System Software Engineer, Consumer Devices

The role

You will design, implement, and debug core platform components and system image build and update pipelines. The role involves working across operating system layers to focus on performance, security, and deep system debugging.

What you will do

• Design, implement, and debug system-level components and services across kernel and user space.
• Configure and maintain OS platform services and related tooling.
• Build and operate image and update pipelines.
• Instrument and analyze performance using profiling and tracing.
• Optimize CPU, memory, I/O, and power usage.
• Own platform observability and reliability including logging, crash capture, watchdogs, and diagnostics.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define interfaces and deliver end-to-end features.
• Establish engineering practices like code review, CI, reproducible builds, and release management.
• Partner with external suppliers to support builds and deployments.

Required qualifications

• Shipped production systems software on modern operating systems.
• Proficient in C/C++ and a scripting language.
• Comfortable with OS internals including concurrency, memory management, filesystems, networking, and power management.
• Strong systems debugging skills using debuggers, tracers, profilers, and logs across kernel/user-space boundaries.
• Understand configuration of platform services and interfaces.
• Can translate requirements into stable, well-documented APIs.
• Fluent in user-space foundations including service management, IPC, networking, packaging, and automation.
• Experience building platform images and designing update mechanisms for reliability and security.

Nice to have

• Exposure to platform security (secure boot, sandboxing, mandatory access controls, attestation).
• Experience with graphics/media, hardware acceleration, or high-throughput data paths.
• Familiarity with connectivity stacks and network configuration.
• Observability and diagnostics in distributed or resource-constrained environments.
• Work on open-source platforms or contributions to systems projects.

Benefits

• Relocation assistance available

Before you apply

• Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law.

About the company

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity.