Forward Deployed Software Engineer in London

About the Team

Over the past year, we have experienced a significant increase in demand for OpenAI’s hands‑on technical expertise to translate abstract ideas into production applications. We’ve established a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team who will work closely with our most strategic customers to deeply understand their use cases and design, build, and implement products for them. As one of our founding FDSWEs, you will deploy these solutions on customer infrastructure for the world’s most influential businesses, driving real business impact through our newest models and our own innovations in technical delivery.

About the Role

We are looking for customer‑focused software engineers to build effective custom software that leverages OpenAI’s APIs to solve real customer problems. As an FDSWE, you will work with our customers and OpenAI Forward Deployed Engineers to design and implement scalable solutions that solve their most difficult problems. You will design abstractions to solve customer problems, and then use them to scale our speed and quality of delivery across all Forward Deployed engagements.

You will collaborate closely with Sales, Solutions Engineering, Solutions Architects, and Customer Success Managers who work on the same account. You will also work with our Research and Applied Product and Engineering teams to provide insightful customer feedback.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA (NY, London, Dublin, Paris). 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:

• Embed deeply with strategic customers to understand their business challenges and technical requirements in detail.
• Design, architect, and develop full‑stack solutions using an experiment‑driven, iterative approach.
• Prepare detailed scopes of work and project plans for both proof‑of‑concept prototypes and full production deployments.
• Work hands‑on with customers’ technical teams as a technical expert and trusted advisor, coding side‑by‑side to drive projects to completion on their infrastructure.
• Collaborate closely with Sales, Technical Success, and Applied teams to ensure seamless customer experiences, project success and actionable product feedback.
• Contribute to internal knowledge bases, codifying best practices and sharing insights gained from customer engagements to scale the Forward Deployed Engineering function.

You'll thrive in this role if you:

• 7+ years of professional engineering experience (excluding internships) in relevant roles at tech and product‑driven companies – customer‑facing experience is highly desirable.
• Are willing to travel up to 50% and work on‑site with customers to build strong relationships and deeply understand their needs.
• Former founder, or early engineer at a startup who has built a product from scratch is a plus.
• Are proficient in front‑end development using frameworks like React or Next.js, and back‑end development skills in Python, Node.js, or similar.
• Some experience with relational databases like Postgres/MySQL.
• Interest in AI/ML (direct experience not required).
• Have a bias for action and willingness to work iteratively with your customers to deliver the right solution that solves their problem.

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 do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.

For US Based Candidates: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.

Compensation

€145K – €380K Offers Equity. The base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. In addition to the salary range listed above, total compensation also includes generous equity and benefits.

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family
• Mental health and wellness support
• 401(k) plan with 50% matching
• Generous time off, many company holidays, and multiple coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge.
• Paid parental leave (24 weeks paid birth‑parent leave & 20‑week paid parental leave) and family‑planning support
• Annual learning & development stipend ($1,500 per year)