20 weeks for other parents), generous PTO, annual learning & development stipend, daily meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), and a domestic conference budget. - **Work environment**: Hybrid/office-based (San Francisco headquarters). The company offers a residency program for researchers and engineers transitioning into AI. - **Impact**: Employees work directly on frontier AI models that shape the industry and society. The mission-driven nature attracts talent passionate about AGI’s societal implications. ## Sources 1. [OpenAI About Page](https://openai.com/about/) 2. [OpenAI Careers Page](https://openai.com/careers/) 3. [OpenAI Job Search](https://openai.com/careers/search) 4. [OpenAI Homepage](https://openai.com/) ## Other roles at OpenAI - [Counsel, Commercial](https://feeny.ai/job/counsel-commercial-openai-san-francisco-4gcqbn7kg037) — San Francisco, CA - [Software Engineer, Compute Foundations](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-compute-foundations-openai-san-francisco-dwt3p53y2ymc) — San Francisco, CA - [Field Enablement Lead, Technical Success](https://feeny.ai/job/field-enablement-lead-technical-success-openai-san-francisco-2vvwqs7446fx) — San Francisco, CA - [Mechanical Engineer, Hardware Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-hardware-systems-openai-san-francisco-p8pb07qq2bdg) — San Francisco, CA - [Strategy & Operations, Germany](https://feeny.ai/job/strategy-operations-germany-openai-munich-hvpp5m48ncah) — Munich, Germany - [Order to Cash Operations Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/order-to-cash-operations-lead-openai-dublin-z68ataz0f5rg) — Dublin, Ireland - [Deal Operations, APAC](https://feeny.ai/job/deal-operations-apac-openai-singapore-bbcjwanzdg65) — Singapore - [Editor](https://feeny.ai/job/editor-openai-united-states-7b8pj712yacj) — United States - [Applied AI Architect, Healthcare & Life Sciences](https://feeny.ai/job/applied-ai-architect-healthcare-life-sciences-openai-san-francisco-j8gh1pxe9xgj) — San Francisco, CA - [Creative Operations Lead, Business Marketing](https://feeny.ai/job/creative-operations-lead-business-marketing-openai-san-francisco-ys1nd7eqm42p) — San Francisco, CA