How to apply for Principal Software Engineer, Infrastructure Security

About OpenAI

OpenAI is a frontier AI research and product company with teams working on alignment, policy, and security. The company posts specific opportunities it considers high impact, and candidates can read a career review about concerns of working at a frontier AI company before applying.

About the role

This Principal Software Engineer role sits on the Infrastructure Security team, which safeguards GPU supercomputing clusters, multi-cloud infrastructure, datacenters, networking, storage, and critical services. You will set technical direction and drive execution of foundational services such as authentication systems, egress/ingress proxies, access brokers, and key management platforms that must remain reliable and scalable under demanding conditions.

A typical day

A typical day might involve reviewing designs for authentication or key management services, debugging reliability issues in egress proxies, and coordinating with researchers and developers to ensure security controls do not block their work. You would also spend time setting technical direction for the Infrastructure Security team and preparing for future transformative technologies. Exact daily routines are not described in the posting, so ask about team rituals and on-call expectations during interviews.

Who OpenAI is looking for

• Experienced in building and operating high-reliability, scalable infrastructure services, especially authentication, proxy, access broker, or key management systems.
• Deep familiarity with bare-metal hardware, firmware, Kubernetes, service meshes, and multi-cloud environments.
• Able to set technical direction and drive execution across critical foundational services that protect sensitive model weights and user data.
• Comfortable working at the intersection of security, infrastructure, and software craftsmanship in a research and production environment.

Tips for this application

• Highlight concrete experience with authentication systems, egress/ingress proxies, access brokers, or key management platforms, since these are named as core services for this role.
• Show familiarity with GPU supercomputing clusters, multi-cloud infrastructure, datacenters, networking, and storage, as the team's charter spans these areas.
• Demonstrate that you can set technical direction and drive execution, not just implement features, because this is a Principal-level role.
• Reference OpenAI's security team tenets from the job description: prioritizing for impact, enabling researchers and developers, preparing for future transformative technologies, and fostering a collaborative security culture.
• Acknowledge that OpenAI posts specific opportunities it considers high impact and that candidates are encouraged to read the 80,000 Hours career review about working at a frontier AI company.

What to cover in your cover letter

['Your experience designing and operating foundational security services like authentication, proxies, access brokers, or key management at scale.', 'How you have set technical direction and driven execution on infrastructure security projects that required high reliability and scalability.', 'Your exposure to the full stack from bare-metal hardware and firmware to Kubernetes, service meshes, and data pathways for sensitive data.', "Why you want to work specifically on OpenAI's Infrastructure Security team and how you approach the concerns raised in the 80,000 Hours career review."]

Research before applying

• Read OpenAI's security team description and understand its tenets: prioritizing for impact, enabling researchers and developers, preparing for future transformative technologies, and fostering a collaborative security culture.
• Read the 80,000 Hours career review on working at an AI lab to understand common concerns and prepare to discuss them.
• Research OpenAI's infrastructure stack as described in the job posting: GPU supercomputing clusters, multi-cloud infrastructure, datacenters, networking, storage, Kubernetes, and service meshes.
• Look into OpenAI's mission and recent security-related publications or blog posts to understand how the Infrastructure Security team supports the broader company.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• How you would design an authentication or key management system that remains robust under high load and adversarial conditions.
• Your approach to securing data pathways that carry highly sensitive model weights and user data across multi-cloud and datacenter environments.
• Trade-offs between reliability, scalability, and software craftsmanship when building egress/ingress proxies or access brokers.
• How you set technical direction for a Principal-level infrastructure security initiative and get buy-in from researchers and developers.
• Your views on preparing for future transformative technologies in the context of infrastructure security at a frontier AI company.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Applying without addressing the specific foundational services named in the job description, such as authentication systems, egress/ingress proxies, access brokers, or key management platforms.
• Ignoring the Principal-level expectation to set technical direction and drive execution, and instead focusing only on hands-on implementation experience.
• Failing to engage with the ethical or mission-related concerns of working at a frontier AI company, especially since the job description points to a career review on the topic.