Firmware Engineer

About the Team

The Compute team works on the design of our AI supercomputers, doing everything from workload modeling to accelerator co-design. We’re leaning into our partnerships to make data center co-design an integral part of this process, and are looking for engineers to design AI supercomputers solutions for data center applications

This team will be responsible for working with partners to optimize their hardware for our workloads, identifying promising new deep learning accelerators, and bringing those hardware platforms to production.

If you’re excited to work at the intersection of cutting edge deep learning and data center design this role is for you!

About the Role

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Firmware Engineer to join our cutting-edge supercomputer hardware systems development team. In this role, you will be responsible for the design, development, and implementation of low-level firmware and software components, including BIOS, OpenBMC, and operating systems. You will collaborate closely with hardware, software, and system engineers to ensure seamless integration and functionality of computing systems used in supercomputing environments. This role will also involve reviewing and guiding vendor deliverables to ensure they meet the project’s technical requirements and quality standards.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. 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:

• Design, develop, and maintain firmware and low-level software for supercomputer hardware systems, focusing on components such as boot ROM, secure boot,  BIOS/UEFI, OpenBMC, and related system firmware.
• Work closely with hardware design teams to define firmware requirements and ensure proper integration with hardware components like processors, accelerators (ASICs), and peripherals.
• Work directly with external vendors to review firmware designs, ensure alignment with system specifications, and manage the integration of vendor-delivered firmware components.
• Review and assess vendor firmware development, ensuring adherence to the project’s technical standards, timelines, and quality requirements. Provide feedback and technical guidance to vendors to optimize performance, power management, and security.
• Develop and enhance OpenBMC firmware for system monitoring, power management, cooling management, machine health, and system diagnostics.
• Implement and optimize boot loaders, device drivers, debuggers, profilers, and other low-level software to ensure efficient and reliable system operation.
• Conduct debugging, testing, and validation of firmware and software, ensuring reliability and performance in complex, high-power computing environments.
• Participate in the design and execution of system-level power,  thermal management, and fan control strategies.
• Drive innovation and optimization in firmware architecture to meet performance, security, and power consumption targets.
• Interface with cross-functional teams including hardware, system architecture, power, and cooling teams to align on system-level requirements and design constraints.
• Assist in the mass production readiness of systems by collaborating on software/firmware solutions that support large-scale deployment.
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues at the hardware-firmware boundary during development and testing phases.

You might thrive in this role if you have:

• Strong understanding of hardware interfaces and protocols such as I2C, SPI, PCIe, and USB.
• Experience with embedded systems development, including bootloaders, drivers, and hardware-software interfacing.
• Experience managing vendor relationships and overseeing firmware work done by external partners, ensuring it aligns with internal design goals and quality standards.
• Proficiency with firmware development for server, storage, networking or other data center applications
• Familiarity with secure boot methods and firmware security protocols.
• Insight into low-level level performance counters and profilers
• Prior experience with ASIC integration and large-scale system deployments.
• Experience with version control systems, continuous integration, and build systems.
• Knowledge of power management techniques and system monitoring in HPC environments

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 do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. 

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For US Based Candidates: 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.

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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.