At a Glance
- Tasks: Design and operate reliable systems that power cutting-edge AI technologies.
- Company: Join OpenAI, a leader in AI research and deployment.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, inclusive culture, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Dynamic work environment with a focus on innovation and teamwork.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on global-scale AI systems and collaborate with top talent.
- Qualifications: Experience in distributed systems and cloud infrastructure is essential.
The predicted salary is between 60000 - 80000 £ per year.
About the Team
We’re hiring software engineers to join our broader Infrastructure organization, which supports multiple high-impact teams. Depending on your interests and experience, you could work on one of several focus areas—including Core Distributed Systems, Databases, Observability, or Cloud Infrastructure. All teams operate with a high degree of autonomy and are deeply collaborative, with a shared mandate to raise the bar on safety, reliability, and velocity across OpenAI.
About the Role
You’ll be at the heart of scaling and hardening the infrastructure that powers some of the most widely used AI systems in the world. You’ll help ensure our systems are highly reliable, observable, performant, and secure—so researchers can iterate quickly, and products like ChatGPT and the OpenAI API can serve millions of users safely and effectively.
This is a hands-on, high-leverage role for engineers who thrive on ownership, love solving deep technical problems across the stack, and want to work on systems that support cutting-edge research and deploy at global scale. You’ll play a key part in shaping technical direction, proactively improving system resilience, and collaborating closely with infra, product, and research teams to turn complex infrastructure into reliable platforms.
In this role you will:
- Design, build, and operate reliable and performant systems used across engineering.
- Identify and fix performance bottlenecks and inefficiencies, ensuring our infrastructure can scale to the next order of magnitude.
- Dig deep to resolve complex issues.
- Continuously improve automation to reduce manual work.
- Improve internal tooling and our developer experience.
- Contribute to incident response, postmortems, and the development of best practices around system reliability and scalability.
You might thrive in this role if you:
- Have a deep understanding of distributed systems principles and a proven track record in building and operating scalable and reliable systems.
- Have a keen eye for performance and optimization. You know how to squeeze the most performance out of complex, globally-distributed systems.
- Have experience operating orchestration systems such as Kubernetes at scale and building abstractions over cloud platforms.
- Are comfortable working in Linux environments, and with tools like Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD pipelines, and modern observability stacks.
- Are experienced in collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure that reliability and scalability are considered in the design and development of new features and services.
- Have a humble attitude, an eagerness to help your colleagues, and a desire to do whatever it takes to make the team succeed.
- Own problems end-to-end, and are willing to pick up whatever knowledge you're missing to get the job done.
- Are comfortable with ambiguity and rapid change.
Qualifications:
- 4+ years of relevant industry experience, with 2+ years leading large scale, complex projects or teams as an engineer or tech lead.
- A passion for distributed systems at scale with a focus on reliability, scalability, security, and continuous improvement.
- Proven experience as a reliability engineer, production engineer, or a similar role in a fast-paced, rapidly scaling company.
- Strong proficiency in cloud infrastructure (like AWS, GCP, Azure) and IaC tools such as Terraform. Proficiency in programming/scripting languages.
- Experience with containerization technologies and container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes.
- Experience with observability tools such as Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk and ELK stack.
- Experience with microservices architecture and service mesh technologies.
- Knowledge of security best practices in cloud environments.
- Strong understanding of distributed systems, networking, and database technologies.
- Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
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.
Software Engineer, Infrastructure Reliability in London employer: OpenAI
OpenAI is an exceptional employer that fosters a collaborative and innovative work culture, where software engineers can thrive in a hands-on role focused on building reliable and scalable infrastructure for cutting-edge AI systems. With a commitment to employee growth, OpenAI offers opportunities to work on impactful projects while ensuring a supportive environment that values diverse perspectives and encourages continuous improvement. Located in a vibrant tech hub, employees benefit from access to a wealth of resources and networking opportunities, making it an ideal place for those looking to make a meaningful impact in the field of artificial intelligence.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Software Engineer, Infrastructure Reliability in London
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to folks in the industry, attend meetups, and connect with current employees at OpenAI. A personal introduction can make all the difference when it comes to landing that interview.
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! Create a portfolio or GitHub repository showcasing your projects, especially those related to distributed systems or cloud infrastructure. This gives us a tangible way to see your expertise in action.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for technical interviews by brushing up on your problem-solving skills. Practice coding challenges and system design questions that reflect the role's focus areas. We want to see how you tackle complex issues!
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, it shows you’re genuinely interested in joining our team at OpenAI.
We think you need these skills to ace Software Engineer, Infrastructure Reliability in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion:When writing your application, let your enthusiasm for distributed systems and infrastructure shine through. We want to see that you’re not just qualified, but genuinely excited about the role and how you can contribute to our mission.
Tailor Your Experience:Make sure to highlight your relevant experience in building and operating scalable systems. We love seeing specific examples of how you've tackled performance bottlenecks or improved system reliability—this helps us understand your hands-on skills!
Be Clear and Concise:Keep your application straightforward and to the point. We appreciate clarity, so avoid jargon unless it’s necessary. This way, we can easily grasp your qualifications and what you bring to the table.
Apply Through Our Website:Don’t forget to submit your application through our website! It’s the best way for us to receive your details and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it makes the whole process smoother for everyone involved.
How to prepare for a job interview at OpenAI
✨Know Your Distributed Systems
Make sure you brush up on your knowledge of distributed systems principles. Be ready to discuss your past experiences in building and operating scalable systems, as this role is all about reliability and performance.
✨Showcase Your Problem-Solving Skills
Prepare to dive deep into complex issues during the interview. Think of specific examples where you've identified and fixed performance bottlenecks or improved system resilience. This will demonstrate your hands-on experience and technical prowess.
✨Familiarise Yourself with Tools
Get comfortable with the tools mentioned in the job description, like Kubernetes, Terraform, and observability stacks. Being able to speak confidently about your experience with these technologies will set you apart from other candidates.
✨Emphasise Collaboration
This role requires working closely with cross-functional teams, so be prepared to discuss how you've collaborated in the past. Share examples that highlight your humble attitude and eagerness to help your colleagues succeed.
