Software Engineer, Privacy - job 1 of 6

About the Team

The Privacy Engineering Team at OpenAI is committed to integrating privacy as a foundational element in OpenAI's mission of advancing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Our focus is on all OpenAI products and systems handling user data, striving to uphold the highest standards of data privacy and security.

We build essential production services, develop novel privacy-preserving techniques, and equip cross-functional engineering and research partners with the necessary tools to ensure responsible data use. Our approach to prioritizing responsible data use is integral to OpenAI's mission of safely introducing AGI that offers widespread benefits.

About the Role

We are looking for a Software Engineer with experience developing secure backend systems that prioritize customer data protection. This role is ideal for someone who is deeply committed to the nexus of product development, security, and privacy.

This position is located in San Francisco. Relocation assistance is available.

In this role, you will:

• Design, build, and implement back-end systems that power privacy and security functions within our API products and consumer applications.

• Conduct threat modeling, privacy design reviews, and code-level assessments to ensure the highest privacy and security standards.

• Collaborate with product managers, and other engineering teams to develop new products that leverage emerging research while maintaining privacy and security integrity.

• Work closely with the legal team to document and evaluate internal compliance practices, ensuring alignment with legal requirements and organizational standards, and conduct thorough internal audits to maintain the highest levels of compliance and integrity.

• Coordinate and actively participate in privacy incident response efforts.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have substantial experience in building (and re-engineering) production systems to meet legal requirements, manage increased scale, and uphold privacy and security standards.

• Have led or been a significant contributor to security projects, demonstrating a cross-functional collaboration skill set.

• Deeply care about user experience and take pride in developing products that meet customer needs whilst drawing on experience in threat modeling, secure design, and regulatory compliance.

• Possess a humble attitude, strong communication skills, and an eagerness to support your colleagues, reflecting a readiness to do whatever is necessary for team success.

• Take responsibility for problems from beginning to end, demonstrating problem-solving abilities and preparedness to acquire any missing knowledge necessary to get the job done.

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.

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.