Network Infrastructure Engineer, Global Network Infra (WAN)
About The Position
The Network Infrastructure Engineer will help design, deploy, activate, and operate OpenAI’s global wide area network (WAN) infrastructure. The role owns bringing new network connectivity online and works with fiber providers, cloud service providers, and internal infrastructure teams to establish reliable connectivity across the global backbone. The engineer contributes to physical network design and circuit provisioning, troubleshoots complex connectivity issues across Layer 1, Layer 2, and Layer 3, and helps expand the network footprint by bringing new points of presence (PoPs) online. The role also supports reliable operations as OpenAI grows, using an automation-first approach to scale network deployment and operations. The position participates in an on-call rotation.
Requirements
- Hands-on experience deploying, activating, and troubleshooting WAN circuits with telecommunications carriers, fiber providers, or cloud service providers.
- Strong understanding of networking fundamentals, including optical networking, Ethernet, TCP/IP, BGP, and Layer 2/3 connectivity.
- Ability to debug network issues across multiple layers, from physical fiber connectivity and optical errors to routing and traffic forwarding.
- Experience with data center networking, carrier infrastructure, cloud interconnects, or large-scale WAN environments.
- Understanding of physical network infrastructure concepts such as fiber cabling, port mappings, optical distribution frames, and network equipment connectivity.
- Ability to independently investigate ambiguous connectivity problems, isolate root causes, and work across internal and external teams to restore service.
- Experience with scripting or automation tools and motivation to reduce manual work through repeatable, scalable processes.
- Enjoyment of working directly with infrastructure and ownership of technical problems from initial deployment through operational resolution.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-moving environment where infrastructure requirements evolve rapidly.
Nice To Haves
- Experience building or operating large-scale backbone networks, hyperscale data center networks, or cloud provider interconnect infrastructure.
- Familiarity with optical transport technologies, network telemetry, and advanced troubleshooting of physical network links.
- Experience automating network operations using Python, Go, or infrastructure automation frameworks.
- Experience deploying new network PoPs or supporting large-scale network expansion projects.
- Experience collaborating with carriers, colocation providers, and cloud networking teams on complex connectivity deployments.
Responsibilities
- Design, deploy, and support WAN infrastructure across data centers, network PoPs, and cloud connectivity environments.
- Own end-to-end activation and turn-up of network circuits, working with fiber carriers and cloud service providers to establish and validate connectivity.
- Troubleshoot complex network issues across physical, Layer 2, and Layer 3 infrastructure, including optical signal problems, FEC errors, routing issues, and connectivity failures.
- Diagnose and isolate network failures across carrier, cloud provider, and internal infrastructure boundaries, driving issues through resolution.
- Contribute to physical network infrastructure design, including port mappings, fiber and cable layouts, optical distribution frames (ODFs), and connectivity planning.
- Monitor network health, circuit utilization, and performance to identify capacity constraints and reliability risks.
- Build automation and tooling for network provisioning, deployment validation, troubleshooting, and operational workflows.
- Collaborate with network engineering, data center infrastructure, and external service providers to support expansion of OpenAI’s global backbone.
- Participate in an on-call rotation to maintain the reliability and availability of critical network infrastructure.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Education Level
No Education Listed
