Top 34
Prep plan
Updated weekly · Last refresh Aug 30

OpenAI Research Engineer Interview Questions

The questions to prepare for a OpenAI Research Engineer interview. Questions from real interview reports rank first. Updated weekly.

34questions
~6htotal time
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1
CodingStart here. 8 questions · ~80 min
Stable KL Divergence ComputationHard
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Implement KL divergence for two discrete distributions with normalization, epsilon clipping, and correct handling of zero-probability terms.

OpenAI
Paged KV Cache SimulatorHard
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Implement a paged KV cache simulator that supports append, lookup, and eviction with O(1) token access metadata.

OpenAI
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2
Machine Learning10 questions · ~100 min
Debug Diverging Ad CTR TrainingMedium
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Diagnose and stabilize a diverging binary classifier for OpenAI ad click prediction using structured features and disciplined training diagnostics.

OpenAI
Accelerate Fraud Model Training RunsEasy
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Optimize a gradient boosting training pipeline for payment fraud detection to minimize time-to-result without materially hurting model quality.

OpenAI
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3
System Design6 questions · ~60 min
Debugging Stuck Training NodesMedium
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Tests systematic debugging skills for distributed training failures and performance bottlenecks.

OpenAI
Gradient Accumulation Across NodesMedium
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Tests knowledge of distributed training mechanics, correctness, and efficiency tradeoffs.

OpenAI
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4
Behavioral & Leadership8 questions · ~80 min
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5
More topics2 questions · ~20 min
Calculate Scheduling Time and Success RateMedium
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Evaluates your ability to define metrics and compute performance and reliability for scheduling systems.

OpenAI
ML Transformer Text Generation DebugHard
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Tests your ability to diagnose model and training/inference issues in transformer-based text generation.

transformersDebuggingOpenAI
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