Software Engineer, Privacy Engineering (Lawful Access)

About the Role

About the Team The Privacy Engineering team builds secure, reliable systems that help OpenAI meet its legal obligations while protecting user data. We partner closely with Legal and Engineering teams across OpenAI to support lawful data access requests and other critical legal workflows. Our work turns complex, high-stakes processes into auditable and dependable technical systems with clear human oversight and strong privacy and security controls. About the Role We’re looking for a full-stack Software Engineer to build the internal tools and data pipelines that power lawful data access request workflows and Legal Operations. You will work across product and data systems to make authorized retrieval and case handling accurate, efficient, and auditable. This role is well suited to someone who enjoys translating ambiguous operational requirements into durable systems, cares deeply about sensitive-data handling, and wants to improve both technical reliability and the day-to-day experience of the people operating these workflows. This role is based in San Francisco, CA, with two additional locations under consideration: London, UK, and Dublin, Ireland. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees. In this role, you will: - Design, build, and operate backend systems and workflow tooling for the full lifecycle of lawful data access requests, from intake and scoping through authorized retrieval, review, preparation, and audit. - Build reliable data pipelines and interfaces across products and data stores so authorized teams can locate and handle the right records accurately and reproducibly. - Implement least-privilege access, approval gates, provenance, audit trails, data minimization, and safe failure modes for sensitive workflows. - Partner with Legal and Legal Operations to translate legal and operational requirements into clear technical designs and intuitive operator experiences. - Identify

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate backend systems and workflow tooling for the full lifecycle of lawful data access requests, from intake and scoping through authorized retrieval, review, preparation, and audit.
• Build reliable data pipelines and interfaces across products and data stores so authorized teams can locate and handle the right records accurately and reproducibly.
• Implement least-privilege access, approval gates, provenance, audit trails, data minimization, and safe failure modes for sensitive workflows.
• Partner with Legal and Legal Operations to translate legal and operational requirements into clear technical designs and intuitive operator experiences.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Strong problem solving foundations, knowledge of modern engineering practices, and interest in technology systems.

Perks & Benefits

• Official mentor support
• verified hiring timeline
• and career progression.