Special Projects Lead, Partnerships

About the TeamThe Special Projects team is dedicated to tackling high-priority initiatives that span across strategic initiatives, pricing, partnerships, revenue strategy, and major business and product priorities. Working closely with the COO and business leadership, this team plays a pivotal role in advancing OpenAI’s highest priority projects. To thrive in this team, you need to be a proactive problem-solver who excels at bringing structure to ambiguous challenges. Our work demands strategic thinking, cross-functional collaboration, and precision in execution. Team members succeed when they are analytical, detail-oriented, skilled at balancing multiple priorities, and passionate about driving high-stakes projects forward to deliver meaningful results.About the RoleWe are hiring a Special Projects Lead focused on building and scaling OpenAI’s most important partnerships and strategic programs. This role will play a central part in programs like OpenAI for Countries—where we work with national governments to deploy AI responsibly—and partnerships with major global technology companies. You’ll also serve as a key resource to the business leadership team, helping to manage and execute top-priority cross-functional projects.This role demands a mix of strategic thinking, operational excellence, and strong relationship management. You’ll work across teams to shape new initiatives, coordinate with external partners, and ensure high-quality execution from concept to delivery.This role is based in our San Francisco HQ. We operate on a hybrid work model with three days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance. Travel (up to 10%) may be needed to support key partnerships and high-impact initiatives.In this role, you will:Take end-to-end ownership of high-priority special projects that span teams and don’t fall neatly into a single function.Support the strategy and execution of OpenAI’s most complex partnerships and strategic programs—working across initiatives like OpenAI for Countries and major product partnerships with global technology leaders.Collaborate closely with internal teams—including product partnerships, product, engineering, go-to-market, and finance—to shape deals, align execution plans, and ensure successful delivery.Turn one-off, high-impact projects into repeatable programs the company can scale and operationalize.Drive clarity and efficiency in how leadership’s top priorities are scoped, executed, and communicated across the organization.Build a strong, forward-looking perspective on how OpenAI operationalizes partnerships—balancing our objectives with those of our partners—and use that insight to shape our long-term strategy and operating model.You might thrive in this role if you:Have 5+ years of experience in business operations, strategy, venture capital, private equity, or consulting, with at least 2 years operating within a company.Bring a track record of end-to-end ownership of large, ambiguous projects, breaking them down into actionable plans and delivering results.Excel in deal-oriented roles, with experience structuring and managing partnerships.Are a strong communicator, able to influence stakeholders across different levels of seniority and functions.Are highly analytical, with a sophisticated approach to modeling and data-driven problem-solving. Familiarity with SQL is a plus.Can operate effectively at all altitudes – working on strategy and vision with executives while troubleshooting operational details with individual contributors.Have excellent cross-functional collaboration skills and a proven ability to build trust and drive alignment.Are passionate about technology and artificial intelligence, and interested in their impact on business and society.About OpenAIOpenAI 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.Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable law, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act. 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.We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy PolicyAt OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.

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