Strategic Operations, Industrial Compute

Details

About the Team

Industrial Compute is building the infrastructure ecosystem that enables OpenAI to train and deploy increasingly capable AI systems at unprecedented scale. The organization operates across compute supply, demand, infrastructure, partnerships, and the physical and commercial systems required to make large-scale compute available.

Industrial Compute Strategy & Operations serves as the connective operating layer across this ecosystem. The team works directly with senior leadership across Scaling, Finance, Partnerships, Research, and Infrastructure to translate ambiguous, high-impact challenges into clear strategies, scalable operating mechanisms, and decisive execution.

The team is responsible for ensuring that OpenAI's compute strategy evolves into durable competitive advantage by identifying systemic constraints, aligning stakeholders around critical decisions, and driving the operating mechanisms required to execute at scale.

Responsibilities

Shape and Drive Compute Strategy

• Partner with compute leadership to define and operationalize OpenAI's long-term compute strategy across infrastructure providers, cloud partners, suppliers, and internal organizations.
• Synthesize compute requirements, supply constraints, demand forecasts, and strategic priorities to inform long-range planning and investment decisions.
• Develop strategic perspectives across GPUs, CPUs, storage, networking, WAN, power, land, supply chain, and other critical infrastructure dependencies.
• Evaluate build-versus-buy decisions, strategic investments, corporate development opportunities, and emerging infrastructure business models.
• Develop frameworks that help leadership assess compute availability, supply risk, investment tradeoffs, and long-term strategic positioning.
• Identify emerging constraints and opportunities across the compute ecosystem before they become material business or infrastructure risks.

Build the Operating System for Industrial Compute

• Design and operate cross-functional planning mechanisms connecting compute supply, demand, infrastructure, partnerships, and executive decision-making.
• Establish leadership operating rhythms, including strategic reviews, planning cadences, initiative tracking, and executive communications.
• Develop metrics, KPIs, and analytical frameworks that provide visibility into compute performance, organizational health, and emerging constraints.
• Create scalable mechanisms for tracking critical initiatives, dependencies, decisions, risks, and commitments across a complex organization.
• Establish governance and decision-making frameworks that improve organizational clarity, accountability, and execution speed.
• Develop systems that enable Industrial Compute to operate as an integrated organization rather than as a collection of independent functions.

Drive Cross-Functional Strategic Execution

• Lead high-priority initiatives spanning multiple organizations, functions, or infrastructure domains and requiring substantial independent judgment.
• Translate loosely defined leadership priorities into structured problem statements, strategic options, execution plans, and measurable outcomes.
• Establish alignment across stakeholders with different objectives, incentives, and areas of expertise.
• Identify organizational bottlenecks, unresolved dependencies, and gaps in ownership, then drive them toward resolution.
• Work through complex technical, financial, commercial, and operational tradeoffs to enable timely executive decisions.
• Take ownership of critical initiatives that lack clear organizational homes and drive them through completion.

Strategic Partnerships and Commercial Strategy

• Partner with the Partnerships organization to shape and execute complex strategic compute transactions.
• Define the strategic rationale, business requirements, and success criteria for major compute partnerships and investments.
• Align stakeholders across Finance, Partnerships, Research, Infrastructure, and Scaling around major commercial decisions.
• Develop organizational capabilities around cloud commercial strategy, pricing optimization, capacity commitments, and vendor economics.
• Analyze commercial structures, supplier relationships, and infrastructure partnerships to identify opportunities to improve cost, flexibility, availability, and strategic leverage.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on major compute partnerships, commercial decisions, and strategic infrastructure investments.

Executive and Organizational Leadership

• Operate as an extension of compute leadership on high-priority strategic and operational matters.
• Bring structure and clarity to ambiguous problems and provide concise, decision-oriented analysis and recommendations.
• Build credibility with senior leaders and technical experts through strong judgment, analytical depth, and a deep understanding of the compute ecosystem.
• Influence decisions across organizations without relying on formal authority.
• Anticipate organizational and infrastructure risks and proactively develop strategies to address them.
• Build durable operating mechanisms that continue to create value beyond individual initiatives.

Requirements

• Significant experience in strategy, strategic operations, business operations, management consulting, corporate development, infrastructure strategy, or a similarly high-impact strategic function, ideally within technology or infrastructure-intensive organizations.
• Experience operating as a senior individual contributor on complex, company-level initiatives with significant ambiguity, executive visibility, and cross-functional dependencies.
• Strong understanding of cloud, compute infrastructure, data centers, AI infrastructure, or other large-scale technology ecosystems and their commercial dynamics.
• Demonstrated ability to develop long-range strategies connecting market dynamics, technical constraints, financial considerations, and organizational capabilities.
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to turn complex and incomplete information into clear recommendations and decisions.
• Strong commercial judgment and experience evaluating partnerships, vendor relationships, pricing structures, capacity commitments, investments, or other strategic transactions.
• Experience building operating mechanisms, planning frameworks, metrics systems, and executive-level business reviews for complex organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to drive initiatives across organizational boundaries where ownership is ambiguous and stakeholders have competing priorities.
• Strong executive communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex technical and business topics into clear narratives and decision points.
• High degree of autonomy, sound judgment, and comfort making progress without established processes or complete information.
• Ability to move between strategic thinking and detailed execution, from defining a multi-year strategy to driving the operational mechanisms required to deliver it.
• Strong stakeholder management and influence skills with senior leaders, technical teams, finance, partnerships, and external organizations.
• Experience working in fast-growing or highly dynamic environments where priorities, organizational structures, and business requirements evolve rapidly.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. 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 pay range of $225,000–$300,000 per year.
• Equity and performance-related bonuses for eligible employees.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.
• Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, 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 paid 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 benefits may include charitable donation matching and wellness stipends.