Program Manager - job 1 of 2

About the Role

You’ll run fast, decision-oriented research and talent programs that change what OpenAI builds, how it’s organized, and where it places bets. Work spans conceptual research, empirical analysis, tightly scoped pilots, and end-to-end program management in partnership with Research, Product, Strategic Deployment, Global Affairs/Econ, and People/Recruiting.

Your outputs may vary, including research memos, syntheses, and decision frameworks; when helpful, you may run small analyses, structured interviews, or deliver pilots to validate assumptions and deliver clear readouts.

Your Responsibilities:

• Own design and delivery of high-impact talent programs for technical & research orgs (residencies, fellowships, trial projects, selection flows), including roadmap, stakeholder alignment, and operational execution.

• Partner closely with People/Talent and Recruiting to translate hiring needs into program requirements, selection signals, and scalable processes.

• Spend time embedded with Research teams to learn workflows, culture, and priorities; surface actionable program improvements and implement changes.

• Develop hypotheses for identifying and nurturing high-variance/emerging talent; design, run, and iterate lightweight pilots (new selection signals, trial work patterns, evaluation criteria).

• Analyze pilot outcomes and program metrics; publish clear readouts with recommendations to scale, iterate, or sunset.

• Synthesize evidence on AI’s economic and technical effects and produce concise briefs that surface decision-relevant questions and tests to reduce uncertainty.

• Lead forward-looking research synthesis on potential AI paradigms, map the landscape, convene experts, and surface promising directions for exploration.

• Examine organizational design questions tied to OpenAI’s mission and distill principles from internal/external cases.

• Provide strategic counsel and facilitate decision sessions; produce memos, syntheses, decision frameworks, and pragmatic playbooks.

• Track program KPIs, ownership of budgets/operational tooling, and ensure excellent candidate/partner experience.

We’re Seeking:

• 5+ years across research, analysis, people programs, recruiting program management, or special projects (or comparable impact).

• Strong analytical toolkit and demonstrated track record shipping work that influenced real decisions or hiring outcomes.

• Experience running pilots and translating results into scaled programs or clear recommendations.

• Experience building programs for high-variance talent (residencies, fellowships, trial projects).

Nice to have:

• Have done original work in at least one of: ML/AI research, economic analysis, scientific research management, or org design—and you’re comfortable switching contexts quickly.

• Can move between first-principles reasoning, quick empirical checks, and deployment-informed judgment; you prefer answers that change decisions over polished decks.

• Write clearly, argue from evidence, and enjoy being proven wrong fast.

• Can collaborate with researchers and engineers, but also with People/Recruiting and policy/economics partners.

• Are energized by ambiguous, high-stakes problem spaces.

About OpenAI

OpenAI 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.

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