Senior Program Manager, Consumer Device Safety Operations

Details

The User Safety & Risk Operations team protects OpenAI products and users from abuse, fraud, safety risks, and other forms of misuse. This role will build the safety and risk operating model for a new category of consumer devices.

The successful candidate will be a high-agency operator who can structure complex and ambiguous problems, align technical and operational partners, and drive work through launch and early operations. The role will define how safety incidents, critical escalations, privacy-sensitive reports, fraud and ownership disputes, and other emerging device risks are identified, investigated, escalated, resolved, and reviewed for continuous improvement.

The position is based in San Francisco, California, with a hybrid schedule requiring three days per week in the office. It may involve exposure to sensitive or concerning material, requiring discretion, sound judgment, and resilience.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic operational builds for device-safety priorities from problem definition through implementation, including scope, ownership, milestones, risks, success measures, and execution cadence.
• Define intake processes, severity criteria, decision rights, evidence requirements, escalation paths, response standards, closure criteria, and post-incident learning for high-risk cases.
• Translate product, engineering, legal, privacy, policy, support, and operational constraints into executable workflows, requirements, playbooks, and controls.
• Build launch-readiness plans, training, quality controls, reporting, monitoring, and early-life response mechanisms.
• Coordinate across Product, Hardware and Software Engineering, Product Quality, Legal, Privacy, Product Policy, Support, Logistics, vendors, and User Safety & Risk Operations.
• Use operational data, customer signals, product telemetry, case outcomes, and qualitative evidence to identify patterns, assess risk, and recommend action when evidence is incomplete.
• Drive critical escalations and cross-functional decisions to closure with clear context, accountable owners, documented decisions, and follow-through.
• Create roadmaps, decision logs, risk registers, operating reviews, status updates, and executive communications.
• Identify opportunities for AI tools, automation, lightweight systems, and simpler workflows to improve speed, consistency, investigation, and quality while preserving appropriate human judgment.
• Stand up priority workflows, operate them through launch and stabilization, and transition mature capabilities to durable owners across User Safety & Risk Operations and partner teams.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in program management, strategy and operations, product operations, technical program management, trust and safety, risk operations, incident operations, support operations, implementation, or a related field.
• Technical and analytical fluency sufficient to reason about data flows, telemetry, logs, dashboards, access controls, case systems, automation, and failure modes, even without writing production code.
• Demonstrated experience taking complex, ambiguous, and unstructured work from problem framing through launch and scaled operation.
• Ability to create clarity across multiple moving pieces while maintaining focus on key decisions, risks, and dependencies.
• Sound judgment in high-severity or sensitive situations and the ability to make practical, risk-based decisions with incomplete information.
• Ability to build trust and drive alignment across teams without direct authority while maintaining clear ownership, accountability, and escalation paths.
• Clear communication with technical, operational, legal, policy, and executive audiences.
• Practical approach to building, operating, evaluating, and improving workflows over time.
• Ability to operate calmly in a fast-moving environment, learn unfamiliar domains quickly, and adjust priorities without losing rigor.

Nice to Have

• Experience with consumer hardware, connected devices, IoT products, wearables, robotics, mobility, gaming, or another technically complex physical product.
• Experience with device launches, product quality, field incidents, repairs, warranty, returns, fraud, reverse logistics, or privacy-sensitive sensor and diagnostic data.
• A technical degree or equivalent experience partnering with hardware, software, data, or systems engineering teams.
• Experience with vendor operations, quality-assurance programs, incident response, workflow automation, or AI-assisted operations.

Benefits

• Base salary range of $252,000–$335,000 per year, plus equity.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.
• Pre-tax accounts for healthcare, dependent care, and commuter expenses.
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer match.
• Paid parental, medical, and caregiver leave.
• Paid time off, company holidays, office closures, and 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. Background checks are administered in accordance with applicable law.