OpenAI

Software Engineer, Collective Communication at OpenAI (San Francisco, CA)

OpenAI· San Francisco, CA· $380k–$500k·

Role details

Salary
$380k–$500k
Employment
Full-Time
Equity
Yes
Skills
C++CUDADistributed AlgorithmsRDMANetwork Simulation TechniquesLow Level Performance Critical Software
Benefits

Equity · Relocation Assistance

OpenAI at a glance

Builds frontier AI models and ships them as consumer, developer, and enterprise products — ChatGPT, the API platform, and Codex.

Builds frontier AI models and ships them as consumer, developer, and enterprise products (ChatGPT, the OpenAI API platform, Codex, and an agent layer).

~$180B raised · latest: $122B round at an $852B valuation (2026) · backed by Microsoft, Amazon, NVIDIA, SoftBank

Summary

Design and implement custom networking collectives in C++ and CUDA for the Workload Networking team. The role involves collaborating with ML researchers to optimize collective communication techniques for training large AI models on supercomputers, ensuring efficient use of network transports and supporting simulati...

Job description

About the Team

The Workload Networking team is responsible for the collective communication stack used in our largest training jobs. Using a combination of C++ and CUDA we work on novel collective communication techniques that enable efficient training of our flagship models on our largest custom built supercomputers. The models we train are key ingredients to the AI research progress at OpenAI and the field as a whole, and we continually incorporate learnings from our entire research org into our training platform.

About the Role

As a Software Engineer, Networking you will design and implement custom networking collectives that are tightly integrated into our training stack. We’re looking for people who have a background in low level performance critical software. Experience with collective communication is a bonus. 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:

  • Collaborate closely with ML researchers to design and implement efficient collective operations in C++ and CUDA.
  • Ensure that our largest training jobs take full advantage of the different network transports used in our supercomputers.
  • Work on simulations to inform our future supercomputer network designs.

You might thrive in this role if you:

  • Have written distributed algorithms using RDMA in the past.
  • Are comfortable writing low level performance sensitive CPU and/or GPU code.
  • Are familiar with network simulation techniques.

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. 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. 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. OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy 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.

Why work at OpenAI

  • 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.

Application questions