Platform Engineer, Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) -SF

## About the Role As a Platform Engineer at Openai, you will be part of the Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team, working at the intersection of product, engineering, research, and go-to-market. The FDE Platform team is a leverage function that scales the FDE org's impact to Openai's platform and products. You will partner with customer-tagged FDEs to drive delivery and customer outcomes, embedding with these teams to provide hands-on leverage. This role is perfect for highly collaborative software engineers who love innovating on cutting-edge products with other builders.

The FDE Platform team is primarily focused on architecting, product shaping, refactoring, and building new platform capabilities from scratch. You will work closely with cross-functional teams, including the B2B Platform Team, to align on what should generalize, what should remain customer-specific, and what 'ready for handoff' looks like. This team is responsible for turning repeated signals into platform bets, translating cross-customer patterns into crisp hypotheses with clear success criteria, scope, and a validation plan.

Openai's Forward Deployed Engineering team is a unique and innovative group that is driving the development of new platform capabilities. As a Platform Engineer on this team, you will have the opportunity to work on complex and challenging projects, collaborating with talented engineers and researchers to drive real customer outcomes.

## What You Will Do - Provide hands-on leverage to customer pods: embed with customer-tagged FDE teams to support generalization, contributing directly in architecture, product shaping, refactoring, and implementation.

• Turn repeated signals into platform bets: translate cross-customer patterns into crisp hypotheses with clear success criteria, scope, and a validation plan that fits real account constraints.
• Raise the engineering bar through tooling and mentorship: set org-wide quality norms through high-signal code review and pairing, and build lightweight developer tooling that makes good architecture, readability, and correctness the default across FDE.
• Collaborate as part of cross-functional platform teams: partner closely with B2B Product, customer-tagged FDEs, ops, and business partners to bring the right products and platform capabilities to market.
• Lead complex platform capabilities end-to-end when needed: for high-leverage primitives like our Context Platform, act as DRI from requirements through implementation, make key tradeoffs explicit, and pull in customer pods early to keep the work grounded in real deployments.
• Develop and maintain a deep understanding of customer needs and preferences, using this knowledge to inform platform development and drive customer outcomes.
• Work closely with the FDE team to identify and prioritize platform development opportunities, ensuring that the team is focused on the most impactful and strategic projects.
• Collaborate with the B2B Platform Team to develop and implement platform-wide initiatives, such as improved security, scalability, and reliability.

• Experience in high-ambiguity, fast-iteration environments (startups or product-centric teams) is a plus.
• Owned customer-adjacent technical work end-to-end, from scoping and hypothesis-setting through production adoption, and improved outcomes through structured iteration.
• Built or operated systems where reliability, security, and governance materially shaped design (permissions/RBAC, auditability, data access boundaries, rollout safety, observability, and incident-driven hardening).
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to simplify complex ideas and translate technical tradeoffs into adoption impact, sequencing decisions, and measurable outcomes.
• Experience with cloud-based platforms, such as AWS or GCP, and familiarity with containerization and orchestration tools like Kubernetes.
• Strong programming skills in languages such as Java, Python, or C++.

• Familiarity with Agile development methodologies and experience working in a fast-paced, iterative development environment.
• Experience with DevOps practices and tools, such as continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD).

• Flexible work arrangements, including the option to work remotely and a hybrid work model with 3 days in the office per week.
• Opportunity to work on complex and challenging projects, collaborating with talented engineers and researchers to drive real customer outcomes.
• Professional development opportunities, including training and education programs, and a budget for conference attendance and professional development.
• Access to cutting-edge technologies and tools, including machine learning and artificial intelligence platforms.
• Collaborative and dynamic work environment, with a strong focus on teamwork, innovation, and creativity.

- To stand out in the application process, be prepared to showcase your technical expertise and ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, ambiguity-rich environment.

• When applying, highlight your experience with cloud-based platforms, containerization, and orchestration tools, as well as your programming skills in languages such as Java, Python, or C++.
• Be prepared to discuss your experience with machine learning or artificial intelligence, and your understanding of the technical challenges and opportunities in these areas.
• Show a willingness to learn and adapt to new technologies and techniques, and demonstrate a passion for innovation and creativity.
• When negotiating salary, be sure to highlight your relevant experience and skills, and be prepared to discuss your expectations and requirements.
• Be sure to research the company and the role thoroughly, and come prepared with thoughtful questions to ask during the interview process.