OpenAI· Codex· Engineering - San Francisco, Seattle, and London, UK
Software Engineer, Codex App
Comp$230K – $385K
Classified Tasks (19)
Automate 0%Augment 79%Human-Only 21%
Augment (15)
AI assists, human decides
Build end-to-end features across the Electron desktop application, including UI and Node/TypeScript backend layers.
technical
Design and implement robust integrations with the Codex CLI and app server (Rust).
technical
Manage process lifecycle for integrated native processes and services.
operational
Implement streaming output handling from external processes and servers.
technical
Implement comprehensive error handling for integrations with native processes and services.
technical
Implement backpressure, buffering, and message-ordering strategies for IPC.
technical
Implement retries and idempotency strategies for local IPC and process interactions.
technical
Build debugging, safety, and observability mechanisms for IPC communication.
technical
Build orchestration systems for long-running tasks with incremental progress updates.
technical
Implement cancellation and retry mechanisms for orchestrated tasks.
technical
Implement state synchronization between application components and local services.
technical
Implement logging, tracing, and metrics to improve observability.
technical
Profile and optimize application performance to improve speed and resource usage.
technical
Build crash-handling and debug tooling to improve reliability and troubleshooting.
technical
Design and implement clean, testable boundaries between UI, local services, and native processes.
technical
Human-Only (4)
Requires human judgment
Own and design IPC architecture and patterns, including renderer/main boundaries and message schemas.
leadership
Collaborate with design and product teams to convert ambiguous needs into crisp, shippable workflows.
communication
Define workflows and select abstractions that enable fast, dependable features in real developer environments.
leadership
Ship production-quality features optimized for usability, performance, and reliability.
technical
Job description
Software Engineer, Codex App | OpenAI Careers ## Software Engineer, Codex App Codex - Engineering - San Francisco, Seattle, and London, UK Apply now(opens in a new window) ## **About the Team** The Codex App team owns the desktop application and IDE extension that bring Codex into developers’ daily workflows. We build product experiences end-to-end, and we care equally about usability, performance, and reliability. Our stack is centered on a TypeScript/Node/Electron application that interfaces with external systems including the Codex CLI and app server (Rust). Building great features here often means designing clean boundaries between UI, local services, and native processes — and making the whole system observable and resilient. ## **About the Role** We’re hiring a Full Stack Software Engineer to build and evolve the systems that power the Codex desktop app and IDE extension. “Full stack” here means owning flows from UI → Node/TypeScript backend layers → IPC/process orchestration → integration with Rust services. This is a product-minded role. You’ll help define workflows, pick the right abstractions, and ship features that feel fast and dependable in real developer environments. ## **What You’ll Do** * Build end-to-end features across the Electron app (UI + Node/TypeScript backend layers). * Design robust integrations with the Codex CLI and app server (Rust), including process lifecycle, streaming output, and error handling. * Own IPC architecture and patterns (renderer/main boundaries, message schemas, backpressure, safety, debugging). * Build systems for orchestration: long-running tasks, incremental progress updates, cancellation, retries, and state synchronization. * Improve reliability, observability, and performance (logging/tracing/metrics, profiling, crash/debug tooling). * Partner with design and product to turn ambiguous needs into crisp, shippable workflows. ## **You Might Thrive Here If You** * Have strong TypeScript/Node fundamentals and enjoy owning product features end-to-end. * Have experience with Electron or desktop app architecture (renderer/main separation, performance pitfalls, packaging/release concerns). * Are comfortable integrating with native processes/services (e.g., Rust) and designing clean, testable boundaries. * Know (or are excited to learn) IPC patterns and distributed-systems-like thinking applied locally: message ordering, buffering, backpressure, retries, idempotency. * Bring strong product judgment and enjoy iterating based on real usage and feedback. * Have experience with developer tools, CLIs, or IDE integrations (nice-to-have). **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