Connectivity Software Engineer · OpenAI

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:26:12 GMT
Engineering

OpenAI · San Francisco · $293K – $325K • Offers Equity · hybrid

Location

San Francisco

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Hybrid

Department

Consumer Products

Compensation

$293K – $325K • 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

The Connectivity Software Engineering team is responsible for enabling seamless, secure, and high-performance wireless connectivity across OpenAI’s products. We design and optimize Bluetooth, BLE, Wi-Fi, and emerging wireless technologies to ensure robust device pairing, network performance, and interoperability. Our work spans kernel drivers, system services, and user-level tools, with a focus on real-world performance, scalability, and reliability.

About the Role

OpenAI is seeking a Connectivity Software Engineer to design, implement, and optimize wireless connectivity features across our product ecosystem. You’ll work at the intersection of systems software, wireless standards, and hardware integration—building robust pairing and provisioning flows, debugging low-level protocols, and driving performance under real-world RF constraints. You will also support certification, field interoperability, and fleet-scale connectivity infrastructure.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 4 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will:

Design, implement, and debug Bluetooth/BLE and Wi-Fi features across kernel drivers, BlueZ/wpa\_supplicant/hostapd, and systemd/D-Bus services

Deliver robust pairing, bonding, and provisioning flows (GATT/GAP, LE Audio/LC3, WPA3/802.1X, captive portals, NAN)

Optimize link performance: throughput, latency, jitter, roaming, coexistence (BT↔Wi-Fi), and power modes (TWT, WoWLAN)

Build reliable network management using NetworkManager/nmcli, nl80211/cfg80211/mac80211, DNS/DHCP/mDNS, P2P/SoftAP

Instrument and analyze with packet captures and tooling (btmon/hcidump, Wireshark, iperf, eBPF/perf, spectrum sniffers)

Drive interoperability and certification readiness (Bluetooth SIG, Wi-Fi Alliance) and resolve field issues with root-cause fixes

Contribute to OTA-safe configuration, telemetry, and diagnostics for fleet-scale operation

You might thrive in this role if you:

Have deep experience shipping wireless features on Linux-based products

Are highly proficient in C/C++ with scripting experience (Python or shell) and systems debugging (gdb, strace, logs, packet traces)

Possess deep knowledge of Bluetooth Classic/BLE (HCI, L2CAP, GATT/GAP, profiles) and Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, WPA2/3, nl80211, NAN)

Bring hands-on experience with BlueZ, wpa\_supplicant/hostapd, NetworkManager, and driver bring-up on ARM64 or x86 platforms

Have a proven track record of improving real-world performance and reliability under RF constraints

Preferred qualifications:

Experience with LE Audio (LC3), BLE Mesh, advanced roaming (802.11k/v/r), QoS/WMM, multicast/IGMP

Coexistence tuning across radios (BT/Wi-Fi/UWB/mmWave) and antenna/RF fundamentals with test equipment workflows

Familiarity with UWB (IEEE 802.15.4z, FiRa) ranging/integration; mmWave/Wi-Gig (802.11ad/ay)

Experience with security and provisioning at scale (EAP-TLS, device identity, secure boot, disk/network hardening)

Background in building factory test, interoperability, and certification test plans; upstream/open-source contributions

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.