People Systems Lead

Details

The People Technology team builds and operates systems supporting how OpenAI hires, develops, and supports its people. The People Systems team owns the core people-technology ecosystem, including Workday and Ashby, while People Innovation Labs builds employee and People Team experiences such as OpenHouse, Slack workflows, and AI-powered products and automations.

The role is responsible for managing the People Systems team, shaping the evolution of core systems, improving platform reliability, designing integrations, and partnering with People Innovation Labs on integrated and AI-native employee experiences. It requires a combination of People systems expertise, technical design, architecture, strategy, and team leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the People Systems team, establishing clear ownership, operating practices, and growth opportunities.
• Set the strategy and roadmap for OpenAI’s People systems.
• Own the configuration, reliability, and ongoing operation of Workday, Ashby, and other core platforms.
• Lead complex systems initiatives spanning multiple teams.
• Design and guide integrations across People systems, internal products, data platforms, and the broader technology ecosystem.
• Partner with People Innovation Labs to build employee and manager experiences on enterprise back ends.
• Help move the People technology ecosystem toward a headless model, surfacing workflows through OpenHouse, Slack, and AI agents while preserving systems of record and controls.
• Improve the stability and effectiveness of critical People systems.
• Strengthen data quality, security, auditability, controls, and operational readiness.
• Lead vendor relationships, including product strategy discussions, quarterly business reviews, performance management, and escalations.
• Build alignment across People, Engineering, Finance, Security, Legal, and other stakeholders.
• Communicate technical choices, risks, and tradeoffs clearly to senior leaders.

Requirements

• Deep experience with People systems and related workflows, ideally including significant Workday experience.
• Experience leading a People Systems, HR technology, enterprise applications, or similarly technical systems team.
• Hands-on experience designing and managing integrations rather than only administering vendor tools.
• Ability to reason about APIs, data flows, system boundaries, permissions, reliability, and failure handling.
• Experience building or supporting custom interfaces, workflow layers, or internal products on top of enterprise systems.
• A product mindset and interest in going beyond default vendor experiences.
• Ability to translate ambiguous business needs into clear systems requirements and scalable solutions.
• Experience developing and delivering systems roadmaps involving multiple teams, dependencies, and competing priorities.
• Ability to work effectively with engineers and challenge technical assumptions.
• Experience leading complex vendor relationships and using business reviews, product feedback, and performance measures to improve outcomes.
• Ability to balance innovation with the reliability, security, and controls required for systems supporting payroll, recruiting, compensation, and other critical processes.
• Experience managing people, setting expectations, coaching senior team members, and addressing performance issues directly.
• Clear communication skills with technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Interest in exploring how AI can change enterprise systems and People team operations.

Candidates may come from People Systems, engineering management, enterprise product, or integration-platform backgrounds. Direct experience with every platform in the environment is not required.

Benefits

• Base salary of $239,000–$295,000 per year.
• Equity and performance-related bonuses for eligible employees.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.
• Pre-tax FSA, dependent care, and commuter accounts.
• 401(k) plan with employer match.
• Paid parental, medical, and caregiver leave.
• Paid time off, company holidays, office closures, and paid sick or safe time.
• 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 benefits may include charitable donation matching and wellness stipends.

OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.