About this role.
OpenAI is hiring a senior-level Technical Threat Investigator to investigate sophisticated adversaries targeting its systems and misusing AI models for cyber operations. The role combines threat intelligence, incident-response-style investigation, adversary hunting, telemetry analysis, OSINT, and platform-abuse detection. The investigator will independently turn ambiguous signals into actionable findings, then build scripts, automation, and AI-assisted workflows to scale detection and disruption. Success requires close partnership with Security, Safety Systems, Product Policy, and Integrity teams, as well as clear communication to technical and executive stakeholders.
Role DNA
A quick view of the complexity, pace, ownership and collaboration implied by the job description.
Job Complexity
5/5Pace & Pressure
5/5Autonomy Level
5/5Communication Load
5/5Salary analysis
Estimated compensation compared with the broader US market for similar roles.
Core skills
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Sample interview questions
I would explain how I triaged the initial signal, formed and tested hypotheses using internal telemetry and external intelligence, attributed behavior based on evidence, assessed impact, and delivered prioritized detection, containment, and prevention recommendations. I would also describe how I documented confidence levels and converted recurring investigative steps into repeatable workflows.
I would define the suspected misuse behavior, identify relevant product and security telemetry, and correlate account, interaction, infrastructure, and behavioral indicators with trusted threat intelligence. I would preserve evidence, distinguish legitimate security research from harmful activity using policy and risk criteria, and work with safety and enforcement partners on proportionate disruption and detection improvements.
I would translate observed behaviors into measurable indicators, behavioral analytics, and detection hypotheses rather than relying only on fragile indicators of compromise. I would validate detections against historical data, tune for precision and operational usefulness, document analytic assumptions, and automate enrichment and alert triage where it reduces analyst workload.
A strong example would involve building a script or lightweight service that collects data from multiple sources, normalizes key entities such as accounts, domains, or infrastructure, enriches them with intelligence, and produces an investigator-ready timeline. I would measure improvement through reduced manual steps, faster time to findings, and better consistency in investigative output.
I communicate the assessed activity, confidence level, business or safety impact, evidence basis, key uncertainties, and recommended decisions in concise language. I separate facts from analytic judgment, use clear risk framing, and provide specific actions and owners so leaders can make timely, informed decisions.
About the Team
Security is at the foundation of OpenAI’s mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.
The Threat Intelligence team protects OpenAI’s technology, people, research, and infrastructure by proactively identifying and disrupting adversaries who seek to compromise our systems or misuse our models. We investigate sophisticated threats, build tooling to scale and augment analysis, and deliver intelligence that shapes security strategy and equips leadership with timely, risk-aware insights. We combine technical depth, investigative rigor, and strong cross-functional partnerships to uncover threats and drive impact across OpenAI’s security and research organizations.
About the Role
As a Technical Threat Investigator at OpenAI, you will help protect the company from sophisticated adversaries targeting OpenAI and the broader ecosystem, as well as those attempting to misuse our models in support of cyber operations.
This is a deeply investigative role. You will independently conduct complex, end-to-end investigations into capable threat actors to understand their behavior, infrastructure, emerging techniques, and how AI is integrated into their workflows. You’ll use these insights to proactively identify malicious activity and drive detection, disruption, enforcement, and safety improvements across the company.
You’ll translate your investigative findings into durable solutions that scale impact. You’ll build and own lightweight tooling, automate where it matters, and create AI-assisted workflows to make investigations faster, more repeatable, and more effective over time.
In this role, you will:
Conduct deep, end-to-end investigations into sophisticated threat actors interacting with OpenAI’s models, products, and broader ecosystem.
Think like an adversary — model attacker behavior, anticipate misuse patterns, and proactively hunt for, identify, and disrupt malicious activity.
Leverage internal telemetry, OSINT, vendor data, and in-house safety systems to produce high-confidence findings on adversarial use of our models in cyber operations, platform abuse, and threats targeting OpenAI.
Translate investigative findings into concrete improvements across detection, enforcement, intel, and safety pipelines.
Build tooling, scripts, automations, and agentic workflows that scale investigative throughput and reduce manual effort.
Prototype solutions in ambiguous and emerging problem spaces, including new product surfaces, novel attacker behaviors, and areas where existing coverage may be limited.
Partner closely with teams across Security, Safety Systems, Product Policy, and Integrity to operationalize findings and drive meaningful outcomes.
Produce clear, high-signal written outputs and recommendations that inform decision-making across technical and executive stakeholders.
You might thrive in this role if you have:
Experience in threat intelligence, incident response, offensive security, or a closely related field.
Solid experience investigating sophisticated threat actors, including model misuse, platform abuse, or other adversarial activity in complex environments.
A strong understanding of adversary behavior, infrastructure, and tradecraft, and the ability to apply that understanding to proactive investigations.
Demonstrated ability to independently drive deep technical investigations from ambiguous signals through to clear, actionable findings.
Experience using AI to extend or accelerate investigative workflows.
Strong scripting ability and comfort building lightweight automation, investigative tooling, or workflows that improve scale and repeatability.
Strong ability to leverage telemetry from diverse systems and vendors to drive investigations, including directly querying, extracting, and stitching together data where needed.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, especially the ability to translate technical investigations into high-signal outputs for diverse stakeholders.
Comfort operating independently in ambiguous, fast-moving problem spaces with minimal oversight.
This is a remote role with close collaboration required across teams in the US and UK. While the role is remote, regular in-person engagement with our San Francisco (SF) headquarters will be expected. Relocation assistance is available for candidates who wish to relocate to SF.
About OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity.
We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.
For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.
Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.
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We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.
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