ZipRecruiter

Log In

1

Systems Performance Engineer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

OpenAI

ChatGPT Performance Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

They are seeking an experienced Performance Engineer to optimize the performance, reliability, and efficiency of their systems, particularly focusing on high-scale distributed systems and cross ...

RadixArk

Performance Engineer

Palo Alto, CA · On-site

You'll be working on the systems that determine whether frontier-scale AI workloads are actually ... Strong systems engineering background, especially in performance-critical software * Experience ...

Anthropic

Performance Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$280K - $850K/yr

Running machine learning (ML) algorithms at our scale often requires solving novel systems problems. As a Performance Engineer, you'll be responsible for identifying these problems, and then ...

RadixArk

Performance Engineer

Palo Alto, CA

You'll be working on the systems that determine whether frontier-scale AI workloads are actually ... Strong systems engineering background, especially in performance-critical software * Experience ...

Oklo

Fuel Performance Engineer

Santa Clara, CA · On-site +1

$120K - $165K/yr

Bachelor's degree in engineering, plus 3 years of experience ... Experience with multi-physics system performance analyses * Experience with finite element ...

next page

Showing results 1-20

People also search for

All JobsSystems Performance Engineer JobsSystems Performance Engineer Jobs in California

Systems Performance Engineer information

See California salary details

$52.8K

$125.5K

$164.8K

How much do systems performance engineer jobs pay per year?

As of May 30, 2026, the average yearly pay for systems performance engineer in California is $125,549.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $96,700.00 and $154,900.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Systems Performance Engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Systems Performance Engineer, you need strong analytical abilities, expertise in systems architecture, and a degree in computer science or a related field. Familiarity with performance monitoring tools (like New Relic, Dynatrace, or Splunk), scripting languages, and experience with operating systems and cloud platforms is typically required. Exceptional problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and effective communication help you collaborate across technical teams and resolve complex issues quickly. These skills ensure the optimal performance, reliability, and scalability of critical IT systems, which are vital for business continuity and user satisfaction.

What are some common challenges faced by Systems Performance Engineers in large-scale production environments?

Systems Performance Engineers often encounter challenges such as identifying bottlenecks in complex, distributed systems and dealing with unpredictable performance issues under varying workloads. They must balance optimizing system resources while ensuring minimal downtime and maintaining service reliability. Collaboration with development, operations, and QA teams is crucial to implement performance improvements and proactively address potential scalability concerns. Staying current with new technologies and monitoring tools also helps in effectively troubleshooting and tuning performance.

What are Systems Performance Engineers?

Systems Performance Engineers are professionals who analyze, monitor, and optimize the performance of computer systems and applications. They identify bottlenecks, run performance tests, and recommend improvements to ensure systems operate efficiently under varying workloads. Their role often involves collaborating with developers and IT teams to resolve issues, improve response times, and ensure scalability. These engineers use specialized tools to collect and interpret performance data, helping organizations maintain reliable and high-performing technology environments.
What are popular job titles related to Systems Performance Engineer jobs in California? For Systems Performance Engineer jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:
What job categories do people searching Systems Performance Engineer jobs in California look for? The top searched job categories for Systems Performance Engineer jobs in California are:
Systems Performance Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Systems Performance Engineer job openings in California as of May 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 96% Full Time, 1% Part Time, and 2% Contract. Highlights an 85% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 11% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $125,549 per year, or $60.4 per hour.
ChatGPT Performance Engineer

ChatGPT Performance Engineer

OpenAI

San Francisco, CA • On-site

Full-time

Posted 14 days ago

Job description

Job Summary:
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. They are seeking an experienced Performance Engineer to optimize the performance, reliability, and efficiency of their systems, particularly focusing on high-scale distributed systems and cross-functional collaboration.
Responsibilities:
• Analyze and optimize performance across application, middleware, runtime, and infrastructure layers—networking, storage, Python runtime, GPU utilization, and beyond.
• Develop tooling and metrics that provide deep observability into system performance.
• Collaborate closely with infra, platform, training, and product teams to identify key performance goals and drive systemic improvements.
• Influence architecture and design decisions to prioritize latency, throughput, and efficiency at scale.
• Lead investigations into high-impact performance regressions or scalability issues in production.
• Drive performance testing strategies and help define SLAs/SLOs around latency and throughput for critical systems.
Qualifications:
Required:
• 7+ years of experience in software engineering with a strong track record in performance or reliability of high-scale distributed systems.
• Deeply comfortable with performance profiling tools and tracing systems.
• Experience optimizing performance across one or more layers of the stack (e.g., database, networking, storage, application runtime, GC tuning, Python/Golang internals, GPU utilization).
• Strong understanding of OS internals, scheduling, memory management, and IO patterns.
• Contributed to observability, benchmarking, or performance-focused infrastructure at scale.
• Demonstrated success navigating ambiguity and aligning stakeholders around performance goals.
• Value simplicity, rigor, and collaboration when solving complex systems problems.
Company:
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company that develops advanced AI models, including ChatGPT. It is a sub-organization of OpenAI Foundation. Founded in 2015, the company is headquartered in San Francisco, USA, with a team of 1001-5000 employees. The company is currently Late Stage.

Apply