Technical Deployment Lead, Forward-Deployed Engineering (FDE) - NYC

Details

OpenAI’s Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team turns research breakthroughs into production-grade systems. The team embeds deeply with customers to solve high-leverage problems, serves as the delivery engine for complex large-scale engagements, and works closely with OpenAI Research, Product, and Partnerships.

As a Technical Deployment Lead (TDL), you will define how OpenAI delivers complex systems to customers. You will own how systems are built, shipped, and adopted; translate business outcomes into technical plans; run day-to-day execution across FDEs, Researchers, and Customer Engineers; and partner with customer teams to ensure delivery supports their goals.

You will own delivery end-to-end, from mapping customer workflows and success criteria through production deployment, readiness, change management, and adoption. You will track progress, manage dependencies, make sequencing decisions, and drive 0-to-1 prototypes through MVP and scale. You will also share field insights with Product and Research to guide roadmaps and priorities.

Success will be measured by deployments that deliver measurable value against customer goals, drive adoption, and become critical to customer workflows. Additional measures include delivery reliability, operating leverage through reusable patterns, judgment under pressure, and product impact from field insights that influence roadmaps and architectures.

This role is based in New York City and follows a hybrid work model requiring three days per week in the office. Travel of 25%–50% is required.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical delivery plan for multiple interdependent workstreams, translating business objectives into roadmaps with milestones, dependencies, and acceptance criteria.
• Run day-to-day engineering execution across OpenAI FDE and customer teams, keeping progress unblocked and properly sequenced.
• Make real-time scope and priority trade-offs to protect the critical path.
• Embed with customer teams to deliver production deployments and drive adoption.
• Map workflows, shape tools and integrations, translate requirements into delivery plans, and lead onboarding, adoption, and change management.
• Partner with Product and Research so platform components and research workstreams support deployment goals.
• Codify solution patterns and evaluations, extracting reusable patterns and packaging field signals to improve products and models.
• Own value cases and return on investment by setting impact hypotheses, baselines, and key performance indicators; conduct pre- and post-deployment measurement and report to executive sponsors.

Requirements

• 7+ years of customer-facing technical delivery leadership.
• A track record of successfully leading large, complex, high-stakes customer engagements where outcomes depended on tight coordination and fast decision-making, ideally involving AI.
• Ability to excel in high-ambiguity environments and simplify complex, dynamic work.
• Ability to move between system-level understanding and execution-level detail, dive into customer workflows and data, map constraints, sketch architectures, and move ambiguous problems to shipped systems.
• Strategic thinking and pattern recognition, with the ability to identify broader trends across deployments and connect customer needs to scalable, reusable solutions.
• Strong technical fluency and sequencing instincts, including confidence discussing technical details, pressure-testing architectures, and making trade-offs.
• Experience shipping AI and large language model systems, with an understanding of solution patterns, integration basics, and production pitfalls.
• Strong communication and executive presence, including the ability to explain complex technical trade-offs to business leaders and translate strategy into day-to-day technical execution.
• Expertise in at least one major sector, such as healthcare, energy, financial services, semiconductors, or information technology.

Benefits

• Base salary of $198,000–$294,000 per year, plus equity.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.
• Pre-tax accounts for health, dependent care, 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.
• OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.