Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - SF · OpenAI

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:37:34 GMT
Engineering

OpenAI · San Francisco · $162K – $280K • Offers Equity · hybrid

Job Posting

Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - SF

Location

San Francisco

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Hybrid

Department

Model Deployment for Business

Compensation

$162K – $280K • Offers Equity

The base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. If the role is non-exempt, overtime pay will be provided consistent with applicable laws. In addition to the salary range listed above, total compensation also includes generous equity, performance-related bonus(es) for eligible employees, and the following benefits.

Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts

Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit)

401(k) retirement plan with employer match

Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)

Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees

13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time (1 hour per 30 hours worked, or more, as required by applicable state or local law)

Mental health and wellness support

Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage

Annual learning and development stipend to fuel your professional growth

Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible

Relocation support for eligible employees

Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided.

More details about our benefits are available to candidates during the hiring process.

This role is at-will and OpenAI reserves the right to modify base pay and other compensation components at any time based on individual performance, team or company results, or market conditions.

About the team

OpenAI’s Forward Deployed Engineering team partners with customers to turn research breakthroughs into production systems. We operate at the intersection of customer delivery and core platform development.

About the role

Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) lead complex end-to-end deployments of frontier models in production alongside our most strategic customers. You will own discovery, technical scoping, system design, build, and production rollout, partnering directly with customer engineering and domain teams.

You will measure success through production adoption, measurable workflow impact, and eval-driven feedback that changes product and model roadmaps. You’ll work closely with our Product, Research, Partnerships, GRC, Security, and GTM teams.

This role is based in San Francisco. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week. We offer relocation assistance. Travel up to 50% is required.

In this role you will

Own technical delivery across multiple deployments from first prototype to stable production

Build full-stack systems that deliver customer value and sharpen how we learn

Embed closely with customer teams, understand their needs, and guide adoption of what you build

Scope work, sequence delivery, and remove blockers early

Make trade-offs between scope, speed, and quality; adjust plans to protect delivery

Contribute directly in the code when progress or clarity depends on it

Codify working patterns into tools, playbooks, or building blocks that others can use

Share field feedback that helps Research and Product understand where the models succeed and where they can improve

Keep teams moving through clarity and follow-through

You might thrive in this role if you

Bring 5+ years of engineering or technical deployment experience that includes customer-facing work

Have scoped and delivered complex systems in fast-moving or ambiguous environments

Write and review production-grade code across frontend and backend using Python, JavaScript, or comparable stacks

Simplify complexity and make fast, sound decisions under pressure

Communicate clearly with engineers, product teams, and customer stakeholders

Spot risks early and adjust without slowing down

Model calm and judgment when the stakes are high

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.