Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
This Project Engineer role stands out in the SaaS landscape because it sits beneath the software layer that makes large-scale AI products viable. OpenAI’s Industrial Compute work is oriented around building and delivering mission-critical, hyperscale infrastructure, which is an increasingly central differentiator for SaaS companies whose offerings depend on reliable, high-density compute and data center capacity.
For a SaaS career, the value is in learning how physical infrastructure constraints translate into platform availability, deployment timelines, and operational readiness. Coordinating civil, electrical, mechanical, utilities, permitting, and construction stakeholders builds a systems view that is uncommon in traditional software roles but highly transferable to SaaS organizations operating at scale, especially those managing cloud partnerships, capacity planning, and reliability commitments.
This position is best suited to professionals who prefer cross-functional integration over single-discipline execution, and who are comfortable acting as the technical interface between internal engineering leadership and external delivery partners. It will fit someone who enjoys turning designs into operating environments, tracking risks and decisions rigorously, and working across long project lifecycles where sequencing, change control, and commissioning discipline materially affect downstream product delivery.
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 Industrial Compute organization is building the world's most advanced AI infrastructure ecosystem. Through both strategic partnerships and self-built campuses, we are delivering hyperscale AI infrastructure that powers the next generation of frontier AI models.
The Infrastructure Delivery organization transforms engineering designs into operational AI campuses by coordinating engineering, construction, utilities, commissioning, and operations across highly complex infrastructure programs. We work closely with internal engineering teams, external contractors, utilities, permitting agencies, and cloud infrastructure partners to execute projects safely, efficiently, and at unprecedented speed.
Project Engineering serves as the technical integration layer between engineering and construction, ensuring every discipline remains aligned throughout project delivery.
About the Role
We are seeking a Project Engineer to coordinate engineering execution across Industrial Compute's self-build data center construction programs. This role is responsible for integrating civil, electrical, mechanical, utility, permitting, and construction activities into a unified execution plan that supports aggressive deployment schedules.
You will partner closely with engineering teams, construction management, utility providers, consultants, and OpenAI technical leadership to ensure engineering decisions remain aligned throughout the project lifecycle. This includes coordinating temporary infrastructure, permanent utility development, construction sequencing, engineering changes, and operational readiness activities.
Success in this role requires strong technical fundamentals, exceptional coordination skills, and the ability to manage complex engineering dependencies across multiple stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities
Coordinate engineering execution across civil, electrical, mechanical, utility, and construction disciplines.
Develop integrated engineering execution plans supporting self-build campus delivery.
Coordinate utility providers, permitting agencies, consultants, contractors, and EPC partners throughout project execution.
Lead engineering coordination for temporary power, permanent power, water systems, and supporting site infrastructure.
Support project budgeting, engineering schedules, risk management, and technical planning.
Coordinate engineering changes and resolve multidisciplinary design conflicts during construction.
Optimize construction sequencing and engineering workflows to improve project delivery.
Support infrastructure readiness activities leading into commissioning and operational handoff.
Track engineering risks, action items, and technical decisions while communicating project status to leadership.
Serve as the primary engineering interface between OpenAI technical leadership and external delivery partners.
Drive continuous improvement across engineering coordination, construction execution, and project delivery methodologies.
Support optimization of water usage, construction sequencing, and overall infrastructure efficiency across the self-build portfolio.
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Construction Engineering, or a related discipline.
7+ years of experience supporting large-scale infrastructure, industrial construction, mission-critical facilities, energy projects, or data center delivery.
Experience coordinating multidisciplinary engineering teams during design and construction.
Strong understanding of engineering project delivery, utility coordination, permitting, and construction execution.
Experience managing engineering schedules, project risks, and technical dependencies.
Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
Preferred Skills
Experience supporting hyperscale data center or mission-critical infrastructure projects.
Experience coordinating utility providers, permitting agencies, and EPC contractors.
Familiarity with temporary power, permanent utility infrastructure, and commissioning activities.
Experience with owner-led infrastructure development programs.
Knowledge of project controls, scheduling tools, and construction management methodologies.
Professional Engineer (PE), PMP, or equivalent certification is a plus.
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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