Test Engineer, Hardware

About the Team

OpenAIs Hardware organization develops silicon and system-level solutions designed for the unique demands of advanced AI workloads. The team is responsible for building the next generation of AI-native silicon while working closely with software and research partners to co-design hardware tightly integrated with AI addition to delivering production-grade silicon for OpenAIs supercomputing infrastructure the team also creates custom design tools and methodologies that accelerate innovation and enable hardware optimized specifically for AI.

In this role:

• As a Hardware Test Engineer you will work on Machine Learning/AI hardware system projects to craft the solutions for current and future data center deployments.

• You will bring a strong understanding of hardware system testing excellent project management skills and the ability to collaborate across multiple teams to ensure efficient lab operations.

• You will be responsible for designing implementing and executing comprehensive test plans that ensure the reliability performance and scalability of our supercomputing hardware systems. You will develop detailed test plans and methodologies tailored to hardware components including processors memory modules custom accelerators and interconnects.

• You will collaborate with hardware design manufacturing firmware teams and vendors to identify analyze and resolve issues affecting hardware power thermal and high-speed interconnects. You will perform in-depth debugging on the hardware system

  • Excellent analytical skills to diagnose hardware issues troubleshoot problems and propose solutions. Ability to interpret complex test data identify trends and draw meaningful conclusions.

  • High-speed links with a focus on SerDes (Serializer/Deserializer) technology to assess signal integrity error rates and overall link performance.

• You will collaborate with the lab manager to maintain the equipment and hardware systems including oscilloscopes thermal test chambers liquid cooling systems and other measurement devices.

• You will utilize advanced diagnostic and measurement tools to capture performance metrics and analyze system behavior. You will develop and maintain automation scripts to streamline testing processes. Proficiency in Python Bash and test automation frameworks to develop automated test scripts is highly desired.

• Effective communication to clearly document test results report defects and collaborate with cross-functional teams.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have at least 10 years of industry experience including experience testing or supporting hardware design teams for datacenter applications

• Proven experience in hardware testing and validation with hands-on experience with oscilloscopes power supplies analyzers and other test instruments.

• Have a strong understanding of electrical power and thermal testing methodologies.

• Have expertise with protocol of common interfaces such as SPI I2C USB DDRx and have experience characterizing and verifying compliance of Datacenter Ethernet interfaces.

• Hands-on experience with high-speed electrical and thermal test equipment such as oscilloscopes VNA TDR thermal cameras heat sinks and test chambers.

• Experience in using Cadence Allegro and automation / scripting.

• Have a strong bias toward action and wont take no for an answer.

• Have experience and good knowledge of system testing from xPUs board rack level to data center level

• Have a strong intrinsic desire to learn and fill in missing skills; and an equally strong talent for sharing that information clearly and concisely with others.

• Are comfortable with ambiguity and rapidly changing conditions.

• Have excellent analytical problem-solving and troubleshooting skills.

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.

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 OpenAIs 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 addition job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

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Required Experience:

IC