Software Engineer, Build Systems/CI

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve Bazel-based build and test workflows across a large, polyglot monorepo
• Design and maintain Starlark rules, macros, toolchains, and integrations to ensure reproducible and hermetic builds
• Improve CI performance and reliability across Buildkite pipelines, focusing on queue times, cache hit rates, and flake isolation
• Build systems to reduce unnecessary CI work through dependency graph analysis, test selection, and smarter scheduling
• Optimize build infrastructure using Docker/OCI images, Kubernetes-based runners, and remote execution systems
• Instrument build and CI systems with metrics, logs, and dashboards to measure speed, reliability, and developer impact
• Partner with product and research engineering teams to remove systemic bottlenecks and onboard new projects

Requirements

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, including significant experience building developer infrastructure or tooling
• Hands-on experience with Bazel, Buck, Pants, Gradle, or similar build systems
• Experience operating CI systems at scale in high-velocity environments
• Ability to debug distributed build and CI failures across containers, runners, and remote caches
• Proficiency in writing production software for internal platforms

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Starlark and building custom build rules
• Familiarity with Kubernetes and Terraform for infrastructure management
• Interest in applying AI to automate CI failure analysis and developer workflows

Benefits

• Competitive salary range of $185K – $490K plus equity
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer match
• Flexible PTO and paid parental leave
• Daily meals in the office and meal delivery credits
• Annual learning and development stipend

About the Company

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 AI capabilities and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products.