Software Engineer, Physical Engineering
About The Position
The Physical Engineering team is part of OpenAI’s Enterprise Verticals organization. It is exploring how frontier AI can help people design, simulate, and build physical products, initially focusing on mechanical and electrical engineering. The team is building experiences in ChatGPT and integrations with engineering software to support engineers from early concepts through design, simulation, and production preparation. As a Founding Full Stack Software Engineer, you will help define and build the product and technical foundations of this new vertical. You will work across frontend experiences, backend services, and integrations, combining software engineering fundamentals with product judgment and user experience skills. Working directly with engineers and design partners, you will identify valuable problems, prototype solutions, and develop them into reliable products. The role calls for independent ownership, sound decisions amid uncertainty, and the ability to move between product details and system architecture. This role offers the opportunity to shape a product area from its earliest stages and influence what is built, how it works, and how the team develops. OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose AI benefits humanity, and it emphasizes safe deployment and human needs. OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.
Requirements
- Independently built and shipped substantial software products, with ownership across frontend and backend systems.
- Strong product instincts and UI judgment, especially for tools that make complex work easier to understand and perform.
- Ability and interest in working directly with users and translating their needs into product and technical decisions.
- Ability to turn an ambiguous opportunity into a clear starting point and working product.
- Ability to move quickly, make pragmatic tradeoffs, and remain accountable for quality after launch.
- Ability to learn unfamiliar tools and domains quickly and communicate clearly across disciplines.
- Interest in applying frontier AI to the design and development of physical products.
Nice To Haves
- Experience building CAD, CAE, simulation, electrical design, or related professional software.
- Experience developing interactive tools for visual, spatial, or technically complex workflows.
- Experience connecting engineering tools through APIs, plugins, or extensions.
- Experience building AI-powered applications and evaluating their usefulness and reliability.
- Experience taking a product from concept to production as a founder or early engineer.
Responsibilities
- Build and ship full-stack AI products that help mechanical and electrical engineers with design and simulation tasks.
- Own projects from customer discovery and prototyping through production deployment and iteration.
- Create intuitive interfaces that help users understand, inspect, and refine complex engineering outputs.
- Develop backend services, APIs, plugins, and integrations connecting OpenAI models with engineering software.
- Work directly with customers to understand engineering constraints, identify valuable applications, and translate specific needs into broadly useful products.
- Partner with research, design, platform, and forward deployed engineering teams to bring emerging AI capabilities into practical workflows.
- Evaluate product quality and reliability using customer feedback and product evidence.
- Help establish the technical foundations and engineering practices of a growing team.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Education Level
No Education Listed
