Research Engineer, Human Data at OpenAI

San Francisco, California, United States

OpenAI Logo
$310,000 – $380,000Compensation
Senior (5 to 8 years)Experience Level
Full TimeJob Type
UnknownVisa
Artificial Intelligence, Machine LearningIndustries

Requirements

  • Experience with machine learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch) and comfort experimenting with large-scale models
  • Constantly think about how to do things better, and don’t shirk away from impactful ideas because they’re difficult
  • Goal-oriented instead of method-oriented, and not afraid of tedious but high-value work when needed
  • Enjoy moving fluidly between high-level research questions and low-level implementation details, adapting methods to solve ambiguous, dynamic problems
  • Motivated by OpenAI’s mission and want to both unlock breakthrough capabilities and improve everyday use cases
  • Bring exceptional grit and creative problem-solving with an action-oriented, deeply curious, hands-on mindset
  • Unblock yourself when external dependencies slow you down, and find paths to partial success in the interim

Responsibilities

  • Partner with researchers and the Human Data product manager to design, derisk, and implement 0-to-1 innovations in all aspects of human feedback
  • Uncover new insights on our AI trainers and users alike, and apply these findings to OpenAI’s research goals
  • Measure the efficacy of our existing feedback methods, and experiment to increase that efficacy
  • Design methods that precisely capture human feedback across subjective, context-dependent goals and evolve with how people actually use our models
  • Ensure our evaluations accurately track real-world utility and evolve with how people use our models and applications
  • Run online and offline experiments that quantify your downstream causal impact on model performance

Skills

Key technologies and capabilities for this role

Systems DesignExperimentationData PipelinesModel EvaluationSynthetic DataHuman FeedbackStatistical AnalysisA/B Testing

Questions & Answers

Common questions about this position

What is the salary range for the Research Engineer, Human Data position?

The salary range is $310K - $380K.

Is this role remote or based in an office?

This role is based in San Francisco, CA, with a hybrid work model requiring at least 3 days in the office per week. OpenAI offers relocation assistance to new employees.

What skills and experience are required for this role?

Experience with machine learning frameworks like PyTorch and comfort experimenting with large-scale models is required. Strong engineering ability, first-principles curiosity, and a bias to impact are also essential.

What is the Human Data team like at OpenAI?

The Human Data team designs and runs end-to-end programs to turn human feedback into reliable signals for training and evaluation, spanning bespoke data campaigns, scalable synthetic data generation, and product-embedded signals. They partner closely with all research teams to advance model capabilities.

What qualities make someone thrive in this Research Engineer role?

Candidates thrive if they constantly think about improvements without shying from difficult ideas, bring exceptional grit and creative problem-solving, move fluidly between research and implementation, and are motivated by OpenAI’s mission.

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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