OpenAI
Join to apply for the
System Software Engineer
role at
OpenAI Join to apply for the
System Software Engineer
role at
OpenAI Get AI-powered advice on this job and more exclusive features. OpenAI is looking for a
System Software Engineer
to design, implement, and debug the foundational software that enables our products. You’ll work across the OS stack—kernel, drivers, and userspace daemons—and own pipelines for building and updating device images. Your work will span performance tuning, security hardening, and deep system debugging.
We’re looking for engineers who thrive in complex, cross-disciplinary environments, can take ownership from concept to release, and are passionate about shipping robust, production-grade systems.
In This Role, You Will
Design, implement, and debug kernel modules, device drivers, and userspace daemons Configure and maintain the OS: kernel, initramfs, init services, udev rules, networking, and security hardening Build and operate image/OTA pipelines (Yocto/Buildroot, package management, A/B updates, dm-verity) Instrument and analyze performance with perf, eBPF, ftrace; optimize CPU, memory, I/O, and power usage Own system observability and reliability: logging, crash capture, watchdogs, and field diagnostics Collaborate with hardware, camera/vision, and application teams to define interfaces and deliver features Establish strong engineering practices: code review, CI, reproducible builds, and release management Work with vendors and support system builds in the factory
You Might Thrive In This Role If You
Have deep experience shipping Linux-based products on hardware devices (arm64 or x86) Are proficient in C/C++ and comfortable with embedded Linux internals (drivers, IRQs, power management, filesystems, networking) Have strong systems debugging skills with gdb, strace, perf/eBPF, jtag, and kernel logs Understand kernel device tree overlays, I2S, I2C, SPI, CSI/DSI Are fluent in userspace foundations: systemd, D-Bus, sockets/IPC, udev, networking tools, shell/Python Have experience building OS images and packages (Yocto/Buildroot, Debian/RPM, Docker) and OTA updates Bonus points for: Upstream contributions to Linux or major subsystems Experience with secure boot, platform security, SELinux/AppArmor, TrustZone/OP-TEE Graphics/ISP or accelerator driver exposure (GPU, V4L2, media/codec, DMA, shared memory) Wireless connectivity stack experience (Wi-Fi/BLE, NetworkManager, wpa_supplicant) Production observability at the edge (symbolized crash reports, metrics, remote diagnostics) Experience in robotics, mobile, or other resource-constrained devices Familiarity with on-device ML accelerators, audio pipelines (ALSA, DSP, WebRTC, gstreamer) Knowledge of protobuf and other serialization formats
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.
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.
Compensation Range: $405K Seniority level
Seniority level Mid-Senior level Employment type
Employment type Full-time Job function
Job function Engineering and Information Technology Industries Research Services Referrals increase your chances of interviewing at OpenAI by 2x Sign in to set job alerts for “System Software Engineer” roles.
San Francisco, CA $146,000.00-$173,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$250,000.00 9 months ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$250,000.00 9 months ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$250,000.00 9 months ago San Mateo, CA $130,000.00-$280,000.00 2 weeks ago San Francisco, CA $150,000.00-$250,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $140,000.00-$230,000.00 2 weeks ago San Francisco, CA $180,000.00-$250,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$150,000.00 2 weeks ago San Francisco, CA $255,000.00-$405,000.00 2 weeks ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$200,000.00 9 months ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$180,000.00 5 months ago San Francisco, CA $141,000.00-$202,000.00 6 days ago Staff Software Engineer, Distributed Systems
San Francisco, CA $194,000.00-$250,000.00 1 month ago Senior Software Engineer, Distributed Systems
San Francisco, CA $160,000.00-$194,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $141,000.00-$202,000.00 6 days ago San Francisco, CA $158,000.00-$200,000.00 2 weeks ago Senior Embedded Software Engineer, Validation
San Francisco, CA $153,000.00-$180,000.00 6 months ago Senior/Staff Software Engineer - Business Systems
San Mateo, CA $180,000.00-$300,000.00 2 weeks ago Senior Software Engineer, Business Systems
San Mateo, CA $180,000.00-$300,000.00 1 day ago San Francisco, CA $170,000.00-$300,000.00 2 days ago San Francisco, CA $180,000.00-$212,000.00 4 months ago Alameda, CA $83,500.00-$153,300.00 2 days ago San Francisco, CA $150,000.00-$215,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $150,000.00-$180,000.00 1 month ago We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.
#J-18808-Ljbffr
System Software Engineer
role at
OpenAI Join to apply for the
System Software Engineer
role at
OpenAI Get AI-powered advice on this job and more exclusive features. OpenAI is looking for a
System Software Engineer
to design, implement, and debug the foundational software that enables our products. You’ll work across the OS stack—kernel, drivers, and userspace daemons—and own pipelines for building and updating device images. Your work will span performance tuning, security hardening, and deep system debugging.
We’re looking for engineers who thrive in complex, cross-disciplinary environments, can take ownership from concept to release, and are passionate about shipping robust, production-grade systems.
In This Role, You Will
Design, implement, and debug kernel modules, device drivers, and userspace daemons Configure and maintain the OS: kernel, initramfs, init services, udev rules, networking, and security hardening Build and operate image/OTA pipelines (Yocto/Buildroot, package management, A/B updates, dm-verity) Instrument and analyze performance with perf, eBPF, ftrace; optimize CPU, memory, I/O, and power usage Own system observability and reliability: logging, crash capture, watchdogs, and field diagnostics Collaborate with hardware, camera/vision, and application teams to define interfaces and deliver features Establish strong engineering practices: code review, CI, reproducible builds, and release management Work with vendors and support system builds in the factory
You Might Thrive In This Role If You
Have deep experience shipping Linux-based products on hardware devices (arm64 or x86) Are proficient in C/C++ and comfortable with embedded Linux internals (drivers, IRQs, power management, filesystems, networking) Have strong systems debugging skills with gdb, strace, perf/eBPF, jtag, and kernel logs Understand kernel device tree overlays, I2S, I2C, SPI, CSI/DSI Are fluent in userspace foundations: systemd, D-Bus, sockets/IPC, udev, networking tools, shell/Python Have experience building OS images and packages (Yocto/Buildroot, Debian/RPM, Docker) and OTA updates Bonus points for: Upstream contributions to Linux or major subsystems Experience with secure boot, platform security, SELinux/AppArmor, TrustZone/OP-TEE Graphics/ISP or accelerator driver exposure (GPU, V4L2, media/codec, DMA, shared memory) Wireless connectivity stack experience (Wi-Fi/BLE, NetworkManager, wpa_supplicant) Production observability at the edge (symbolized crash reports, metrics, remote diagnostics) Experience in robotics, mobile, or other resource-constrained devices Familiarity with on-device ML accelerators, audio pipelines (ALSA, DSP, WebRTC, gstreamer) Knowledge of protobuf and other serialization formats
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.
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.
Compensation Range: $405K Seniority level
Seniority level Mid-Senior level Employment type
Employment type Full-time Job function
Job function Engineering and Information Technology Industries Research Services Referrals increase your chances of interviewing at OpenAI by 2x Sign in to set job alerts for “System Software Engineer” roles.
San Francisco, CA $146,000.00-$173,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$250,000.00 9 months ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$250,000.00 9 months ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$250,000.00 9 months ago San Mateo, CA $130,000.00-$280,000.00 2 weeks ago San Francisco, CA $150,000.00-$250,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $140,000.00-$230,000.00 2 weeks ago San Francisco, CA $180,000.00-$250,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$150,000.00 2 weeks ago San Francisco, CA $255,000.00-$405,000.00 2 weeks ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$200,000.00 9 months ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$180,000.00 5 months ago San Francisco, CA $141,000.00-$202,000.00 6 days ago Staff Software Engineer, Distributed Systems
San Francisco, CA $194,000.00-$250,000.00 1 month ago Senior Software Engineer, Distributed Systems
San Francisco, CA $160,000.00-$194,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $141,000.00-$202,000.00 6 days ago San Francisco, CA $158,000.00-$200,000.00 2 weeks ago Senior Embedded Software Engineer, Validation
San Francisco, CA $153,000.00-$180,000.00 6 months ago Senior/Staff Software Engineer - Business Systems
San Mateo, CA $180,000.00-$300,000.00 2 weeks ago Senior Software Engineer, Business Systems
San Mateo, CA $180,000.00-$300,000.00 1 day ago San Francisco, CA $170,000.00-$300,000.00 2 days ago San Francisco, CA $180,000.00-$212,000.00 4 months ago Alameda, CA $83,500.00-$153,300.00 2 days ago San Francisco, CA $150,000.00-$215,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $150,000.00-$180,000.00 1 month ago We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.
#J-18808-Ljbffr