OpenAI· Hardware· San Francisco
Hardware Tools Engineer
Comp$225K – $445K
Classified Tasks (14)
Automate 0%Augment 93%Human-Only 7%
Augment (13)
AI assists, human decides
Develop and evolve the tooling ecosystem for hardware engineering, including hardware compilers, IR transformations, simulation, debugging, and automation infrastructure.
technical
Build and improve software tooling for compilation, IR transforms, RTL generation, simulation, debugging, and automation.
technical
Extend and integrate hardware compiler stacks (frontends, IR passes, lowering, scheduling, codegen to Verilog/SystemVerilog).
technical
Connect compiler toolchains and generated artifacts to real design workflows and engineering pipelines.
operational
Implement reproducible builds for hardware tooling and design flows.
operational
Improve error messages and diagnostics produced by tooling.
technical
Optimize developer iteration loops to speed up design and validation cycles.
operational
Build and maintain dependable CI and regression infrastructure for hardware tools.
operational
Read and reason about Verilog/SystemVerilog to debug issues, validate tool output, and improve debuggability.
technical
Analyze gate-level views, synthesis results, and implementation artifacts to diagnose problems and improve tools.
analytical
Build analysis and automation around area, timing, and power tradeoffs to enable PPA optimization loops.
analytical
Improve tooling that impacts area, timing, and power outcomes.
technical
Integrate simulation and debug tools into verification workflows to validate designs and toolchains.
operational
Human-Only (1)
Requires human judgment
Collaborate with architects, RTL designers, and verification engineers to translate engineering friction into durable, scalable tooling solutions.
communication
Job description
Hardware Tools Engineer | OpenAI Careers ## Hardware Tools Engineer Hardware - San Francisco Apply now(opens in a new window) **About the Team** OpenAI’s Hardware organization develops silicon and system-level solutions designed for the unique demands of advanced AI workloads. The team is responsible for building the next generation of AI-native silicon while working closely with software and research partners to co-design hardware tightly integrated with AI models. In addition to delivering production-grade silicon for OpenAI’s supercomputing infrastructure, the team also creates custom design tools and methodologies that accelerate innovation and enable hardware optimized specifically for AI. **About the Role** You will develop and evolve the tooling ecosystem that hardware engineers rely on every day — from hardware compilers and IR transformations to simulation, debugging, and automation infrastructure. The work spans software engineering, compiler concepts, and practical hardware workflows, with direct impact on how quickly and effectively we design next-generation AI systems. You’ll collaborate closely with architects, RTL designers, and verification engineers to translate real engineering friction into durable, scalable tooling solutions. **In this role you will:** * Build and improve the software tooling that makes hardware teams faster: compilation, IR transforms, RTL generation, simulation, debug, and automation. * Extend and integrate hardware compiler stacks (frontends, IR passes, lowering, scheduling, codegen to Verilog/SystemVerilog) and connect them to real design workflows. * Improve developer experience and reliability: reproducible builds, better error messages, faster iteration loops, and dependable CI and regression infrastructure. * Work closely with designers and verification engineers to turn real pain points into durable tools. * Dive into RTL when needed: read and reason about Verilog/SystemVerilog to debug issues, validate tool output, and improve debuggability. * Be willing to go all the way down the stack when necessary, including gate-level views, synthesis results, and implementation artifacts. * Help enable PPA optimization loops by building analysis and automation around area, timing, and power tradeoffs, and by improving tooling that impacts those outcomes. **You might thrive in this role if:** * Demonstrated ability to build and maintain software (projects, internships, research, open source, or equivalent experience). * Strong CS fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, debugging, and software design. * Proficiency in at least one of Rust, C++, or Python (and willingness to learn the rest). * Familiarity with digital design concepts and the ability to read RTL (Verilog/SystemVerilog) or equivalent hardware descriptions. * Familiarity with compiler or IR-based ideas (representations, passes, transformations, lowering), through coursework or projects. * Comfort operating in ambiguity and iterating quickly with users of your tools. **Nice to have skills:** * Exposure to compiler and hardware toolchains such as XLS/DSLX, LLVM, Chisel/FIRRTL, CIRCT/MLIR, other novel hardware languages (e.g. HardCaml, SpinalHDL, Spade, PyMTL, Clash, BlueSpec, PyRope) * Experience with Verilog tooling ecosystems (Yosys/RTLIL, Verilator, Slang) or writing tooling around them. * Experience with build and test infrastructure (Bazel, CI systems, fuzzing, performance testing). * Prior work touching synthesis, place and route, static timing analysis, or other PPA-related workflows. *To comply with U.S. export control laws and regulations, candidates for this role may need to meet certain legal status requirements as provided in those laws and regulations.* **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