OpenAI Residency Program (6 Months)

Organization

OpenAI

Opportunity Type

Full-Time Paid Research Residency (Employee Role)

Location

📍 San Francisco, California, USA

• Hybrid (in-person collaboration required)

• Relocation assistance available

Duration

⏳ 6 months
(Start dates are flexible based on team availability)

Program Overview

The OpenAI Residency is a six-month, full-time program designed to identify, mentor, and develop exceptional individuals with the potential to make outsized contributions to frontier AI research.

Residents join OpenAI as full-time employees, embedding directly within Research teams to work on ambitious, cutting-edge problems under the mentorship of senior researchers and engineers. The program emphasizes learning velocity, originality, and technical creativity over formal credentials.

High-performing residents may be considered for full-time roles at OpenAI at the end of the program, depending on performance and business needs.

Key Responsibilities

As an OpenAI Resident, you will:

• Embed within an OpenAI Research team for six months

• Work on high-impact, open-ended AI research problems

• Design and execute technical experiments

• Contribute to real research directions and tools

• Learn directly from senior researchers and engineers

• Ramp up quickly and contribute meaningfully during the program

Who Should Apply

OpenAI welcomes applicants from non-traditional and interdisciplinary backgrounds, including:

• Self-taught engineers, hackers, and independent builders

• Early-stage founders with strong technical projects

• Researchers from physics, mathematics, neuroscience, or related fields

• Engineers or researchers who thrive in unstructured environments

• Individuals with high-signal achievements (Olympiads, hackathons, open-source work, publications, or major projects)

Formal degrees are not required—trajectory and capability matter more than credentials.

Required Qualifications

Applicants must:

• Be extremely proficient in programming and software development

• Be very comfortable with advanced math:

  • Linear algebra

  • Probability & statistics

  • Calculus

• Be able to independently execute complex technical projects

• Demonstrate strong problem-solving ability

• Be open to consideration for a full-time role after the residency

Preferred Qualifications

• Evidence of self-study in machine learning fundamentals

• Original research, experimentation, or technical exploration

• Recognition or achievements in technical or creative fields

• Open-source contributions, impactful projects, or publications

• Strong motivation to advance AI for the benefit of humanity

Application & Selection Timeline

• 📅 Application review & interviews begin: January 2026

• 🧠 Interview process: Multiple technical assessments over several weeks

• 🚀 Start dates: Flexible, based on team availability

⚠️ No fixed application deadline is specified.

Compensation & Benefits

• 💰 Compensation: USD $18,333 per month

• 🧳 Relocation assistance available

• 🧠 Direct mentorship from OpenAI researchers

• 🏢 Full-time employee status during the residency

Equal Opportunity & Accessibility

OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, age, disability, nationality, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics.

• Background checks conducted in accordance with applicable laws

• Reasonable accommodations available for applicants with disabilities

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose AI benefits all of humanity. The organization advances state-of-the-art AI systems while prioritizing safety, responsibility, and broad societal benefit.