aimlroles

Research Engineer/Research Scientist - Personal AGI, North Stars

OpenAI openai.com Open · verified Oct 22, 2026
Hybrid San Francisco Full-time Mid-level AI Research

At a glance

Mid-level AI Research role at OpenAI. San Francisco · full-time · $380,000–$500,000 base.

SalaryStated by OpenAI
$380,000 – $500,000
Base salary for this role, in USD per year, as published in the posting.
This role, from OpenAIOur estimate for the market: $200,000–$266,875Median $240,000
Above the market median of $240,000 for mid-level AI research roles in San Francisco.
Worked out from 50 postings that stated pay, median $240,000. Last updated Oct 22, 2026.
RoleAI Research
SeniorityMid-level
LocationSan Francisco
WorkplaceHybrid
EmploymentFull-time
Base pay$380,000–$500,000
PostedJun 25, 2026 · 3mo ago
Role brief

aimlroles summary, based on the employer's posting.

What you'll do

  • Set a research direction for stronger model capabilities, then carry the work through to better performance
  • Find gaps in model behavior and turn them into evaluations, training examples, reward signals, or model and harness changes
  • Build evaluations that show whether modeling changes improve capability
  • Write, test, and debug code throughout the research stack
  • Work with research and product teams on experiences involving tool use, feature discovery, connectors, and instruction following

What you bring

  • Strong machine-learning engineering skills and research experience
  • A solid grasp of machine learning and its applications, with familiarity with relevant models and capability evaluations
  • Confidence debugging within a large machine-learning codebase

Who this fits

This mid-level research engineering or science role suits someone who enjoys technically demanding, product-oriented research. The job is hybrid in San Francisco, with three office days each week; relocation assistance is available to new hires. The stated salary is $380,000 to $500,000 per year.

From the employer

About the Team

The Personal AGI team seeks to empower all of humanity to benefit from frontier intelligence in whatever way they choose. We are responsible for training models to deploy to millions of users globally via ChatGPT, the API, and future products. We aim to evolve ChatGPT from a chatbot to an infinitely capable and personalized superassistant supporting human flourishing.

We work on defining, measuring, and improving capabilities across the training stack. Our focus areas include but are not limited to model behavior, personalization, safety, factuality, instruction following, personality, interactivity, multilingual fluency, world interaction, and bringing agents to everyone. We chart the course for what to strive towards.

We partner closely with research and product teams across the company ensuring that our models are safe, efficient, and reliable.

About the Role

You’ll work as a Research Engineer / Scientist on the North Stars team within the broader Personal AGI research org. You will work on bringing the next generation of AI-enabled experiences to all of humanity by closing the capability overhang between power users and the average consumer, including areas like tool-use, feature discovery, connectors, and instruction following. You will think deeply about the current bottlenecks in model behavior, translate these insights into robust evals, training data, reward signals, and model and harness improvements.

We're looking for individuals with strong ML engineering skills and research experience passionate about creative, product-driven research.

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:

  • Own and pursue a research agenda to improve model capability and performance.

  • Collaborate closely with the other research and product teams, allowing customers to optimize their own models.

  • Build robust evaluations for tracking modeling improvements.

  • Design, implement, test, and debug code across our research stack.

You might thrive in this role if you:

  • Have a deep understanding of machine learning and machine learning applications.

  • Have a working knowledge of relevant models, and building evaluations for model capability improvement.

  • Are comfortable diving into a large ML codebase to debug.

  • Thrive in a dynamic and technically complex environment.

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.

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We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.

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