Senior Staff Backend Software Engineer, API Platform
About the Team Our team brings OpenAI’s most capable technology to the world through our developer platform: the OpenAI API. As the leading AI development platform, our API is used by millions of developers and the majority of enterprises around the world, and powers the majority of AI applications that you may use on
What this role actually needs.
About the Team Our team brings OpenAI’s most capable technology to the world through our developer platform: the OpenAI API. As the leading AI development platform, our API is used by millions of developers and the majority of enterprises around the world, and powers the majority of AI applications that you may use on Responsibilities: - Design and build products that we launch in API – extending existing endpoints, adding new endpoints, or rethinking our entire API suite. - Play a major role in our API Review process – working with all other teams to ensure our APIs meet our design standard. - Collaborate closely with the rest of the API team, our Developer Experience team, and our GTM team to make our APIs the best in the world. - Appreciate taste in API design – you believe there are well designed APIs and poorly designed APIs - Can thrive and operate independently in a fast-paced environment with ambiguous requirements and goals - Love building for other developers, and thrive on feedback from opinionated users Requirements: - Love building for other developers, and thrive on feedback from opinionated users - Are an engineer at heart, but are willing to lean into product decisions. - Think of APIs as ladders . Company context: OpenAI builds frontier AI systems, research infrastructure, and applied products for developers, enterprises, and global users.
Day-to-day expectations
OpenAI lists these responsibilities for the Senior Staff Backend Software Engineer, API Platform role.
- Design and build products that we launch in API – extending existing endpoints, adding new endpoints, or rethinking our entire API suite.
- Play a major role in our API Review process – working with all other teams to ensure our APIs meet our design standard.
- Collaborate closely with the rest of the API team, our Developer Experience team, and our GTM team to make our APIs the best in the world.
- Appreciate taste in API design – you believe there are well designed APIs and poorly designed APIs
- Can thrive and operate independently in a fast-paced environment with ambiguous requirements and goals
- Love building for other developers, and thrive on feedback from opinionated users
What a strong candidate brings
These requirements are extracted from the source listing and normalized for UpJobz readers.
- Love building for other developers, and thrive on feedback from opinionated users
- Are an engineer at heart, but are willing to lean into product decisions.
- Think of APIs as ladders .
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On-site roles in San Francisco should be compared against commute, local salary bands, and nearby employer demand.
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Source: jobs.ashbyhq.com · Source ID: 22781653-051b-4c75-8725-b80233c67b1e · Confidence: 97/100 · Last checked: May 7, 2026
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