Research Scientist, Model Safety

About the Role

OpenAI is seeking a senior researcher with passion for AI safety and experience in safety research. Your role will set directions for research to enable and empower safe AGI and work on research projects to make our AI systems safer, more aligned and more robust to adversarial or malicious use cases. You will play a critical role in shaping how a safe AI system should look like in the future at OpenAI, making a significant impact on our mission to build and deploy safe AGI.

In this role, you will:

• Conduct state-of-the‑art research on AI safety topics such as RLHF, adversarial training, robustness, and more.
• Implement new methods in OpenAI’s core model training and launch safety improvements in OpenAI’s products.
• Set the research directions and strategies to make our AI systems safer, more aligned and more robust.
• Coordinate and collaborate with cross‑functional teams, including T&S, legal, policy and other research teams, to ensure that our products meet the highest safety standards.
• Actively evaluate and understand the safety of our models and systems, identifying areas of risk and proposing mitigation strategies.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Are excited about OpenAI’s mission of building safe, universally beneficial AGI and are aligned with OpenAI’s charter.
• Demonstrate a passion for AI safety and making cutting‑edge AI models safer for real‑world use.
• Bring 4+ years of experience in the field of AI safety, especially in areas like RLHF, adversarial training, robustness, fairness & biases.
• Hold a Ph.D. or other degree in computer science, machine learning, or a related field.
• Possess experience in safety work for AI model deployment.
• Have an in‑depth understanding of deep learning research and/or strong engineering skills.
• Are a team player who enjoys collaborative work environments.

Total compensation also includes generous equity and benefits.

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family.
• Mental health and wellness support.
• 401(k) plan with 4% matching.
• Unlimited time off and 18+ company holidays per year.
• Paid parental leave (20 weeks) and family‑planning support.
• Annual learning & development stipend ($1,500 per year).

$245,000—$440,000 USD

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.

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.