Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering

Details

OpenAI’s Forward Deployed Engineering team partners with customers to turn research breakthroughs into production systems, operating at the intersection of customer delivery and core platform development.

As a foundational FDE manager, you will lead FDE through high-stakes, ambiguous customer deployments and own technical and business value outcomes end to end. You will grow a team that can operate under pressure and help OpenAI learn from the field. You will partner closely with Product, Research, Sales, and GTM to ensure fieldwork informs roadmap priorities, drives new exploration, and supports safe deployment at scale.

This role is based in San Francisco and follows a hybrid work model requiring three days in the office per week. The role requires up to 25% travel.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a team of FDEs delivering production systems with frontier models.
• Own end-to-end delivery outcomes through clarity, speed, tight coordination, and technical quality.
• Codify effective practices into tools, playbooks, and roadmap inputs that create leverage for OpenAI and the wider developer community.
• Identify early indicators in product behavior, customer environments, or delivery practices and raise them with urgency.
• Use judgment to distinguish what requires action and what does not.
• Set a high bar for FDE performance and support individual growth through direct, actionable feedback.
• Define how to staff and support field teams that can scale without added complexity.

Requirements

• 8+ years of engineering or technical delivery experience.
• 2+ years managing high-performing FDEs or customer-facing engineers.
• Experience leading high-pressure technical projects from prototype to production.
• Ability to write and review production-grade frontend and backend code using JavaScript or Python.
• Ability to simplify complex work and make fast, sound decisions under pressure.
• Ability to elevate team performance through clarity rather than process.
• Ability to operate with urgency in ambiguous or evolving environments.
• Ability to translate field experience into sharp, actionable feedback for Product and Research.
• Ability to build deep trust with a team by modeling calm, focus, and judgment.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. The company develops AI systems with safety and human needs at their core.

OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. Background checks are administered in accordance with applicable law.

Benefits

• Base salary range of $280,000–$335,000, plus equity.
• Performance-related bonuses for eligible employees.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.
• Pre-tax accounts for health, dependent care, and commuter expenses.
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer match.
• Paid parental, medical, and caregiver leave.
• Paid time off, paid company holidays, office closures, and sick or safe time as required by law.
• Mental health and wellness support.
• Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage.
• Annual learning and development stipend.
• Daily office meals and eligible meal delivery credits.
• Relocation support for eligible employees.
• Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided.