HomeJobsOpenAI › Research

Software Engineer, Distributed Data Systems - Robotics

OpenAI San Francisco FullTime Research Posted 3w+ ago
Apply Now →

What it’s like to work at OpenAI

Frontier AI Research · San Francisco

4.5
Employee Rating
3.6
Work-Life Balance
659
Open Roles
eng-drivenship-fastlearningproduct-impactequity

What employees love

  • Cutting-edge frontier AI research with world-class colleagues
  • Elite compensation — top-tier TC and equity packages

What could be better

  • High-intensity environment — long hours and intense pace are the norm
  • Internal politics and rapid org changes as the company scales
View full OpenAI culture profile →

About the Role

About the Team

Our mission is to expand the capabilities of foundational models to support general-purpose robotics in dynamic, real-world environments, ensuring reliable and safe operation. These capabilities include, but are not limited to, action generation, motion planning, world modeling, and real-time communication through voice and emotions.

We work across the entire robotics stack, integrating cutting-edge hardware, sensors, end-effectors, and models to explore a diverse range of robotic form factors. Our goal is to develop models that provide state-of-the-art intelligence combined with seamless physical skills under the practical constraints of robotic platforms.

About the Role

As a Software Engineer, Distributed Data Systems, you will design and scale the infrastructure that powers large-scale multimodal training and evaluation at OpenAI. You’ll manage distributed data pipelines, collaborate closely with researchers to translate requirements into robust systems, and harden pipelines that serve as the backbone for OpenAI’s rapid iteration cycles.

We’re looking for engineers who are detail-oriented, have strong experience with distributed systems, and excel at building reliable infrastructure in high-stakes environments.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will:

You might thrive in this role if you:

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. 

We are 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.

For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.

Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.

OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy

At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.

Similar Roles

More at OpenAI
Software Engineer, Data Acquisition
San Francisco
Full-Stack SWE, Data Acquisition (Foundations)
San Francisco
Software Engineer, Research - Human Data
San Francisco
Software Engineer, Post-Training Research
San Francisco
Machine Learning Engineer, Distributed Data Systems - Robotics
San Francisco
Similar roles at other companies
Anthropic Fellows Program — ML Systems & Performance
Anthropic · London, UK; Ontario, CAN; Remote-Friendly, United States; San Francisco, CA
Software Engineer, Security
Cohere · Toronto
Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Monetization)
Perplexity AI · San Francisco
AI Developer Advocate
Mistral AI · Paris
Data & AI Platform Architect (Professional Services)
Databricks · Remote - Denmark

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the work-life balance like at OpenAI?
OpenAI has a work-life balance score of 3.6/5 based on employee reviews. This is about average for the AI/tech industry.
What is OpenAI’s culture like?
OpenAI is characterized by these culture values: eng-driven, ship-fast, learning, product-impact, equity. Based on employee reviews, the company has an overall rating of 4.5/5. Cutting-edge frontier AI research with world-class colleagues
How many open roles does OpenAI have?
OpenAI currently has 659 open roles across departments including engineering, product, sales, and more. Roles are refreshed daily from their careers page.
Is this role remote-friendly?
This role is located in San Francisco. Check the job description above for specific location and remote work details.
Apply for this role at OpenAI →