Deadline: Unspecified
Applications are open for the OpenAI Residency Program 2026. The OpenAI Residency is a six-month 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 within Research teams to work on cutting-edge problems under the mentorship of senior researchers and engineers. The goal is to build a talent discovery engine, finding people whose learning velocity, originality, and technical creativity signal the potential to become future leaders in AI research and development.
About the Role
As a Resident, you’ll embed with one of OpenAI’s Research teams for six months, working on ambitious projects that push the boundaries of AI. You’ll receive direct mentorship from experienced researchers, learn to design and execute experiments, and contribute to real research directions. Residents are expected to ramp quickly and contribute meaningfully during the program. Some Residents may be considered for full-time roles at the end of the program based on performance and business needs.
This role is based in San Francisco, CA, with a hybrid, in-person collaboration schedule. Relocation assistance is available.
Benefits
- They offer a salary of $18.3K per month.
Eligibility
They are looking for individuals who demonstrate strong technical ability and steep growth potential, regardless of formal credentials. They value trajectory over any particular archetype.
You might be:
- A creative builder, hacker, or early-stage founder with a track record of turning ambitious ideas into working prototypes, tools, or products that push the frontier of what’s possible.
- An engineer or researcher who learns quickly, thrives in unstructured environments, and loves solving open-ended technical problems.
- A cross-disciplinary researcher from an adjacent field such as physics, mathematics, quantitative research, or neuroscience who’s drawn to the core scientific questions of intelligence.
- An independent thinker who pursues ideas outside conventional paths through self-study, open-source work, or personal research projects.
- A proven problem solver, for example through Olympiads, hackathons, or other high-signal achievements, with the technical ability to tackle hard problems.
Residents
- Should be open to consideration for full-time roles after the program.
- Must be extremely proficient in programming languages and software development.
- Must be very comfortable with advanced math concepts in linear algebra, statistics, probability, and calculus.
- Must be able to independently build or execute complex technical projects.
Preferred Qualifications
- Achievements or recognition in any technical or creative field (e.g., competition awards, impactful projects or publications, or open-source contributions).
- Evidence of self-study in machine learning fundamentals.
- Clear signals of originality, experimentation, or rapid learning.
- Motivation to discover AI breakthroughs and their potential benefits to humanity.
Application
- They expect to review applications and start interviewing as early as January 2026.
- The interview process for this role will include multiple technical assessments over the course of several weeks.
For more information, visit OpenAI Residency.
