# Software Engineer - Privacy & Compliance

**Company:** [OpenAI](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/openai)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA
**Role:** Security Engineering
**Salary:** $230k – $385k/yr
**Experience:** 5+ years
**Skills:** Python, Go, Rust, C++, Java, RBAC, Acl, Distributed Authorization, Policy Engines, AWS, Azure, GCP, Encryption, Auditability, ML Infrastructure
**Posted:** 2025-10-17

> Builds backend systems to enforce data privacy, automate compliance, and implement distributed authorization mechanisms. Requires 5+ years experience in backend/infrastructure with languages like Python or Go, plus familiarity with privacy regulations.

## Job Description

## What You’ll Do
- Design, build, and operate backend services that enforce policy-driven data access, lifecycle controls, and privacy protections.
- Develop distributed authorization and identity-aware enforcement mechanisms integrated directly into data services and control planes.
- Implement auditability, policy hooks, and enforcement observability to ensure compliance is continuously verifiable.
- Partner with Security, Legal, and Compliance to convert privacy requirements into scalable technical designs and developer-friendly APIs.
- Harden data platforms and backend services through schema-level controls and data handling constraints by default.
- Collaborate with infrastructure teams to ensure consistent enforcement across systems while minimizing duplicated implementations.
- Contribute patterns, libraries, and education that elevate trustworthy data access patterns across the organization.

## You Might Thrive in This Role If You Have
- 5+ years of industry experience building and operating backend or infrastructure systems in production.
- Strong software engineering fundamentals, with fluency in at least one major programming language (**Python**, **Go**, **Rust**, **C++**, **Java**).
- Experience with distributed authorization, **RBAC/ACL** systems, encryption-based access, or policy engines.
- Familiarity with global privacy regulations and their architectural implications.
- Ability to influence and collaborate with teams across legal, compliance, product, and engineering.
- A bias toward practical, impactful solutions that balance privacy protections with product needs.

## Nice to Have
- Experience with cloud platforms (**Azure**, **AWS**, **GCP**) and large-scale data systems.
- Background in security engineering, privacy engineering, or data governance.
- Experience with control-plane or metadata-driven enforcement systems.
- Exposure to data platforms or **ML infrastructure**.
- Prior experience in a regulated or highly sensitive data environment.

## Similar roles

- [Software Engineer, Scaled Abuse](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/732bab54-c578-4c2f-928e-cb75247fc80d) - OpenAI - San Francisco, CA - $230k – $385k/yr
- [Software Engineer, Cyber Frontier](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/328b424b-35a0-499a-b388-235409c6feb7) - OpenAI - San Francisco, CA - $230k – $325k/yr
- [Technical Cyber Threat Investigator](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/0c91d6da-b527-4975-b07f-c6e3c451c4ba) - Anthropic - San Francisco, CA - $230k – $290k/yr
- [Security Engineer, Insider Threat Detection & Response](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/478c3a83-da00-4b8e-a7d4-7e6b8824d1b0) - OpenAI - San Francisco, CA - $230k – $385k/yr
- [Software Engineer, Privacy](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/ea7d246c-915b-4901-a6ec-c5c4ca0f1909) - OpenAI - San Francisco, CA - $230k – $325k/yr

**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/8fe16d7f-cfc2-401b-832a-9df4c6e12355
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/8fe16d7f-cfc2-401b-832a-9df4c6e12355