Software Engineer, ChatGPT Infrastructure
WFA Digital Insight
As demand for AI-powered solutions grows exponentially, with over 50% of companies investing in chatbot technology by 2026, the need for skilled software engineers who can build and maintain the underlying infrastructure has never been more pressing. Openai, a pioneer in this space, is looking for a talented software engineer to join their team in shaping the future of ChatGPT. With remote work on the rise, this role offers the unique opportunity to work on cutting-edge technology from anywhere, leveraging digital skills to drive innovation. Candidates should be aware that this role requires a deep understanding of distributed systems, performance optimization, and reliability engineering, as well as excellent communication skills to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.
Job Description
About the Role
The Software Engineer, ChatGPT Infrastructure role at Openai is a unique opportunity to work on the backbone of one of the most advanced AI systems in the world. As part of this team, you will be responsible for designing, building, and operating the platforms that enable fast iteration and scalability for ChatGPT. This is not a maintenance role; it's a platform-building position where you will define interfaces, develop core abstractions, and create tooling that makes safe, fast iteration the norm. Your work will have a direct impact on the performance, reliability, and usability of ChatGPT, and you will be working closely with other engineers and product teams to identify and solve complex problems.The ChatGPT team is rapidly evolving, with new capabilities being shipped continuously. This requires infrastructure that can handle real production constraints, such as high concurrency, unpredictable traffic patterns, complex dependency graphs, and frequent change. As a software engineer on this team, you will be at the forefront of solving these challenges, leveraging your expertise in distributed systems, performance optimization, and reliability engineering to build and operate platforms that can scale gracefully as the product expands.
What You Will Do
- Design and build infrastructure systems that sit underneath ChatGPT and multiply the effectiveness of the teams building user experiences.
- Develop core abstractions, interfaces, and tooling that make safe, fast iteration the norm.
- Work on platform foundations and frameworks, scalability and performance primitives, reliability guardrails, and developer productivity via golden paths.
- Partner with other engineers and product teams to identify systemic pain points and turn them into reusable solutions.
- Own outcomes end-to-end, from design to implementation, rollout, and operational maturity.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive improvements in reliability and performance through principled design, measurement, and iterative hardening.
- Develop and maintain observability and debugging systems that turn 'it's slow' into a precise, actionable diagnosis.
- Implement safe change management practices, including deployment and rollout systems that support rapid iteration with confidence.
- Design and maintain clean APIs and stable contracts that reduce coupling and allow independent evolution across a complex ecosystem.
What We Are Looking For
- Experience building and operating large-scale distributed systems in production, with a focus on high throughput, concurrency, and failure handling.
- Strong fundamentals in systems design, including caching, consistency, queueing/backpressure, and resilient dependency management.
- Ability to reason about performance, including latency distributions, tail behavior, and bottlenecks, and translate that into concrete engineering work.
- Track record of building platforms or shared infrastructure that improves velocity and correctness for other teams.
- Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to align on interfaces, navigate tradeoffs, and drive cross-team execution.
- Experience with programming languages such as Python, Java, or C++.
- Familiarity with cloud-based infrastructure, containerization, and orchestration tools like Kubernetes.
- Understanding of database systems, including relational and NoSQL databases.
Nice to Have
- Experience with machine learning or artificial intelligence systems.
- Knowledge of networking protocols and network architecture.
- Familiarity with security best practices and compliance frameworks.
- Experience with agile development methodologies and version control systems like Git.
Benefits and Perks
- Competitive salary and equity package.
- Comprehensive health insurance, including medical, dental, and vision.
- Generous paid time off and holidays.
- Remote work stipend and equipment allowance.
- Access to professional development opportunities, including training and conference sponsorships.
- Collaborative and dynamic work environment with a team of experienced engineers and researchers.
How to Stand Out
- To stand out in this role, emphasize your experience with distributed systems, performance optimization, and reliability engineering, and be prepared to provide specific examples of how you've applied these skills in previous positions.
- Make sure your portfolio includes examples of your work on large-scale systems, including any open-source contributions or personal projects that demonstrate your expertise.
- Be prepared to talk about your approach to problem-solving, including how you debug complex issues and collaborate with cross-functional teams.
- Don't be afraid to ask about the company culture and values during the interview process, as this will give you insight into whether you'll be a good fit for the team.
- When negotiating salary, be sure to research the market rate for software engineers in the industry and be prepared to make a strong case for your worth.
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