About the Talk:

In our first Careers at the Frontier conversation, OpenAI Head of Recruiting Joaquin Quiñonero Candela shared why the world’s top talent chooses OpenAI and what values guide our hiring.

In this follow-up, we’ll take a closer look at the recruiting process in practice. You’ll hear directly from OpenAI recruiters about:

1. Top skills they look for in candidates, what it’s like to review thousands of applications, and what makes a candidate stand out.
2. Behind-the-scenes stories about how OpenAI hired some of its most accomplished researchers.
3. Concrete advice for future applicants, including crafting a clear resume, preparing for coding interviews, and demonstrating alignment with OpenAI’s mission.

This session will move from principles to concrete examples of how OpenAI hires, and what sets successful candidates apart.

About the Speakers:

Sarah Warkov, Sourcer @ OpenAI

Sarah Warkov is a Sourcer at OpenAI, where she has spent the past two years building teams across Applied AI and Research. She’s helped recruit engineers behind ChatGPT, Sora, and Operator—often starting from the very first hire—and now supports hiring for OpenAI’s Robotics organization. Before OpenAI, she recruited technical talent at Google, Meta, Amazon, and in startups. Outside of work, she enjoys family time, long walks with her 90-pound dog, and binge-watching reality TV.

Red Avila, Recruiter @ OpenAI

Red Avila is a Recruiter at OpenAI, where he’s spent the past 5+ years building teams across Research, Engineering, Legal, Intelligence & Investigations, HR, Recruiting (“R4R”), Sales, and more. He’s recruited talent behind our core research like GPT-3, Codex and the OpenAI API and even participated in red-teaming models like GPT-4. He enjoys being a “utility” talent partner, working across different domains and keeping his skills fresh. Outside of work, he spends time learning about wine, using ChatGPT to help him exercise, and keeping up on the latest sci-fi books and movies.