OpenAI Engineer Reveals Lightning-Fast Hiring Process

An OpenAI engineer has shared how the company’s recruitment cycle can move from first contact to a signed job offer in just one week, underscoring the speed and intensity of its hiring approach, according to Business Insider.

Jerene Yang, who leads synthetic data generation at OpenAI, described her experience on the AI Across Borders podcast, calling the process “extremely quick, extremely efficient, and very no-nonsense.”

Yang joined OpenAI’s San Francisco office in October 2024 after serving as a senior engineering manager at Google, where she oversaw Cloud Spanner and large-scale database systems.

From Outreach to Offer in Days

Yang explained that a recruiter contacted her on a Monday about a leadership role aligned with her expertise. She spoke with the hiring manager and technical lead the next day. By Wednesday, she had completed a full day of interviews from 9 am to 6 pm. The offer arrived Thursday, and she signed it Friday—wrapping up the entire process in under a week.

A key stage was the “technical deep dive,” also known as a “research discussion” for research-focused positions. Candidates present a project they’ve built, the challenges they addressed, and the reasoning behind their technical decisions. “You really get to see the intellect of your interviewer as well and how much they know about your area,” Yang noted.

Efficiency and Automation at the Core

Yang emphasized that beyond technical skills, OpenAI values the ability to be “brutally efficient” with time. With multiple high-priority projects running simultaneously, employees are expected to focus only on tasks where they add clear value.

She added that candidates should be comfortable using AI tools and thinking strategically about automation to maximize productivity.

OpenAI’s interview guide outlines a process that typically includes resume screening, introductory calls, skills assessments, and final interviews. The last stage usually spans four to six hours over one or two days, testing problem-solving, communication, and collaboration—often pushing candidates outside their comfort zones.