Hardware Lead Engineer in San Francisco

About the Team OpenAI’s Hardware organization develops AI-native silicon and system-level solutions for the unique demands of advanced AI workloads. Building on efforts like Jalapeño, the team is developing future generations of AI-native silicon and tightly integrated systems to power the next generation of frontier models. By co-designing chips, systems, tools, and methodologies, the team helps deliver faster, more efficient, and production-ready hardware for OpenAI’s supercomputing platform. About the Role OpenAI's Hardware organization builds supercompute platforms from silicon and boards to full rack-scale systems to power advanced AI workloads. This role owns end-to-end quality for high-speed interconnect hardware across the product lifecycle: early design influence, supplier/contract manufacturer readiness, qualification, ramp, and fleet quality in lab and data center environments. You will be the quality lead for advanced interconnect components and assemblies, including high-speed copper cables, cable cartridges, patch panels, backplane/cable-backplane solutions, high-speed connectors, and related electro-mechanical interfaces. You will partner closely with electrical, mechanical, SI/PI, systems, reliability, operations, and external vendors to prevent escapes and drive rapid, data-driven containment and corrective action. In this role you will: Own quality for advanced interconnect components and assemblies: high-speed connectors, high-speed copper cables, cable cartridges (e.g., cable cassette style assemblies), patch panels & optics, and backplane/cable-backplane interconnect solutions. Drive quality-by-design: participate in design reviews, DFM/DFx, tolerance stacks, material and plating selections, connector mating strategy, strain relief, and assembly methods to reduce variation and field failures. Define and track quality and reliability metrics (DPPM, yield, escapes, RMA/FRACAS trends, Cpk/Ppk where applicable) for interconnects across NPI and m

About the Team The Consumer Devices team at OpenAI builds end-to-end hardware and software systems that bring AI into the physical world. We work at the intersection of custom silicon, embedded systems, operating systems, cloud services, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and product design to deliver reliable, production-ready devices at scale. Within Consumer Devices, Hardware Engineering eXperience, or HEX, is a new bootstrapped team building the environments, applications, compute, product-data systems, and workflows that let hardware engineers do their work without needing to troubleshoot the machinery underneath. HEX owns virtual engineering environments, HPC/GPU compute, storage, networking, licensing, MCAD/ECAD/CAE applications, PLM, product data, automation, validation, and support as one connected system. About the Role As a Staff PLM & Engineering Applications Engineer, you will be one of the first technical builders of HEX and the primary counterpart to the HEX lead. You will own the engineering-application and product-data side of the hardware engineering experience, with an initial focus on NX, Teamcenter, licensing, parts import, integrations, packaging, validation, and user workflows. This is not a traditional Teamcenter administration role and not a Corporate IT application-support role. You will take complex, fragile workflows and turn them into reliable engineering systems. This role is highly hands-on and systems-oriented. You will not inherit a mature environment and support queue. You will help build a fresh one, replacing manual setup guides, tribal knowledge, repeated support issues, and team handoffs with tested automation and reliable workflows. In This Role, You Will Own the technical architecture, deployment, configuration, integration, validation, and long-term operation of NX and Teamcenter. Build reliable workflows for parts import, product-data migration, metadata quality, BOMs, revisions, lifecycle states, and releas

About the Team The Industrial Compute team is responsible for building the physical infrastructure that powers OpenAI’s largest-scale AI systems. We design, deploy, and operate next-generation compute infrastructure across a rapidly expanding global footprint, combining OpenAI-owned infrastructure with strategic cloud and infrastructure partners to support frontier AI workloads. As our infrastructure footprint grows, operational excellence across third-party providers becomes increasingly critical. Our team ensures external infrastructure partners consistently deliver the reliability, performance, and operational maturity required to support OpenAI’s rapidly expanding compute environment. About the Role We are seeking a Hardware Technical Program Manager, Infrastructure Partner Operations to lead operational delivery across OpenAI’s third-party infrastructure partners, including major cloud service providers and strategic compute vendors. In this role, you will serve as the primary operational program manager for external infrastructure partners, driving accountability for service delivery, operational readiness, incident management, performance reporting, and continuous operational improvement. You will work closely with partner engineering and operations teams while coordinating internally across Hardware Engineering, Infrastructure Operations, Capacity Planning, Networking, Supply Chain, Deployment, Reliability Engineering, and executive leadership. Success in this role requires someone who understands how hyperscale infrastructure organizations operate, can establish strong operational governance with external partners, and is comfortable driving complex technical programs without direct ownership of the underlying infrastructure. Key Responsibilities Own operational engagement with third-party infrastructure providers, ensuring consistent execution against operational commitments, service-level agreements (SLAs), and performance expectations. Develop operationa

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 are seeking a Mechanical Engineer to design and prototype novel tactile, proprioceptive and force sensor solutions. You will work closely with experienced engineers and cross-functional partners to set functional requirements, develop and iterate on hardware to meet program expectations. This role is aimed at candidates with strong fundamentals in mechanical system design and robotic sensing including tactile sensors, force sensing and position sensing. You will contribute to real hardware programs moving from prototype through early production. You will lead both new sensor subsystem development and ongoing improvements to existing systems based on testing, field performance, and manufacturing feedback. This role is based in San Francisco, CA, and requires in-person presence 4 days a week. In this role, you will Lead the design and iteration of mechanical subsystems, including tactile sensors, load cells, force torque sensors and joint encoders. Create and maintain CAD models, assemblies, and drawings with appropriate tolerancing and documentation. Build and test prototypes, supporting debugging of mechanical issues such as fit, alignment, friction, and wear. Assist in developing test methods and executing validation to evaluate performance, durability, calibration and failure modes. Work with cross-functional teams to integrate mechanical components with sensors, actuators, and control systems. Support transition of designs from prototype to manufacturable assemblies, incorporating DFM and DFA considerations. Collaborate with manufact

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

We're looking for a Senior Mechanical Engineer for Midjourney Medical — from precision electromechanical assemblies up to the large-scale structures and mechanisms that hold everything together and make it move. This role spans the full range of scale: one week you might be refining a compact transducer mount, the next you're architecting a structural frame or designing the motion system that positions hardware within it. This is a hands-on role on a small cross-functional team. You'll take problems from whiteboard sketch to working hardware yourself — designing in CAD, prototyping in the shop, testing, iterating, and integrating with research teams, electrical and software engineers along the way. We move fast and expect you to drive your own work: identifying what needs to happen next, making sound engineering calls without waiting for permission, and shipping hardware that works. What you'll do Own parts of the mechanical systems end to end — structures, mechanisms, and electromechanical integration Design large-scale structures: frames, weldments, enclosures, and support systems, with attention to stiffness, weight, manufacturability, and serviceability Design mechanisms: linkages, motion stages, actuation systems for precise, reliable positioning and articulation Integrate transducers, electronics, cabling, and thermal management into large physical systems Perform engineering analysis (tolerance stack-ups, structural/FEA, mechanism kinematics) to de-risk designs before committing to hardware Build and test relentlessly — 3D printing, rapid prototyping, and hands-on fabrication are core to how you'll validate designs Select parts and materials for system-level integration, balancing performance, cost, and lead time Drive projects independently from concept through validation, and collaborate closely with a small cross-disciplinary team to hit project goals What we're looking for Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field 5+ years of experien

About the Team OpenAI's Industrial Compute organization is building and scaling the infrastructure required to support frontier AI. The Infrastructure Strategic Sourcing team connects technical and project requirements to supplier readiness, contracting, purchasing, equipment delivery, and portfolio-level risk visibility across owner-furnished contractor-installed equipment (OFCI), data center networking, rack systems and integration, fiber, cabling, optical interconnects, and related infrastructure. The team partners across Pre-Construction, Design, Construction, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Network Engineering, Hardware and Rack Delivery, Strategic Sourcing, Procurement, Legal, Finance, Accounts Payable, Logistics, and external suppliers. We build the operating mechanisms that keep sourcing decisions, purchase execution, long-lead equipment, network and fiber dependencies, rack readiness, and delivery commitments aligned to infrastructure schedules. About the Role We are seeking an Infrastructure Sourcing Operations Lead to own procurement operations across pre-construction, design, construction, and sourcing through purchase order issuance, while maintaining visibility through invoice resolution, production, logistics, delivery, installation, and readiness. The portfolio includes electrical and mechanical OFCI, networking equipment, rack systems and integration, fiber, cabling, optical interconnects, and other infrastructure required to bring capacity online. In this role, you will set priorities, make or escalate decisions that affect cost, supplier relationships, contractual position, and delivery schedules, and define the standards used by execution support for queue management, documentation, tracker maintenance, and recurring reporting. Success requires sound commercial and program judgment, operational rigor, systems thinking, and the ability to turn incomplete information across vendors, tools, and project teams into clear decisions, accountable

About the Team We are building general-purpose robotics. In the short term, we are focused on robots to support skilled workers to build our future infrastructure. In the long term, we imagine everyone having a personal robot doing anything they need. Progress is rapid, and based on a foundation of co-design between robotics hardware and ML research. About the Role As a Firmware Engineer, you will define and drive the architecture of embedded systems for next-generation hardware products. You will own foundational firmware decisions across real-time execution, device bring-up, hardware interfaces, fault handling, safety mechanisms, and production readiness. We’re looking for someone with deep experience building safety-critical or high-consequence systems, where failures can have meaningful consequences. You should be comfortable reasoning about risk, designing for diagnosability and graceful degradation, and creating engineering practices that raise the reliability bar for the entire team. You should also be unusually good at moving fast. Sometimes the right answer is a carefully reviewed architecture that will endure for years; sometimes it is getting a rough-but-useful prototype working by the end of the afternoon so the team can learn something concrete tomorrow. We value engineers who know the difference, make that call well, and can operate credibly in both modes. You will be both a technical leader and a hands-on builder: setting direction, reviewing critical designs, unblocking the hardest problems, and writing production firmware when it matters most. Our embedded stack uses a lot of Rust. Extensive experience in the language is a big help! This role is based in San Francisco, CA. This role will be expected to be in office 4 days per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees. In this role, you will: Rapidly bring up new hardware and set execution pace for the team. Lead firmware architecture for embedded systems spanning boot, RTOS/runtime behav

About the Team OpenAI’s Industrial Compute team is responsible for building and scaling large-scale compute capacity across first-party data centers, strategic partners, and industrial infrastructure environments. We focus on converting power, land, hardware, and operational execution into reliable compute capacity that can support frontier AI training and inference workloads. This team operates at the intersection of infrastructure delivery, hardware systems, utilities, supply chain, and capacity strategy—ensuring OpenAI can scale compute faster than traditional models allow. About the Role We are seeking a Tokens-as-a-Service (TaaS) Lead to drive the end-to-end conversion of industrial-scale infrastructure investments into usable token capacity for OpenAI workloads. In this role, you will own execution across complex compute programs where raw infrastructure capacity must be transformed into operational GPU throughput. You will coordinate across data center delivery, power, networking, hardware deployment, workload enablement, finance, and external partners to ensure capacity becomes productive tokens as quickly and efficiently as possible. This role is ideal for someone who can bridge physical infrastructure delivery with compute utilization outcomes. Success requires strong systems thinking, elite program leadership, and the ability to drive accountability across internal teams and strategic partners. In this role, you will Lead Tokens-as-a-Service programs across industrial compute environments, including first-party and partner-owned capacity. Convert delivered power, space, and hardware capacity into production-ready token throughput. Build integrated execution plans spanning construction, power energization, rack deployment, networking, cluster readiness, and workload onboarding. Partner with infrastructure engineering, hardware, networking, finance, supply chain, and operations teams. Drive external providers, EPCs, OEMs, utilities, and strategic partners t

About the Team OpenAI is building the infrastructure foundation for the next generation of AI. The Data Center Engineering team defines the strategy, reference architectures, technical requirements, and delivery standards for the large-scale data centers that support OpenAI research, products, and infrastructure partners. As a Data Center Infrastructure Engineering Program Manager, you will help turn complex infrastructure strategy into executable programs across electrical, mechanical, controls, network, hardware, construction, commissioning, deployment, and operations workstreams. You will partner with research, hardware engineering, data center engineering, site development, supply chain, security, EHS, finance, legal, operations, and external delivery partners to bring OpenAI's infrastructure vision to life. About the Role We are looking for an Engineering Program Manager (EPM) to lead assigned infrastructure programs focused on production and non-production network integration, controls coordination, and the design and deployment of data hall or whitespace facilities. The EPM will support functional Directly Responsible Individuals (DRIs) across network, controls, structural, electrical, and mechanical disciplines. Key responsibilities include coordinating assigned workstreams and program controls, maintaining risks and interfaces, and supporting readiness within the network and data hall deployment track. The ideal candidate thrives on bringing structure to complex environments characterized by ambiguous technical requirements, large partner ecosystems, tight deadlines, and high operational stakes. This individual must be adept at keeping teams aligned on decisions, risks, dependencies, schedules, and readiness criteria, and escalating gaps or decision points when needed. Candidates should have a proven track record of managing technically challenging engineering programs across major lifecycle phases, including design, validation, procurement, construction, c

ABOUT BASETEN Baseten powers mission-critical inference for the world's most dynamic AI companies, like Cursor, Notion, OpenEvidence, Abridge, Clay, Gamma, and Writer. By uniting applied AI research, flexible infrastructure, and seamless developer tooling, we enable companies operating at the frontier of AI to bring cutting-edge models into production. We're growing quickly and recently raised our $1.5B Series F , led by Altimeter Capital, Conviction Partners, and Spark Capital. Join us and help build the platform engineers turn to ship AI products. THE ROLE This role owns Baseten's relationships and market intelligence across hyperscalers and strategic neoclouds, including NVIDIA cloud partners. This is a technical and commercial role in equal measure: you'll evaluate capacity from the GPU to the data center, negotiate cost and terms with suppliers, and stay close enough to the market to develop and defend a real point of view on where it's heading. Given current market conditions, Baseten needs a much stronger pulse on this part of the market so we can track pricing, stay close to the right relationships, and move fast the moment more capacity is needed. This is a senior, experienced hire who will also help pair with and develop 1-2 junior to mid-level teammates covering the same space. WHAT YOU'LL DO Build and maintain deep relationships across hyperscalers and strategic neoclouds (including NVIDIA cloud partners), working each organization from top to bottom rather than a single point of contact Maintain a consistent, "top of mind" presence with key accounts so Baseten is positioned to move quickly when capacity needs arise Evaluate capacity from the GPU to the data center — hardware generation, rack and node configuration, interconnect, power density, and cooling — so you know what a configuration will actually deliver, not just what the spec sheet claims Live in compute pricing daily: track rates by GPU generation, region, and contract term to keep Baseten inf

About the Team The Future of Computing Research team is an applied research team in the Consumer Devices group focused on developing new methods and models to support our vision as we advance forward in our mission of building AGI that benefits all of humanity. About the Role As a Technical Lead on the Future of Computing Research team, you will work together with both the best ML researchers in the world and the greatest design talent of our generation to push the frontier of model capabilities. This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We follow a hybrid model with 3 days a week in the office and offer relocation assistance to new employees. In this role, you will: Evaluate and select silicon platforms (GPUs, NPUs, and specialized accelerators) for on-device and edge deployment of OpenAI models. Work closely with research teams to co-design model architectures that meet real-world deployment constraints such as latency, memory, power, and bandwidth. Analyze and model system performance, identifying tradeoffs between model design, memory hierarchy, compute throughput, and hardware capabilities. Partner with hardware vendors and internal infrastructure teams to bring up new accelerators and ensure efficient execution of transformer workloads. Build and lead a team of engineers responsible for implementing the low-level inference stack, including kernel development and runtime systems. Run through the necessary walls to take nascent research capabilities and turn them into capabilities we can build on top of. You might thrive in this role if you: Have experience evaluating or deploying workloads on GPUs, NPUs, or other specialized accelerators. Understand the performance characteristics of transformer models, including attention, KV-cache behavior, and memory bandwidth requirements. Have designed or optimized high-performance compute systems, such as inference engines, distributed runtimes, or hardware-aware ML pipelines. Have experience building or leading teams work

ABOUT BASETEN Baseten powers mission-critical inference for the world's most dynamic AI companies, like Cursor, Notion, OpenEvidence, Abridge, Clay, Gamma, and Writer. By uniting applied AI research, flexible infrastructure, and seamless developer tooling, we enable companies operating at the frontier of AI to bring cutting-edge models into production. We're growing quickly and recently raised our $1.5B Series F , led by Altimeter Capital, Conviction Partners, and Spark Capital. Join us and help build the platform engineers turn to ship AI products. ABOUT THE ROLE This role owns Baseten's relationships and market intelligence across the hardware and chip layer of the compute stack: NVIDIA directly and key OEM partners such as Dell, Lenovo, Pegatron, and Supermicro. As Baseten's compute strategy increasingly depends on hardware access and terms, this role is central to keeping Baseten ahead of the market. WHAT YOU'LL DO Build and maintain relationships across NVIDIA and key OEM partners (e.g. Dell, Supermicro) Track market intelligence on hardware availability, roadmaps, and terms to keep Baseten informed and strategically well-positioned Support deal structuring and negotiation in partnership with Baseten's deal-making function Work closely with Infrastructure and Hardware Platform engineering teams to ensure consistent, high-quality provider relationships and engineering partnerships Represent Baseten credibly across senior relationships in the hardware ecosystem, escalating to company leadership when strategically valuable WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR Existing relationships and credibility within the NVIDIA, OEM, and HPC ecosystem Strong relationship-management instincts, with the judgment to know when to bring in senior leadership for maximum impact Comfort operating in a fast-moving, high-stakes market where hardware access can be a major competitive differentiator Collaborative style — this role depends on close coordination with engineering counterparts, not just ex

Who are we? Cohere is the leading security-first enterprise AI company. We build cutting-edge foundation AI models and end-to-end products that are designed to solve real-world business problems. We’re training and deploying frontier models for enterprises who are building AI systems. We believe that our work is instrumental to the widespread adoption of AI and we are looking for folks that want to be part of that. We obsess over what we build. Each one of us is responsible for contributing to increasing the capabilities of our models and the value they drive for our customers. Cohere is a team of researchers, engineers, designers, and more, who are all passionate about their craft. We are a global technology company headquartered in Toronto with key offices in London, New York City, San Francisco, Montreal, Paris, Berlin and Seoul. Join us! Why this team? The GPU Clusters team builds and operates the superclusters that train Cohere’s frontier models. We sit at the intersection of hardware, distributed systems, and AI research. We work with cloud providers, researchers, and other infrastructure teams on problems few companies get to take on. As an Engineering Manager, you’ll lead a team of engineers who care deeply about GPU infrastructure. You’ll set technical direction, grow people, and help the company scale a rapidly growing compute footprint. As an Engineering Manager, you will: Hire, mentor, and grow a team of GPU infrastructure engineers , including performance, career development, and technical guidance on hard infrastructure problems Own the technical roadmap for the fleet: how we deploy, operate, and scale Kubernetes clusters, including workload scheduling, hardware fault detection, and performance Partner with researchers and ML engineers so the training and inference stack works well on new GPU architectures Work with cross-functional stakeholders such as Capacity, Finance, Legal, Security, and other infrastructure teams on planning, cost, compliance, an

About the Team OpenAI Consumer Devices is building the next generation of products that bring powerful AI into people’s everyday lives. Guided by OpenAI’s mission to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity, our team combines world-class researchers, engineers, designers, and operators who care deeply about creating useful, intuitive, and responsible technology. You’ll have the opportunity to work alongside exceptional people on ambitious, zero-to-one challenges at the intersection of hardware, software, and AI. This is a chance to help define an entirely new category of products—and shape how people experience AI in the future. The Systems Integration team is critical in this mission, turning complex hardware-software development into reliable product signals. We build the shared infrastructure, tooling, and lab environments that let teams test quickly, understand failures, and ship with confidence. About the Role As a Systems Integration Manager , you will lead the team responsible for device validation infrastructure, test automation, developer tooling, and lab operations. This is a player-coach leadership role: you’ll set technical and operational direction, build and develop a team of engineers and lab operations professionals, and stay close to the architecture and hardest systems problems. You will partner closely with device software, OS, firmware, hardware, reliability, QA, and release infrastructure teams to define validation strategy, improve release readiness, and ensure our test environments and quality signals scale with the product. Because this is a new category of devices, you’ll have the rare opportunity to build the validation foundation early—shaping the systems, standards, and operating model that will support products from prototype through launch. We’re looking for a leader who combines strong technical judgment with people leadership, operational rigor, and experience building reliable systems for complex hardware-software products. This role is b