Senior Researcher, Robustness and Safety Training at OpenAI (San Francisco)

Job Description

OpenAI’s Safety Systems organisation is hiring a senior researcher for its Model Safety Research team, which works out how to make models behave safely and robustly without losing helpfulness. The researcher sets research directions and runs projects on topics such as RLHF, adversarial training and robustness, and ships safety improvements into OpenAI’s models and products.

At a glance

• Team: Safety Systems – Model Safety Research
• Location: San Francisco
• Pay: $380,000 – $500,000 a year plus equity, as listed
• Apply: open until filled (re-checked 14 October 2026)

What you would do

• Carry out leading research on AI safety topics such as RLHF, adversarial training and robustness
• Implement new methods in OpenAI’s core model training and launch safety improvements in products
• Set research directions for safer, more aligned and more robust models
• Work on enforcing nuanced safety policies, adversarial robustness and privacy and security risks

Why this role matters

Making a model refuse harmful requests without becoming unhelpful, and keeping it robust to people trying to break it, are central problems for any lab that deploys AI widely. This senior role shapes how OpenAI approaches them, and the methods developed here go straight into the training of production models.

What OpenAI is looking for

• Substantial experience in AI safety research
• Strong machine learning research and engineering skills
• Ability to set and lead research directions

Nice to have

• Experience deploying safety methods in production models

Pay and location

OpenAI lists $380,000 to $500,000 a year plus equity for this senior San Francisco role.

How to apply

Apply through the official OpenAI job posting. OpenAI’s posting does not give a closing date, so the role is open until filled; ResearchJobs.in will re-check this listing on 14 October 2026. Check the posting for location and work-authorisation details before you apply.

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