Software Engineer, Infrastructure Reliability in London

Software Engineer, Infrastructure Reliability in London

London Full-Time 60000 - 80000 £ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
The Consulting Solutions

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Design and operate reliable systems for cutting-edge AI infrastructure.
  • Company: Join OpenAI, a leader in AI technology with a collaborative culture.
  • Benefits: Competitive salary, health benefits, and opportunities for professional growth.
  • Other info: Dynamic environment with a focus on innovation and teamwork.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact on global-scale AI systems and enhance their reliability.
  • Qualifications: 4+ years in engineering, with expertise in distributed systems and cloud infrastructure.

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.

Responsibilities

  • 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.

Who 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.

Equal Opportunity Employer

OpenAI is 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.

Software Engineer, Infrastructure Reliability in London employer: The Consulting Solutions

OpenAI is an exceptional employer for Software Engineers, particularly in the Infrastructure Reliability team, where you will engage in meaningful work that directly impacts the reliability and performance of cutting-edge AI systems. With a strong emphasis on collaboration, autonomy, and continuous improvement, employees benefit from a dynamic work culture that fosters innovation and personal growth. Located in a vibrant tech hub, OpenAI offers unique opportunities to work alongside industry leaders while contributing to projects that serve millions globally.

The Consulting Solutions

Contact Details:

The Consulting Solutions Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Software Engineer, Infrastructure Reliability in London

Join Local Tech Meetups

Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at The Consulting Solutions or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!

Contribute to Open Source Projects

Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to The Consulting Solutions.

Tap into Online Developer Communities

Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like The Consulting Solutions.

Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles

Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like The Consulting Solutions that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!

We think you need these skills to ace Software Engineer, Infrastructure Reliability in London

Distributed Systems Principles
Performance Optimization
Kubernetes
Cloud Infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure)
Infrastructure as Code (Terraform)
CI/CD Pipelines
Linux Environments

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.

Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at The Consulting Solutions.

Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at The Consulting Solutions and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!

Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!

How to prepare for a job interview at The Consulting Solutions

Brush Up on Your Coding Skills

For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.

Know Your Tools and Frameworks

Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If The Consulting Solutions uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.

Showcase Your Projects

Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.

Prepare for Behavioural Questions

While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.