Description
OpenAI's Global Network Infrastructure team is responsible for building and operating the global network backbone that connects our rapidly expanding compute infrastructure.
We are looking for a hands-on Network Infrastructure Engineer to help design, deploy, activate, and operate OpenAI's global wide area network (WAN) infrastructure.
In this role, you will take direct ownership of bringing new network connectivity online, working closely with fiber providers, cloud service providers, and internal infrastructure teams to establish reliable connectivity across our global backbone.
Responsibilities:
- Design, deploy, and support WAN infrastructure across data centers, network PoPs, and cloud connectivity environments.
- Own the end-to-end activation and turn-up of network circuits, working directly with fiber carriers and cloud service providers to establish and validate connectivity.
- Troubleshoot complex network issues across physical, Layer 2, and Layer 3 infrastructure, including optical signal problems, FEC errors, routing issues, and connectivity failures.
- Diagnose and isolate network failures across carrier, cloud provider, and internal infrastructure boundaries, driving issues through resolution.
- Contribute to physical network infrastructure design, including port mappings, fiber and cable layouts, optical distribution frames (ODFs), and connectivity planning.
- Monitor network health, circuit utilization, and performance to proactively identify capacity constraints and reliability risks.
- Build automation and tooling to streamline network provisioning, deployment validation, troubleshooting, and operational workflows.
- Collaborate with network engineering, data center infrastructure, and external service providers to support the expansion of OpenAI's global backbone.
- Participate in an on-call rotation to maintain the reliability and availability of critical network infrastructure.
Requirements:
- Hands-on experience deploying, activating, and troubleshooting WAN circuits with telecommunications carriers, fiber providers, or cloud service providers.
- Strong understanding of networking fundamentals, including optical networking, Ethernet, TCP/IP, BGP, and Layer 2/3 connectivity.
- Comfortable debugging network issues across multiple layers, from physical fiber connectivity and optical errors to routing and traffic forwarding.
- Experience working with data center networking, carrier infrastructure, cloud interconnects, or large-scale WAN environments.
- Understand physical network infrastructure concepts such as fiber cabling, port mappings, optical distribution frames, and network equipment connectivity.
- Can independently investigate ambiguous connectivity problems, isolate root causes, and work across internal and external teams to restore service.
- Experience with scripting or automation tools and are motivated to reduce manual work through repeatable, scalable processes.
Nice to Have:
- Experience building or operating large-scale backbone networks, hyperscale data center networks, or cloud provider interconnect infrastructure.
- Familiarity with optical transport technologies, network telemetry, and advanced troubleshooting of physical network links.
- Experience automating network operations using Python, Go, or infrastructure automation frameworks.
- Experience deploying new network PoPs or supporting large-scale network expansion projects.
- Experience collaborating with carriers, colocation providers, and cloud networking teams on complex connectivity deployments.