Research Scientist / Research Engineer — Early Career Cohort

OpenAI
San Francisco, CA, USA2026-03-19

About the job

OpenAI is hiring a small cohort of exceptional early-career researchers and engineers to join OpenAI Research. This opportunity is designed primarily for current undergraduate students and recent graduates who have demonstrated technical ability through elite competitions and challenges. Participants join OpenAI directly as full-time Research Scientists / Research Engineers and begin with an intensive one-month research bootcamp designed to immerse them in the core problems behind modern AI systems.

Responsibilities

Learn OpenAI’s research infrastructure and tools

Work with a mentor and get direct experience building here

Meet with researchers across multiple OpenAI teams and explore potential research directions

Work on technically demanding research challenges

Qualifications

Minimum

Demonstrated exceptional mathematical or algorithmic problem-solving ability

Strong ability to reason about complex technical or mathematical systems

Comfort with linear algebra, probability, statistics, and optimization

Evidence of rapid independent learning and technical creativity

Ability to obtain and maintain authorization to work in the United States by the program start date. Candidates who cannot secure appropriate work authorization by the start date may not be eligible for this cohort.

Preferred

High-level results in Olympiads, Putnam, ICPC, or similar competitions

Top or novel performance in an OpenAI-hosted Challenge or similar

Research in mathematics, algorithms, theoretical computer science, physics, or machine learning

Independent projects exploring machine learning systems, algorithms, or AI research