OpenAI’s Interview Process & Questions

OpenAI’s Interview Process & Questions

The info below is based on conversations with OpenAI engineers.

Last updated: June 22, 2026

OpenAI's Interview Process for Software Engineers: 3-4 Steps

Mid to senior-level engineers interviewing at OpenAI can expect the following process:

General tips:

The hiring process at OpenAI is hybrid, which means that you’re applying to a specific role and team. That said, there is some flexibility in terms of which role and team you might end up on – you might apply to one role but have them suggest others as you move through the process. Your interviewers will probably come from different teams, but the hiring manager interview will be with your future manager.

The entire process can take 6-8 weeks, but if you put pressure on them throughout you can speed things up, especially if you mention that you have other offers from top-tier companies or that you’re in process with the other labs.

AI Usage

AI use in OpenAI interviews is strictly prohibited, except in the beta agentic coding interview.

Step 1: Recruiter Call

OpenAI’s recruiter call lasts 30 minutes, and it’s pretty standard fare – they’ll ask you about your previous experience, why you’re interested in OpenAI, your understanding of OpenAI’s value proposition, and what you’re looking for moving forward.

In this round, your recruiter will also tell you what to expect in the next round, given how much variability there is in the interview process for different roles and teams. Your recruiter will also be in touch throughout the interview process to prep you for what’s coming up next.

It’s really important, at this stage, to not reveal your salary expectations or where you are in the process with other companies. We’ve written a detailed post about salary negotiation that lays out exactly what to say if recruiters pressure you to name the first number.

Step 2: Technical Phone Screen

OpenAI’s first technical phone screen lasts about an hour and is conducted in CoderPad. This is an algorithms and data structures style interview, but the questions are more practical than questions you’d find on LeetCode. We will cover what we know of their question style in the section called “Types of Interview Questions to Expect at OpenAI” below.

Step 3: System Design Screen

This is a system design interview conducted in Excalidraw. You'll be asked to architect a complete system from scratch, and the interviewer will probe your decisions with follow-up questions on scalability, reliability, and trade-offs. See the System Design section below for more details on question types.

Steps 2 and 3 are sometimes scheduled back-to-back in a single session rather than as separate steps spread across days or weeks — effectively a mini-onsite before the onsite. If that's the format you're given, the question styles are the same as described; you're just doing them consecutively.

If you have more information about this part of the process or see anything that’s incorrect, please fill in our form

Step 4: Onsite

Onsite interview loops also vary slightly depending on the role and seniority, but the below is generally what you’ll get:

Types of Interview Questions to Expect at OpenAI

All of OpenAI’s interview questions have a degree of practicality and are usually language agnostic.

Agentic Coding (Beta)

OpenAI is piloting an agentic coding round as part of the onsite. You'll be given an existing codebase, and you’ll have to make some changes and add some features. The problems are scoped to be too large and complex to tackle by hand, so the expectation is that you work through them using an AI coding agent. Not all candidates will get this round while it remains in beta.

Coding

OpenAI’s onsite coding interviews will be more practical than many companies’. Although you will still get algorithmic questions, they are going to be about stuff you might actually do at work.

“You’re not going to get questions on string manipulation.”

In these interviews, they are looking for your ability to write code that is going to be fast enough now but flexible enough to scale and adapt in the future. You can choose the language for the coding rounds, and the questions are picked based on whichever language you choose.

We've also seen math-heavy coding questions drawn from information theory and probability. Recent examples include:

System Design

You may get two system design rounds during the interview loop, one before the onsite and one during.

If you get one before the onsite, expect something practical – you might be asked to design Yelp, Foursquare, Twitter, or a notifications system.

In this round, they probe for depth of knowledge and will ask a bunch of follow-up questions. It’s also best not to name-drop names of tools:

“If you call out any specific technologies during this round, be prepared to go into detail about them! It may be best not to bring up specific examples as they seem to like drilling into the pros and cons of your choice.”

Presentation

You'll be asked to present a challenging technical problem you worked on recently to a senior manager. You might not explicitly be asked to prepare slides, but it’s a very good idea to do so anyway. Be prepared to discuss the technical and business aspects and impact of the project, as well as your level of contribution, what tradeoffs were made, what other team members were involved, and what everyone’s responsibilities were. You may get some behavioral questions about how you worked with the team.

Behavioral

Senior Manager Call

This is often with someone pretty high up at OpenAI. Our sources tell us it can be an interesting call. Although a lot of the questions will be standard, you may also be asked to delve deeper into something on your resume that catches the eye.

Working with Teams

This is another type of behavioral interview you might encounter. Expect questions about times:

All of these questions are meant to get at your ability to work collaboratively, particularly across disciplines. At OpenAI, that means working alongside researchers, product managers, and safety teams, not just other engineers. Generic teamwork stories won't cut it here; the more you can speak to cross-functional or research-driven environments, the better.

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