Strategic Sourcing Leader - Enterprise & Engineering Technology

Details

OpenAI's Strategic Sourcing team helps the company scale responsibly, efficiently, and at speed. The team partners with technical and business leaders across Engineering, Security, IT, Finance, Legal, and Privacy to shape supplier strategy, negotiate critical agreements, and build resilient supplier ecosystems.

Within Strategic Sourcing, this role manages strategic supplier relationships across engineering platforms, infrastructure software, security technology, enterprise systems, IT, and hardware. The role connects technical roadmaps, commercial strategy, supplier leverage, financial discipline, operational resilience, and security.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA and uses a hybrid work model (3 days in the office per week). OpenAI offers relocation assistance to new employees.

Responsibilities

• Lead sourcing strategy and execution across enterprise and engineering technology categories, including infrastructure software, engineering platforms, security technology, enterprise systems, IT, and hardware.
• Independently define, prioritize, and lead multiple complex sourcing workstreams, shaping supplier strategy and commercial decisions without regular oversight.
• Own strategic supplier negotiations, including major renewals, enterprise license agreements, infrastructure software commitments, security technology agreements, engineering platform agreements, and hardware-related sourcing decisions.
• Manage and develop experienced category leads, creating clarity, improving commercial judgment, and empowering the team to deliver strategic goals.
• Build scalable category tools and frameworks: category cards, negotiation playbooks, supplier segmentation, renewal calendars, reporting dashboards, and escalation paths.
• Partner with senior leaders (CTO, CISO, IT, Finance, Legal, Privacy) to translate technical roadmaps, security requirements, platform dependencies, adoption plans, and supplier constraints into sourcing strategies and commercial structures.
• Advise senior leaders on supplier decisions by presenting deal narratives, financial impact, risk, tradeoffs, supplier context, and recommendations.
• Create cost and commercial structures aligned to OpenAI's business model, including usage-based pricing, flexible consumption models, pooled commitments, ramp structures, scale protections, and performance-based economics.
• Establish supplier governance and portfolio reporting across pipeline health, savings, risk, renewal exposure, supplier performance, forecast accuracy, QBRs, escalation management, and value realization.
• Influence difficult or highly opinionated stakeholders to build alignment and position sourcing as a strategic partner in technical, security, and commercial decision-making.
• Enable AI within sourcing workflows to improve intake, market analysis, negotiation preparation, reporting, documentation, and decision quality.

Requirements / Qualifications (implied from posting)

• Recognized sourcing expert with deep experience across enterprise technology, infrastructure software, engineering tools, security technology, IT platforms, hardware, or adjacent technology categories.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, high-stakes supplier negotiations balancing cost, leverage, speed, flexibility, risk, security requirements, and long-term partnership value.
• Proven ability to independently lead multiple complex workstreams and make strategic decisions in ambiguous environments.
• Experience managing and developing experienced sourcing professionals or category leads.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills; ability to influence senior leaders and mentor peers through structured thinking and commercial judgment.
• Experience building scalable sourcing tools or operating mechanisms (category cards, negotiation playbooks, reporting dashboards, supplier governance models, renewal planning processes).
• Ability to create advanced commercial models (usage growth, technical adoption, platform dependency, security requirements).

Benefits

• Base pay range: $266,000 - $295,000 per year; offers equity and additional variable compensation for eligible employees.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.
• Pre-tax accounts (Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, commuter benefits).
• 401(k) with employer match.
• Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents, 20 weeks for non-birthing parents) and paid medical/caregiver leave.
• Flexible PTO for exempt employees; up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees.
• 13+ paid company holidays and additional company office closures; paid sick/safe time as required by law.
• 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 where eligible.
• Relocation support for eligible employees and other taxable fringe benefits (charitable donation matching, wellness stipends).
• Background checks administered per applicable law; reasonable accommodations available for applicants with disabilities.