OpenAI - Tech Lead, Deployment & Operations — Custom Infrastructure
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Requirements
• 8+ years of engineering experience in hardware systems, infrastructure, data center deployment, production operations, systems engineering, silicon bring-up, or related technical domains • Strong technical depth in one or more of: hardware deployment, data center operations, rack-scale systems, silicon bring-up, systems validation, fleet operations, reliability engineering, infrastructure automation, or hardware/software integration • Experience bringing complex hardware systems from development or validation into production environments • Experience working closely with silicon, systems, software, infrastructure, networking, or data center teams • Experience with deployment planning, operational readiness, incident response, debugging, and root-cause analysis for production systems • Experience building tooling, automation, observability, or operational processes that improve deployment quality and fleet reliability • Demonstrated ability to hire, develop, and lead senior technical talent • Ability to move fluidly between people leadership, technical strategy, and hands-on operational problem solving • Strong written and verbal communication skills, especially in high-urgency, cross-functional technical environments • Experience working in fast-moving environments • To comply with U.S. export control laws and regulations, candidates for this role may need to meet certain legal status requirements as provided in those laws and regulations.
Responsibilities
• Lead a team responsible for deployment and operations of OpenAI’s custom silicon and systems in data center environments • Own the path from hardware bring-up and validation through production deployment, operational readiness, and sustained fleet support • Partner closely with silicon, systems, software, infrastructure, networking, data center, supply chain, and external partner teams to ensure successful deployment at scale • Define deployment processes, operational playbooks, technical readiness criteria, escalation paths, and reliability practices for new hardware platforms • Drive cross-functional execution across lab bring-up, rack/system integration, data center deployment, fleet monitoring, debugging, and issue resolution • Stay hands-on technically through architecture reviews, deployment planning, failure analysis, operational debugging, and critical system-level decision-making • Identify gaps in tooling, observability, automation, validation coverage, and operational processes, and build plans to close them • Establish clear metrics for deployment readiness, reliability, performance, maintainability, and operational health • Build a strong engineering culture grounded in ownership, technical rigor, operational excellence, and high-velocity execution • Ensure OpenAI’s custom hardware platforms can be deployed and operated reliably, repeatably, and safely at scale • Be a contributor and technical driver for the architecture and design of future ML systems • Enjoy mentoring and developing engineers while staying deeply engaged in technical execution • Are excited by the challenge of bringing new custom hardware platforms into real-world production data center environments • Can operate across silicon, systems, software, infrastructure, and data center operations • Are comfortable leading through ambiguity, especially when the hardware, tooling, and operational model are still being built • Have strong judgment around deployment sequencing, technical risk, operational readiness, and when to escalate • Communicate clearly across technical and operational teams, and can align stakeholders through complex deployment and production issues • Care deeply about building practical systems, tools, and processes that work reliably at scale • Have a bias toward ownership and are comfortable jumping into urgent technical issues when needed
Benefits
• $342K – $445K • Offers Equity • The base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. If the role is non-exempt, overtime pay will be provided consistent with applicable laws. In addition to the salary range listed above, total compensation also includes generous equity, performance-related bonus(es) for eligible employees, and the following benefits. • Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts • Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit) • 401(k) retirement plan with employer match • Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks) • Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees • 13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time (1 hour per 30 hours worked, or more, as required by applicable state or local law) • Mental health and wellness support • Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage • Annual learning and development stipend to fuel your professional growth • Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible • Relocation support for eligible employees • Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided. • More details about our benefits are available to candidates during the hiring process. • This role is at-will and OpenAI reserves the right to modify base pay and other compensation components at any time based on individual performance, team or company results, or market conditions. • OpenAI’s Hardware organization develops silicon and system-level solutions designed for the unique demands of advanced AI workloads. The team is responsible for building the next generation of AI-native silicon while working closely with software and research partners to co-design hardware tightly integrated with AI models. In addition to delivering production-grade silicon for OpenAI’s supercomputing infrastructure, the team also creates custom design tools and methodologies that accelerate innovation and enable hardware optimized specifically for AI. • We are seeking a Technical Lead to lead deployment and operations for OpenAI’s Silicon & Systems team. This person will become the Directly-Responsible Individual responsible for bringing OpenAI’s custom silicon and associated systems into data center environments, ensuring successful deployment, bring-up, validation, operational readiness, and ongoing reliability at scale. • This role sits at the intersection of silicon, systems, infrastructure, data center operations, and software. You will lead a team focused on taking new hardware platforms from lab validation into production data center deployment. You will be responsible for building the operational processes, technical workflows, tooling, and cross-functional alignment required to deploy and operate custom AI hardware reliably in OpenAI’s supercomputing infrastructure. • The ideal candidate is both a strong leader and a deeply technical operator. You should be comfortable staying close to the technical details of hardware bring-up, fleet deployment, debugging, system validation, data center integration, and production operations. This role requires strong execution, excellent cross-functional judgment, and the ability to drive clarity in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
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