> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt. # Applied AI Engineer, Startups Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/298ca66f9910d7a0 OpenAI posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in San Francisco, CA and 1 more, at $211,000–$278,000 base, above the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. Applied AI Engineer partnering with strategic startups to turn novel Generative AI ideas into production applications on OpenAI’s API, from ideation through scale. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [OpenAI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) First seen Apr 22, 2026 · open on Ashby as of Nov 8, 2026 **$211,000–$278,000** + equity San Francisco, CA +1 Hybrid, 3 days a week in office Full-time Applied AI Engineer partnering with strategic startups to turn novel Generative AI ideas into production applications on OpenAI’s API, from ideation through scale. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F298ca66f9910d7a0&placement=top) - [View posting at OpenAI](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai/71e7252f-abb1-4b74-8e69-318413042357/application) Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so. ## At a glance ### Posted base pay $211K–$278K Above the median Midpoint $245K · median $190K This job $211K to $278K. Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K. [Compare pay across all OpenAI postings](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/openai) ### The work Builds what the customer runs Balance **Mixed** Project stages 1. Pre-sales 2. Proof of concept 3. Implementation 4. Operations (not covered) - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Senior - **Role**: Individual contributor ### What they ask for Experience - **5+ years** software engineering, ML engineering, or equivalent experience Background - **Software engineering** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 5+ years. How many do you have? The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now? The job is in San Francisco, CA · New York, NY. Could you work in one of these? Which of these have you used in production? Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent. [What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths) ## Conditions - **Location**: San Francisco, CA · New York, NY - **Work arrangement**: Hybrid, 3 days a week in office - **Remote work restrictions**: Based in the San Francisco or New York office, with 3 days per week in the office. - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Pay**: ## More like this [Reducto](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/reducto) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/5c86f9b878bf4784) San Francisco, CA On-site 5mo ago $200,000–$300,000 [OpenAI Deployment Company](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai-deployment-company) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer - US](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/465d1561603a9449) San Francisco, CA · New York, NY Hybrid 4mo ago $170,000–$400,000 [Guild.ai](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/guild-ai) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer ](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/9d5934309cf265c1) San Francisco, CA Hybrid 6w ago $180,000–$300,000 - [Other jobs at OpenAI (52)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) ## The job description from OpenAI ### About the team The Applied AI Engineering team is responsible for ensuring the safe and effective deployment of Generative AI applications for developers and startups. We act as a trusted advisor and thought partner for our customers, working to build an effective backlog of GenAI use cases for their industry and drive them to production through strong technical guidance. OpenAI's customers represent a range of diverse backgrounds and maturity, from early-stage startups to late-stage startups. ### About the Role We are seeking a technically proficient, business-minded Applied AI Engineer to help push the frontier of advanced AI with our strategic startup customers. You'll work with some of the most exciting AI startups in the world, guiding them through ideation, development, delivery, and scaling to accelerate and maximize the value of what they build on our platform. You will have the opportunity to work on the most novel and creative use cases being built on our API, serving as a critical partner in collecting and delivering high-fidelity product and model feedback internally. You will collaborate closely with Sales, Solutions Engineering, Applied Research, and Product teams, and you will report to the Startups Applied AI Lead. This role is based in our **San Francisco** or ** New York** offices. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees. ### In this role, you will - Partner closely with strategic startup customers as their technical thought partner to build novel applications on our API, helping them rapidly move from ideation to scale. - Provide proactive guidance to maximize business impact and accelerate application development. - Experiment and prototype alongside customers, demonstrating practical use cases. - Contribute to open-source resources and scale the function by sharing knowledge, codifying best practices, and publishing useful resources. - Synthesize and deliver valuable feedback to the Product and Research teams. - Build relationships within the startup ecosystem, serving as a technical partner to both individual customers and the broader community. - Partner with the Sales team across startup accounts to identify customer opportunities, align technical work with business goals, and help customers bring AI applications to production. ### You’ll thrive in this role if you - Have 5+ years of experience as a software engineer, ML engineer or equivalent, ideally in a startup environment; experience as a founder or founding engineer is highly valued. - Have passion for startups and a belief in their potential to become future large enterprises. - Are proficient in Python, JavaScript, and a strong grasp of AI/LLM best practices. - Built and/or delivered prototypes on top of our API platform. - Can proactively identify opportunities for maximizing our customers’ business value through leveraging the OpenAI API. - Own problems end-to-end and are willing to pick up whatever knowledge you're missing to get the job done. - Have a humble attitude, an eagerness to help your colleagues, and a desire to do whatever it takes to make the team succeed. - Are an effective, high throughput operator who can drive multiple concurrent projects and prioritize ruthlessly. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link. ### About OpenAI OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement. Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, 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. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations. To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link. OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology. [View posting at OpenAI](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai/71e7252f-abb1-4b74-8e69-318413042357/application) ## About OpenAI Builds frontier AI models and ships them through ChatGPT consumer and enterprise products, Codex, and developer APIs. 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