Senior Economist

About the Team

The Economic Research team at OpenAI serves as the organization’s central hub for understanding and communicating the economic implications of artificial intelligence. Our mission is to generate rigorous, data-driven insights on how AI affects people, jobs, industries, and economies—helping shape both internal strategy and the global conversation around AI and economic growth.

What We Do

Our work revolves around answering the most pressing questions at the intersection of AI and economics:

• AI Adoption and Use Cases: How is AI being used today across education, work, and everyday life? What differentiates high-impact applications from low-impact ones?

• Labor Market Impact: How are jobs evolving in an AI-first economy? What will AI-driven job transformation look like in the future?

• Investment and Growth: How do investments in AI—across infrastructure, education, and institutions—shape macroeconomic growth and productivity?

• Economic Value of AI: Which metrics and models best capture AI’s economic contribution at both firm and national levels?

About the Role

OpenAI’s Economic Research team is dedicated to understanding the economic implications of artificial intelligence and shaping the global conversation on AI’s impact on jobs, productivity, and economic growth. We are looking for a Labor Economist to join our team and lead research on how AI is transforming the labor market, both today and in the future.

This role is central to answering critical questions:

• How is AI adoption changing the nature of work and jobs?

• Which roles and industries are most affected by AI and how?

The Senior Economist will work on high-impact research projects, collaborate cross-functionally with data science, product, and strategy teams, and help produce thought leadership for OpenAI and the broader economics community.

You’ll be responsible for:

• Lead and design labor market research on AI’s impact on employment, wages, skill requirements, and productivity.

• Design and analyze datasets using proprietary and external sources (e.g., government data) to track AI adoption across job types.

• Publish findings in internal reports, academic papers, and public-facing formats that influence both company strategy and external policy discussions.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with product teams, research scientists, and external partners to inform the design of AI systems with economic insights.

We’re looking for someone with:

• Ph.D. in Economics (or related field) with a specialization in labor economics, applied microeconomics, or industrial organization.

• Strong empirical research skills, including experience with survey design, econometric modeling, and causal inference.

• Proficiency in statistical software (R or Python) and deep experience working with large government datasets (e.g., Census, JOLTS).

• Demonstrated ability to publish or contribute to high-quality research in economics or related fields.

• Significant experience working with governments, philanthropies, and/or policymaker.

Preferred:

• Prior experience within a government agency or business on technology adoption and AI implementation.

• Experience collaborating with cross-disciplinary teams (data science, product, policy, GTM).

• Strong communication skills for translating technical findings into actionable insights for diverse audiences.

Workplace & Location

San Francisco, CA

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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