Strategic Deals Leader

Details

About the Team

The Industrial Compute team is responsible for building and scaling the infrastructure foundation that powers OpenAI’s research and products. The team works across compute strategy, infrastructure planning, hardware partnerships, and capacity management to ensure OpenAI can meet rapidly growing training and inference demands with resilient, efficient, and future-looking infrastructure systems.

About the Role

As a Strategic Deals Leader, you will help shape OpenAI's long-term approach to AI infrastructure, compute capacity, and strategic ecosystem partnerships. Operating at the intersection of infrastructure strategy, technology evaluation, commercial partnerships, and market development, you will identify and execute opportunities that expand OpenAI's access to the compute, infrastructure, and technologies required to support frontier AI systems.

You will work closely with engineering, infrastructure, finance, and executive leadership teams to evaluate emerging technologies, develop ecosystem strategies, assess build-versus-buy decisions, and cultivate strategic relationships across hardware vendors, cloud providers, data center operators, and the broader AI infrastructure ecosystem.

We’re looking for people who combine deep understanding of AI infrastructure and emerging technology ecosystems with strong strategic judgment, technical curiosity, and the ability to build partnerships across a rapidly evolving industry landscape.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute strategies that expand OpenAI's access to compute, infrastructure, and emerging AI technologies.
• Evaluate strategic opportunities across hardware platforms, cloud providers, infrastructure partners, and ecosystem participants.
• Partner with engineering and infrastructure teams to understand future workload requirements and translate them into long-term compute and ecosystem strategies.
• Assess build-versus-buy tradeoffs across infrastructure, platform, and capacity decisions.
• Build and manage relationships with hardware vendors, hyperscalers, cloud providers, data center operators, and emerging infrastructure companies.
• Evaluate new infrastructure technologies and architectures to inform adoption, partnership, and deployment decisions.
• Support commercial discussions and strategic partnerships that improve OpenAI's infrastructure flexibility, resilience, and long-term capacity position.
• Monitor market, technology, and competitive developments across the AI infrastructure landscape and develop recommendations for leadership.

Requirements

• Have experience in AI infrastructure, cloud computing, semiconductors, data centers, distributed systems, or adjacent technology ecosystems.
• Possess a strong understanding of compute infrastructure, accelerator technologies, cloud platforms, and infrastructure economics.
• Have experience evaluating emerging technologies and developing long-term infrastructure or ecosystem strategies.
• Can work effectively with technical teams and translate complex engineering concepts into strategic business recommendations.
• Have experience building partnerships and influencing senior stakeholders across internal and external organizations.
• Demonstrate strong analytical and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to operate in ambiguous and rapidly evolving environments.
• Communicate effectively with both technical and business audiences, including executive leadership.
• Are passionate about the future of AI infrastructure and the ecosystem required to support frontier model development.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, 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 (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)
• Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees
• 13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time (1 hour per 30 hours worked, or more, as required by applicable state or local law)
• Mental health and wellness support
• Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
• Annual learning and development stipend to fuel your professional growth
• Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible
• Relocation support for eligible employees
• Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided.

More details about our benefits are available to candidates during the hiring process.