> 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. # Capacity Systems Software Engineer Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/35326025ecb53c24 OpenAI posts a FDE role to build for teams inside the company in San Francisco, CA, at $347,000–$445,000 base, above the staff+ FDE median of $225,000 across 388 postings with pay. Build the internal platforms and services that coordinate planning, forecasting, allocation, deployment readiness, fleet health, and financial planning across OpenAI's rapidly expanding global compute footprint. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [OpenAI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) Posted May 22, 2026 by OpenAI · open on Ashby as of Nov 8, 2026 **$347,000–$445,000** + equity San Francisco, CA Hybrid, 3 days a week in office Full-time Build the internal platforms and services that coordinate planning, forecasting, allocation, deployment readiness, fleet health, and financial planning across OpenAI's rapidly expanding global compute footprint. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F35326025ecb53c24&placement=top) - [View posting at OpenAI](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai/11c51b12-3ba0-4a7a-a0d2-ed0661324dc3/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 $347K–$445K Above the median Midpoint $396K · median $225K This job $347K to $445K. Staff+ FDE postings, 388 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $197K to $262K, median $225K. [Compare pay across all OpenAI postings](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/openai) ### The work Builds for teams inside the company Balance **Mostly building** Project stages 1. Pre-sales (not covered) 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: Internal teams - **Level**: Staff+ - **Role**: Technical lead ### What they ask for Experience - **5+ years** software engineering, platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, or related technical disciplines 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 staff-level role. What level are you at now? The job is in San Francisco, CA. Could you work there? 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 - **Work arrangement**: Hybrid, 3 days a week in office - **Remote work restrictions**: Based in San Francisco; 3 days per week in the office. - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Pay**: ## More like this [Prologis](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/prologis) ### [Lead Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/b5974981b5313d0c) Denver, CO · Atlanta, GA · +8 more 6w ago $200,000–$285,000 [Sprinter Health](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/sprinter-health) ### [AI Enablement Engineer (Senior / Staff)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/9f6e765ba0277c1d) San Francisco, CA · Menlo Park, CA Hybrid 3mo ago $180,000–$260,000 [DiDi Global](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/didi-global) ### [Staff/Principal AI Transformation Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/b65b31efb56cef0f) San Jose, CA New · 5d ago $255,000–$351,000 - [Other jobs at OpenAI (52)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) ## The job description from OpenAI Posted by OpenAI on May 22, 2026 ### About the Team OpenAI's Industrial Compute organization is responsible for planning, delivering, operating, and optimizing the compute infrastructure that powers frontier AI. As OpenAI scales toward becoming an intelligence utility, Industrial Compute coordinates a complex lifecycle spanning infrastructure strategy, capacity planning, provider partnerships, fleet operations, product demand, and financial planning. The organization manages one of the largest and fastest-growing compute footprints in the world, where decisions around capacity allocation, deployment readiness, utilization, reliability, and product demand directly impact product availability, customer experience, and business performance. The Capacity Systems team builds the software platforms, data systems, and automation frameworks that connect these functions into a shared operating model. We transform fragmented planning workflows into scalable systems that enable teams to understand what compute was contracted, delivered, healthy, allocated, and ultimately converted into business and research outcomes. ### About the Role We are seeking a Capacity Systems Software Engineer to build the platforms and services that power Industrial Compute planning, forecasting, optimization, and operational decision-making. In this role, you will design and develop software systems that connect infrastructure delivery, fleet health, capacity allocation, demand forecasting, deployment readiness, financial planning, and product consumption into a unified system of record. Your work will help OpenAI make better decisions about where compute should be deployed, how capacity should be allocated, and how infrastructure investments translate into business value. You will partner closely with Capacity Planning, Fleet Operations, Infrastructure Engineering, Product, Finance, Supply Chain, and Strategic Sourcing teams to replace spreadsheet-driven workflows with scalable software systems that enable visibility, automation, and decision support across OpenAI's global compute footprint. This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy building internal platforms, operational systems, workflow automation, and data-intensive applications that sit at the intersection of software, infrastructure, and business operations. This role is based in San Francisco and follows OpenAI's hybrid work model of 3 days per week in the office. ### Why This Role Matters Demand for compute is growing faster than traditional planning systems can support. Capacity decisions increasingly require understanding complex tradeoffs across infrastructure delivery, fleet health, model deployment, latency, utilization, cost, revenue impact, and operational risk. The systems built by this team help transform compute from a collection of disconnected operational signals into a measurable, optimizable business capability. Success in this role will help create a world where every major unit of compute can be traced from infrastructure commitment through delivered business value, enabling faster launches, higher utilization, improved operational efficiency, and better decision-making across OpenAI. ### Key Responsibilities - Design and build software systems that serve as the system of record for Industrial Compute planning and operations. - Develop backend services, APIs, workflows, and data platforms that support capacity forecasting, allocation, deployment readiness, and operational planning. - Build applications that connect infrastructure delivery, fleet health, capacity utilization, product demand, and financial planning into a shared operational view. - Build planning and scenario-modeling systems that help leaders understand tradeoffs across capacity, utilization, cost, reliability, launch timing, and business impact. - Create workflow automation and decision-support tooling that improves planning accuracy and reduces operational overhead. - Partner with Capacity Planning, Fleet Operations, Product, Finance, Infrastructure Engineering, Supply Chain, and Strategic Sourcing teams to understand operational workflows and translate them into software systems. - Drive architecture decisions across planning platforms, operational tooling, and internal infrastructure systems. - Improve data quality, observability, and operational visibility across Industrial Compute programs. - Build extensible software foundations that scale alongside OpenAI's rapidly growing infrastructure footprint. ### Qualifications - 5+ years of experience in software engineering, platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, or related technical disciplines. - Strong programming experience in Python, Go, Java, TypeScript, or similar languages. - Experience building distributed systems, backend services, internal platforms, workflow systems, or operational tooling. - Experience designing APIs, data pipelines, and integrations across multiple systems. - Strong system design and software architecture skills. - Experience working with large operational datasets and business-critical workflows. - Ability to operate effectively in highly cross-functional environments and translate ambiguous operational challenges into scalable technical solutions. - Strong ownership mindset and ability to independently drive complex projects. ### Preferred Skills - Experience building planning systems, forecasting platforms, optimization engines, or decision-support tools. - Experience with SQL, data warehouses, orchestration frameworks, analytics platforms, and distributed data systems. - Experience supporting infrastructure, cloud platforms, data centers, hardware deployment programs, or large-scale operational environments. - Familiarity with capacity planning, supply chain systems, financial modeling, or infrastructure operations. - Experience replacing spreadsheet-driven workflows with scalable software platforms. - Experience building systems that support scenario planning, forecasting, optimization, or resource allocation. - Familiarity with AI infrastructure, hyperscale compute environments, or large-scale distributed systems. ### 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/11c51b12-3ba0-4a7a-a0d2-ed0661324dc3/application) ## About OpenAI Builds frontier AI models and ships them through ChatGPT consumer and enterprise products, Codex, and developer APIs. 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