Software Engineer, Database Systems
Core
Design, build, and operate high-performance distributed database systems powering real-time search, analytics, and vector retrieval for AI products.
Role type
Senior IC distributed systems engineer (database core)
Builds
High-throughput online database engine (ingestion, query execution, indexing, storage) for OpenAI's product lines
Domain
AI infrastructure / Distributed databases / Systems programming
Deliverable
production ML models
Required skills
C++, distributed systems architecture, performance optimization, Linux systems, cloud environments (AWS/GCP/Azure), IaC (Terraform), observability stacks
Preferred skills
Database internals, storage engines, low-latency query systems, Kubernetes orchestration, incident response, system reliability
Technologies
C++, Kubernetes, Terraform, Prometheus, Grafana, AWS, GCP, Azure
Responsibilities
Design and build high-performance distributed systems, resolve performance bottlenecks to scale infrastructure, define long-term technical direction, collaborate on scalable infrastructure delivery, debug complex production issues, contribute to incident response and reliability best practices
Seniority
Senior, hands-on IC with leadership experience
