Level

OpenAI

Robotics Software Engineer

OpenAI is hiring a Robotics Software Engineer in San Francisco, United States. It pays $255k-$325k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on OpenAI.

Level's read on this job

  • On Level's scale, this software engineer role is Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
  • Pay on this posting starts 52% higher than the typical software engineer posting on Level.
  • The posting mentions Rust, C and AI research among its tools and skills.
  • Level classes it as a mid-level role.
  • OpenAI has 793 other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

Develop software systems, control interfaces, and data pipelines for general-purpose robotics research and deployment.

rustc
ai-researchroboticssoftware-engineeringdata-collectionhardware-integration

About the Team

Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and pushing towards AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world settings. Working across the entire model stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the constraints of physical systems to improve peoples’ lives.

About the Role

We're seeking talented Robotics Software Engineers to expand our robotics data collection and evaluation program. This highly technical role involves designing, implementing, and optimizing software solutions across diverse robotics hardware. You'll work closely and collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams; including software, hardware, research, and operations - to drive advancements in our robotic systems.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA, and requires in-person 4 days a week.

In this role, you will:

  • Help develop and grow our data collection labs, owning the entire integration lifecycle, from identifying and sourcing new hardware to collaborating with mechanical and electrical engineers on setup, software integration, and operational deployment.

  • Develop innovative robot control interfaces suited to a variety of morphologies, environments, and tasks.

  • Collaborate closely with research and engineering teams to develop automation tools and machinery that facilitate the evaluation of advanced robotic policies.

  • Lead the design and implementation of data collection, visualization, and quality control processes.

You might thrive in this role if you: 

  • Have 5+ years of professional software engineering experience developing and shipping production-quality systems in robotics or hardware-integrated environments.

  • Have extensive experience integrating and deploying industrial automation systems, off-the-shelf robotics platforms, or custom hardware into production environments.

  • Bring hands-on experience delivering production-quality software within collaborative, cross-functional engineering teams.

  • Have strong proficiency in Rust or C++.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. 

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.

Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.

OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy

At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.

How we rate this

Robotics Software Engineer at OpenAI rates 85 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

AI ResearchRoboticsSoftware EngineeringData CollectionHardware IntegrationRustC

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Pay

This job starts at
$255k
Typical software engineer job
$168k

This posting starts 52% above the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

  1. Tell me about a research question you investigated. What did you find?
  2. Tell me about a project where robotics was part of your work. What did you do?
  3. Tell me about a project where software engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
  4. Tell me about a project where data collection was part of your work. What did you do?
  5. Tell me about a project where hardware integration was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: AI Research, Robotics, Software Engineering, Data Collection, and Hardware Integration. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
  • Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
  • Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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