Software Engineer, Identity Infrastructure Engineering

Role Overview

Security is at the foundation of OpenAI’s mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. The Identity Infrastructure Engineering team sits at the core of this effort, designing and building the identity and access management solutions that protect model weights, customer data, and critical systems across multiple cloud environments. We partner with teams across Applied Engineering, Research, IT, and Security to provide a secure and scalable platform for permissioning, orchestration, and innovative AI research.

As a Software Engineer on this team, you will be instrumental in creating, deploying, and operating foundational security tools and infrastructure. You will work with a broad range of technologies to support multi-cloud deployments, ensuring that researchers and engineers can safely build, test, and scale transformative AI systems. This role requires a balance of strong technical depth, cross-functional collaboration, and a passion for embedding secure-by-default principles into every layer of the stack.

Focus Areas

• Identity & Access Orchestration: Build and maintain the systems and interfaces that manage user and service identity, ensuring fine-grained access controls are consistent across cloud providers and internal services.
• Multi-Cloud Security: Design architectures and tooling that protect model weights, custom data, and sensitive assets while operating seamlessly in AWS, Azure, GCP, or future cloud environments.
• Automation & Tooling: Develop robust frameworks, APIs, and CLI tools that automate recurring security tasks, such as provisioning or rotating credentials, freeing teams to focus on AI innovation.

Responsibilities

• Build new features for the IAM platform that seamlessly integrate with evolving cloud services, enabling teams to work efficiently while adhering to security best practices.
• Drive security innovation by designing tools, processes, and architectures that protect data at scale and reinforce a secure development culture.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with researchers, engineers, and compliance teams to address security requirements for multi-cloud deployments, large-scale model training, and emerging AI use cases.
• Implement and refine access policies that strike the right balance between enabling rapid experimentation and protecting high-value assets, including model weights and customer data.
• Troubleshoot complex identity or access issues across distributed systems, ensuring minimal downtime and a safe environment for research and product teams.

Requirements

• A background in building secure systems, from core IAM services to orchestration layers that manage credentials, roles, or policies at scale.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, Go, or similar, with a track record of writing high-quality, maintainable code.
• Experience with modern cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP) and familiarity with industry-standard security protocols (OAuth, SAML, OpenID Connect) and authentication/authorization patterns.
• A security-focused mindset, with knowledge of threat modeling, risk assessment, and the ability to embed security features throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Excellent collaboration skills and the ability to work across diverse technical and non-technical teams to turn broad objectives into actionable solutions.

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.
• 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.
• 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 for focus and recharge.
• Mental health and wellness support.
• Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage.
• Annual learning and development stipend.
• Daily meals in-office and meal delivery credits as eligible.
• Relocation support for eligible employees.
• Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends.