Software Engineer, Safety White Hat at OpenAI

San Francisco, California, United States

OpenAI Logo
$255,000 – $405,000Compensation
Senior (5 to 8 years), Expert & Leadership (9+ years)Experience Level
Full TimeJob Type
UnknownVisa
Artificial Intelligence, TechnologyIndustries

Requirements

  • Proven track record of leading White Hat initiatives for frontier models or complex AI systems
  • Deep familiarity with LLM behavior, post-training evaluation techniques, and AI safety research
  • Highly attuned to failure modes in AI systems (e.g., sycophancy, jailbreaking, and harmful outputs) and ability to surface these before production
  • Preference for working in close proximity to research teams rather than commercial or sales-focused environments
  • Experience building and scaling high-trust, high-performance technical teams

Responsibilities

  • Define the strategic direction and methodology for adversarial testing—including empirical probing, stress-testing, and alignment-focused evaluations
  • Identify and characterize emergent risks in reasoning, instruction-following, agentic behavior, and other critical capabilities before they result in external incidents
  • Collaborate with external partners to extend the reach and rigor of the White Hat efforts
  • Operate with a lean and efficient structure, balancing in-house expertise with vendor support where appropriate
  • Help shape the strategy and vision for ensuring fast and safe deployment of more powerful models and product experiences
  • Define the scope and methodology of adversarial evaluations
  • Drive alignment between model development and safety

Skills

LLMs
AI Safety
Adversarial Testing
Post-Training Evaluation
Jailbreaking
AI Alignment
Stress-Testing
Agentic Behavior
Reasoning
Instruction-Following

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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