Software Engineer, API Agents

About the role

Join the API Agents team to develop the foundational systems that enable OpenAI's advanced models to perform complex tasks reliably. This role focuses on backend engineering to create the core infrastructure for the next generation of AI agents. You will build robust services and abstractions that allow agents to understand context, utilize tools, manage memory, coordinate workflows, and operate securely.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Design, construct, and manage the central agent framework and backend infrastructure that supports high-value, ongoing workflows for OpenAI and external products.
• Create reusable functionalities for search, contextual understanding, computer interaction, knowledge retention, tool execution, delegation, subagents, and multi-agent coordination.
• Establish the necessary groundwork for agents to function safely in production, including secure execution environments, identity management, permissions, monitoring, evaluation, reliability, and cost/latency optimization.
• Collaborate with Research, Codex, infrastructure, applied product teams, and external developers to transform model advancements and workflow requirements into shared capabilities and measurable improvements in task completion, cost, and latency.

Requirements

• 7+ years of professional engineering experience, excluding internships, in relevant backend, infrastructure, platform, or product-focused engineering roles.
• Strong backend engineering fundamentals and a history of successfully leading complex systems from initial concepts to dependable production services.
• Proficiency in at least one backend language such as Python, Go, Rust, or TypeScript, with the ability to work across service, platform, and product domains.
• Solid systems design and operational judgment across distributed systems, APIs, workflow orchestration, search or storage, compute and execution, identity and permissions, or observability and reliability.
• Deep infrastructure knowledge combined with product insight: capable of simplifying complex systems into stable, reusable components for other engineers and developers.
• Strong developer empathy and communication skills, including experience collaborating with users, research teams, and product engineers to make new capabilities practical and reliable.
• High degree of initiative and comfort working in a dynamic environment, with a strong commitment to security, reliability, and operational excellence.

Practical notes

Background checks are administered in accordance with applicable law, 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. Reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities are available upon request.