Software Engineer – Privacy Engineering (Lawful Access)

About the role

OpenAI’s Privacy Engineering team is looking for a full‑stack Software Engineer to build internal tools and data pipelines that power lawful data‑access request workflows and Legal Operations. You will translate ambiguous operational requirements into reliable, auditable systems while ensuring strong privacy and security controls.

Key responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate backend systems and workflow tooling for the full lifecycle of lawful data access requests, from intake to audit.
• Build reliable data pipelines and interfaces across products and data stores to enable accurate, reproducible record retrieval.
• Implement least‑privilege access, approval gates, provenance, audit trails, data minimisation, and safe‑failure modes for sensitive workflows.
• Partner with Legal and Legal Operations to turn legal requirements into clear technical designs and intuitive operator experiences.
• Identify automation opportunities that reduce repetitive work while preserving human review and accountability.
• Own production systems through testing, observability, incident response, documentation, and continuous reliability improvements.
• Contribute to the architecture and roadmap for reusable privacy and legal‑infrastructure foundations as OpenAI’s products evolve.

Required profile

• Experience building or operating systems for lawful data access requests and understanding of privacy, security, and auditability constraints.
• Strong backend engineering fundamentals and experience delivering production services or data‑intensive systems.
• Ability to reason carefully about correctness, authorization, security, and privacy when handling sensitive data.
• Proven track record of turning ambiguous requirements into pragmatic plans and communicating technical trade‑offs clearly.
• End‑to‑end ownership mindset, comfortable learning unfamiliar products and domains, and focus on operator experience.