Privacy Engineer - Online Storage at OpenAI

Seattle, Washington, United States

OpenAI Logo
$255,000 – $405,000Compensation
Senior (5 to 8 years)Experience Level
Full TimeJob Type
UnknownVisa
Technology, Artificial IntelligenceIndustries

Requirements

  • 5+ years of industry experience in software engineering, security engineering, or privacy engineering, with significant ownership of privacy or data protection features
  • Strong software engineering fundamentals, with fluency in at least one major programming language (e.g., Python, Go, Rust, C++, Java)
  • Deep understanding of privacy technologies and principles, such as data anonymization, encryption, secure computation, privacy threat modeling, or differential privacy
  • Experience building scalable infrastructure and implementing controls in distributed systems, data platforms, or ML pipelines
  • Familiarity with global privacy regulations and their technical implications (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA)
  • Ability to influence and collaborate with teams across legal, compliance, product, and engineering
  • A bias toward practical, impactful solutions that balance privacy protections with product needs

Responsibilities

  • Architect and implement privacy-preserving systems across our data stack, including data collection, storage, processing, and access layers
  • Develop and apply privacy engineering frameworks (e.g., data minimization, differential privacy, anonymization/pseudonymization techniques) to production services
  • Build and scale privacy controls such as role-based access, audit logging, redaction/tokenization systems, data retention policies, and privacy incident detection
  • Partner with infrastructure and product teams to integrate privacy requirements into system designs from the ground up
  • Collaborate with legal, security, and compliance teams to translate regulatory obligations into concrete technical controls and workflows
  • Conduct privacy risk assessments and help teams mitigate identified risks through design changes, automation, or monitoring
  • Mentor and support other engineers, elevating privacy as a core engineering discipline across the organization
  • Drive cross-org initiatives, such as privacy reviews, developer education, or privacy tooling roadmaps

Skills

Key technologies and capabilities for this role

Differential PrivacyAnonymizationPseudonymizationRBACAudit LoggingTokenizationData MinimizationGDPRCCPAHIPAAPrivacy EngineeringData Protection

Questions & Answers

Common questions about this position

What is the salary range for the Privacy Engineer position?

The salary range is $255K - $405K.

Is this role remote or office-based, and what's the work arrangement?

This role is based in Seattle, WA, with a hybrid work model requiring 3 days in the office per week. Relocation assistance is offered to new employees.

What skills and experience are required for this Privacy Engineer role?

Candidates need 5+ years of industry experience in software engineering, security engineering, or privacy engineering, strong software engineering fundamentals with fluency in at least one major programming language (e.g., Python, Go, Rust, C++, Java), deep understanding of privacy technologies like data anonymization and differential privacy, experience with scalable infrastructure in distributed systems, and familiarity with global privacy regulations.

What kind of team and collaboration does this role involve?

You'll work closely with cross-functional teams including security, legal, product, infrastructure, and research, and mentor other engineers while driving cross-org initiatives.

What makes a candidate stand out for this Privacy Engineer position?

Strong candidates have 5+ years of relevant experience with ownership of privacy features, expertise in privacy technologies and scalable systems, ability to collaborate across teams, and a practical approach balancing privacy with product needs. Nice-to-haves include cloud platform experience, security engineering background, or open-source privacy contributions.

OpenAI

Develops safe and beneficial AI technologies

About OpenAI

OpenAI develops and deploys artificial intelligence technologies aimed at benefiting humanity. The company creates advanced AI models capable of performing various tasks, such as automating processes and enhancing creativity. OpenAI's products, like Sora, allow users to generate videos from text descriptions, showcasing the versatility of its AI applications. Unlike many competitors, OpenAI operates under a capped profit model, which limits the profits it can make and ensures that excess earnings are redistributed to maximize the social benefits of AI. This commitment to safety and ethical considerations is central to its mission of ensuring that artificial general intelligence (AGI) serves all of humanity.

San Francisco, CaliforniaHeadquarters
2015Year Founded
$18,433.2MTotal Funding
LATE_VCCompany Stage
AI & Machine LearningIndustries
1,001-5,000Employees

Benefits

Health insurance
Dental and vision insurance
Flexible spending account for healthcare and dependent care
Mental healthcare service
Fertility treatment coverage
401(k) with generous matching
20-week paid parental leave
Life insurance (complimentary)
AD&D insurance (complimentary)
Short-term/long-term disability insurance (complimentary)
Optional buy-up life insurance
Flexible work hours and unlimited paid time off (we encourage 4+ weeks per year)
Annual learning & development stipend
Regular team happy hours and outings
Daily catered lunch and dinner
Travel to domestic conferences

Risks

Elon Musk's legal battle may pose financial and reputational challenges for OpenAI.
Customizable ChatGPT personas could lead to privacy and ethical concerns.
Competitors like Anthropic raising capital may intensify market competition.

Differentiation

OpenAI's capped profit model prioritizes ethical AI development over unlimited profit.
OpenAI's AI models, like Sora, offer unique video creation from text descriptions.
OpenAI's focus on AGI aims to create AI systems smarter than humans.

Upsides

OpenAI's $6.6 billion funding boosts its AI research and computational capacity.
Customizable ChatGPT personas enhance user engagement and satisfaction.
OpenAI's 'Operator' AI agent could revolutionize workforce automation by 2025.

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