Forward Deployed Engineer – AI Infra

OpenAI

. Own technical delivery for semiconductor and AI-infrastructure workstreams from scoping and prototypes through validation, production deployment, and adoption .

Posted 10/26/2026full-timeSan Francisco • California • United StatesMid-LevelSenior💰 $185,000 - $300,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in technical delivery for semiconductor and AI-infrastructure projects, with a strong focus on production-grade software development, model evaluation, and effective communication with cross-functional teams. Proven ability to navigate complex systems and deliver results in fast-paced environments.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Technical Delivery ManagementProduction-Grade Software DevelopmentApplied Machine Learning ExperienceSemiconductor Development KnowledgeCustomer-Facing Engineering Experience

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Production-Grade Software WritingDebugging Unfamiliar SystemsModel EvaluationExperiment DesignData Quality AssessmentIntegration DevelopmentPerformance EngineeringChip DesignGenerative Models DeploymentWorkload Definition

Soft Skills

Clear CommunicationRisk IdentificationDecision-Making Under PressureSimplifying ComplexityCollaboration with Engineers

Industry Keywords

Semiconductor DevelopmentAI InfrastructureData-Center SystemsInference EngineeringModel Behavior Analysis

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Own technical delivery for semiconductor and AI-infrastructure workstreams from scoping and prototypes through validation, production deployment, and adoption
Work with customer engineers to understand workflows and constraints, define workloads, baselines, and success criteria, and integrate delivered solutions into their work
Scope and sequence delivery, identify dependencies and blockers, and balance scope, speed, and quality
Build and debug production-quality software, including harnesses, integrations, and product features for chip design, verification, inference, and performance engineering
Design reproducible experiments, evaluations, graders, and benchmarks to validate correctness and performance
Investigate model behavior and failure modes alongside researchers
Contribute evaluation or training data and targeted experiments to improve underlying capabilities
Work with product engineers to resolve tooling gaps and ship product improvements
Bring field learning into product decisions
Lead technical discussions and maintain alignment across customer, Product, and Research teams
Explain capabilities, limitations, and results while keeping ownership, risks, and next steps clear
Turn successful approaches into reusable software, tools, and playbooks

Requirements

What you’ll need

5+ years of engineering or technical deployment experience, including customer-facing work
Experience scoping and delivering complex systems in fast-moving or ambiguous environments
Ability to write and review production-grade software
Ability to debug unfamiliar systems across code, integrations, and runtime behavior
Experience building or deploying systems powered by LLMs or generative models
Understanding of how model behaviour affects product experience
Ability to simplify complexity and make fast, sound decisions under pressure
Ability to communicate clearly with engineers, product teams, and customer stakeholders
Ability to spot risks early and adjust without slowing down
Strong product sense and experience contributing toward productizing efforts
Hands-on experience with applied machine learning, model evaluation, data quality, experimentation, or model-behavior analysis
Ability to turn an ambiguous technical problem into a clear evaluation, credible baseline, and reproducible experiment
Comfort learning unfamiliar technical domains and working closely with researchers, product engineers, and customer engineers
Experience in semiconductor development, data-center systems, or inference engineering is helpful
Ability to work from the San Francisco office three days per week
Ability to travel up to 50%

Benefits

Comp & perks

Equity
Performance-related bonus(es) for eligible employees
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)
Paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)
Flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees
13+ paid company holidays
Multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year
Paid sick or safe time
Mental health and wellness support
Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
Annual learning and development stipend
Daily meals in offices
Meal delivery credits as eligible
Relocation support for eligible employees
Charitable donation matching may be provided
Wellness stipends may be provided
Hybrid work model
Immigration and sponsorship support may be provided based on individual circumstances