Applied AI Engineer, API Platform, Digital Natives
About this role
The Applied AI Engineering team builds infrastructure and provides technical guidance to ensure the safe and effective deployment of generative AI applications for developers and enterprises. Engineers in the Digital Native segment work directly with prominent technology companies to turn frontier model capabilities into new product features and agentic experiences. Daily responsibilities include writing and debugging code, building evaluation systems, resolving complex integrations, and guiding decisions involving model behavior, reliability, latency, cost, safety, and security.
Candidates will handle the full lifecycle from use-case selection and architecture through prototyping, evaluation, production launch, and scale. Success in the role is measured by production systems, sustained adoption, and meaningful customer impact rather than simple activity. Professionals who combine deep technical judgment, hands-on engineering, customer leadership, and the ability to navigate ambiguity tend to thrive in this environment.
What you will do
- Embed with sophisticated platform customers to serve as a technical thought partner in ideating and building novel applications on the API.
- Forge relationships with CTOs and AI product and engineering leaders to ensure successful application deployment at scale.
- Provide proactive guidance on maximizing business impact and accelerating time to value for customer applications.
- Build targeted prototypes, pilots, and model evaluations with customer teams to test product ideas and guide architecture decisions.
- Collaborate with product and research teams to validate upcoming frontier AI capabilities in customer environments and deliver high-signal feedback.
- Scale the applied AI engineering function by sharing knowledge and publishing best practices to internal and external repositories.
- Evaluate emerging model capabilities and developer tools to translate relevant advances into practical recommendations.
- Participate in on-site workshops and implementation sessions involving occasional travel to resolve technical challenges.
What you need
- Bring 8+ years of deep, hands-on technical experience with an eagerness to work closely with customers.
- Demonstrate a track record of personally leading complex, production-scale AI and ML systems from discovery through production deployment and measurable business impact.
- Show familiarity with AI industry trends including agent architecture patterns, advanced prompt and context engineering, evaluation frameworks, safety, and security.
- Possess proficiency in Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, or similar languages with comfort in building production-quality prototypes.
- Exhibit strong technical judgment, knowing when to go deep personally or mobilize specialists to make clear recommendations.
- Maintain a humble attitude with an eagerness to help others using empathy.
- Operate with high horsepower, context switching easily, and managing multiple projects with expansive ownership.
- Thrive in dynamic environments and navigate ambiguity with ease.
Benefits
- Offers Equity
- Relocation assistance to new employees
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote work policy for this role?
This role is based in the NYC office. OpenAI uses a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week.
What is the compensation range and package?
The salary ranges from $251K to $278K and offers equity. Relocation assistance is also available to new employees.
Who will I be working with in this position?
You will partner directly with experienced product and engineering teams at industry-leading technology companies like Stripe, Uber, and Reddit. Internally, you will collaborate with Product and Research teams.
What travel is expected for the job?
The position involves occasional travel to participate in on-site workshops and implementation sessions with customer teams.