Design Engineer, Power Generation (AI)

Location: San Francisco, United States; hybrid

Salary: $257,000–$327,000 per year, plus equity and potential bonuses

Company

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company building and safely deploying general-purpose artificial intelligence systems.

What you will do

• Develop power-generation concepts, reference architectures, design criteria, and site-specific requirements for large-scale AI infrastructure campuses.
• Evaluate gas turbines, reciprocating engines, fuel cells, battery energy storage, microgrids, black-start systems, and hybrid grid-and-generation configurations.
• Define and review electrical and mechanical balance-of-plant requirements, protection and controls, grid paralleling, islanding, redundancy, and operating modes.
• Translate AI infrastructure load profiles and deployment schedules into capacity plans, equipment sizing, ramp strategies, and commissioning criteria.
• Lead technical diligence of OEM, EPC, developer, and supplier proposals and coordinate interfaces across utilities, substations, cooling, controls, fuel, emissions, permitting, construction, and operations.
• Support procurement, design reviews, factory and site acceptance testing, construction issue resolution, commissioning, performance testing, corrective actions, and operational handoff.

Requirements

• 8+ years of engineering experience in power generation or industrial power systems, including responsibility for generation facility design or integration.
• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience taking generation projects from concept and equipment selection through detailed design, including procurement, construction support, commissioning, or performance testing.
• Strong understanding of gas turbines or reciprocating engines and supporting electrical, mechanical, and fuel systems, including protection, controls, grid paralleling, islanding, and black start.
• Ability to evaluate engineering studies, drawings, specifications, and supplier proposals; identify technical risks; and make tradeoffs across safety, reliability, cost, schedule, and maintainability.
• Experience resolving multidisciplinary design interfaces and coordinating suppliers, engineering and construction partners, utilities, and operators.
• Sound judgment around safety, reliability, constructibility, maintainability, and technical risk when requirements or information are incomplete.
• Ability to document design requirements, assumptions, and decisions clearly and explain technical recommendations to engineering, delivery, commercial, and leadership teams.

Nice to have

• Professional Engineer licensure and experience developing reusable engineering standards and reference designs across multiple projects.
• Experience deploying and commissioning onsite generation for campuses or industrial facilities with demand of hundreds of megawatts or more, including large load steps and rapid power fluctuations.
• Experience co-designing and deploying battery energy storage systems with onsite generation, including sizing, controls integration, load smoothing, and frequency support.
• Familiarity with utility interconnection studies, emissions and environmental constraints, fuel-supply requirements, and generation permitting.
• Experience validating generation and storage performance through dynamic studies and field testing, including load steps, load rejection, generator trips, and grid-connected to islanded transitions.
• Experience delivering phased campus power using temporary generation, permanent generation, storage, and utility service while maintaining power to operating loads.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work in San Francisco with relocation support for eligible employees.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, including employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.
• 401(k) plan with employer match, paid parental and medical leave, paid time off, company holidays, and sick or safe time.
• Mental health and wellness support, employer-paid life and disability coverage, and an annual learning and development stipend.
• Office meals, eligible meal delivery credits, commuter benefits, and additional taxable fringe benefits.