Senior Technical Advisor, National Security Policy, Global Affairs

Details

OpenAI’s Global Affairs team builds authentic, collaborative relationships with public officials, technical experts, civil society, and the broader AI policymaking community to ensure that insights from policymakers and external stakeholders inform our work and that policy aligns with and supports OpenAI’s mission.

Role summary

This senior individual contributor reports to OpenAI’s Head of National Security Policy and sits at the intersection of national security policy, AI safety, and technical AI governance. The role helps OpenAI anticipate and navigate high‑stakes policy questions related to increasingly capable AI systems, especially where technical, safety, national security, and societal considerations intersect. Washington, DC or San Francisco preferred; other U.S. locations considered.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a senior technical‑policy advisor to the National Security Policy team on frontier AI safety and governance issues, including CBRN, cyber, autonomous agents, automated AI R&D, evaluations, risk thresholds, and societal resilience.
• Act as a cross‑functional connector between National Security Policy and internal teams including Safety Systems, Preparedness, Alignment, Research, Security, Legal, and Product Policy.
• Drive OpenAI’s engagement with national AI institutes, the Frontier Model Forum, third‑party evaluators, research organizations, and other technical governance bodies.
• Develop proactive policy strategies to help governments and institutions prepare for and respond to increasingly capable AI systems, including responsible national security adoption, defensive acceleration, democratic oversight, and societal resilience.
• Represent OpenAI externally in sensitive engagements with policymakers, technical experts, civil society, and national security stakeholders.
• Translate technical realities into clear policy products: memos, briefs, talking points, government responses, strategy documents, and internal decision materials.
• Build and sustain trusted relationships with AI safety researchers, technical policy experts, think tanks, standards bodies, civil society organizations, and current or former government officials.
• Identify emerging technical‑policy opportunities, pressure‑test novel ideas, and prioritize initiatives important to the mission.

Requirements

• Established trust and credibility within the AI safety, research, and governance communities.
• Strong technical fluency and solid technical judgment (no need to be a technical researcher) with the ability to reason about model capabilities, evaluations, threat models, mitigations, and limits of current evidence.
• 5+ years of experience in frontier AI policy, AI safety, technical AI governance, or a closely related field.
• Familiarity with frontier AI risk management issues, including risk taxonomies, evaluations, model access, CBRN, cyber, recursive self‑improvement, and AI safety standards.
• Experience working with senior internal or external stakeholders on sensitive policy or technology issues.
• Excellent writing, communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills; ability to convey complex technical and policy concepts to diverse audiences and support senior leaders making decisions under uncertainty.
• Political astuteness, sound judgment, outstanding personal integrity, and the ability to represent OpenAI responsibly in high‑trust external settings.
• Strong strategic thinking, problem solving, and project management skills; comfortable coordinating complex work across many stakeholders in fast‑moving, ambiguous settings.

Benefits

• Base pay range listed: $136.8K – $325K; offers equity and additional total compensation components may include performance‑related bonus(es).
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.
• Pre‑tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit).
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer match.
• Paid parental leave, paid medical and caregiver leave.
• Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non‑exempt employees; 13+ paid company holidays and coordinated office closures.
• Mental health and wellness support; employer‑paid basic life and disability coverage.
• Annual learning and development stipend; daily meals in offices and meal delivery credits as eligible.
• Relocation support for eligible employees.
• Additional taxable fringe benefits (charitable donation matching, wellness stipends) may be provided.