Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
This 3P Architect role sits at a layer of the SaaS ecosystem that is often invisible but decisive: the hardware and systems architecture that makes large-scale AI services viable. Rather than focusing on a single product surface, the work centers on rack and cluster reference designs, where performance, power, reliability, and cost constraints directly shape what software platforms can deliver at scale.
For a long-term SaaS career, the value is in learning how infrastructure choices translate into user-facing capability and operational limits. Ownership of end-to-end third party system definitions, plus collaboration with performance modeling, builds strong instincts around tradeoffs and capacity planning. The vendor-facing component also develops a practical understanding of how external roadmaps, component availability, and system integration affect delivery timelines for cloud services.
The role is best suited to professionals who prefer cross-functional influence over narrow implementation, and who are comfortable turning ambiguous workload needs into crisp specifications. It will appeal to architects who enjoy working across internal stakeholders and external partners, and who want their decisions to have downstream impact on how AI-powered SaaS offerings scale and evolve.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
About the Team
OpenAI’s Hardware organization develops system and infrastructure solutions tailored to the demands of advanced AI workloads. We work across the full stack—from silicon to system integration—partnering closely with internal teams and external vendors to define and deliver next-generation AI infrastructure.
Our team focuses on defining scalable, high-performance system architectures and reference designs that balance performance, cost, and operational efficiency across rapidly evolving technologies.
About the Role
We are seeking a 3P Architect to define and drive rack- and cluster-level reference designs in collaboration with external partners. This role is responsible for translating workload requirements and system-level goals into concrete architectures, aligning partners on critical design attributes, and ensuring vendor roadmaps meet our infrastructure needs.
You will work closely with performance modeling and internal architecture teams to evaluate tradeoffs, while owning the end-to-end definition and execution of third-party system designs. This includes identifying gaps in current technologies, driving vendor development, and shaping future infrastructure capabilities.
This role requires strong system intuition, cross-functional leadership, and the ability to operate effectively across internal teams and external ecosystems.
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.
Key Responsibilities
Define rack- and cluster-level reference architectures for AI infrastructure deployments.
Translate workload requirements into clear system design specifications and partner deliverables.
Collaborate with performance modeling teams to evaluate architectural tradeoffs and system behaviors.
Align internal stakeholders and external partners on critical system attributes (performance, cost, power, reliability, scalability).
Identify gaps in current technology offerings and drive vendors (ODM/JDM, silicon, networking) to close those gaps.
Influence and shape vendor roadmaps to meet future infrastructure needs.
Track emerging technologies and evaluate their applicability to AI systems.
Define and lead proof-of-concept (PoC) efforts to validate new architectures and technologies.
Act as a key interface between OpenAI and external partners, ensuring execution against design intent.
Qualifications
Have strong experience in system architecture for large-scale infrastructure or data center environments.
Understand AI workload characteristics and how they map to system-level design decisions.
Are comfortable working with performance modeling outputs to inform architectural direction.
Have experience working with or managing hardware vendors (ODM/JDM, silicon, networking).
Can drive alignment across multiple stakeholders with competing constraints.
Have a track record of turning ambiguous requirements into clear, executable system designs.
Are proactive in identifying gaps and driving solutions across organizational boundaries.
Preferred Skills
Experience defining rack- or cluster-level systems for hyperscale or AI workloads.
Familiarity with accelerators (GPUs/ASICs), interconnects, and data center networking architectures.
Experience influencing vendor roadmaps and reference designs.
Background in infrastructure deployment, hardware engineering, or systems integration.
Experience leading PoCs or early-stage hardware validation efforts.
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 OpenAI’s 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 information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.
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