AI Data Center Operations Lead

OpenAI; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI seeks a Critical Facilities Manager to oversee commissioning, operational readiness, and long-term operation of AI data center campuses across the United States. You will lead day-to-day infrastructure activities, coordinate with commissioning, hardware deployment, and engineering teams to maintain reliable, scalable operations.

Ideal candidates have 8+ years in mission-critical facilities, strong knowledge of electrical, cooling, and building controls, and proven leadership in vendor and

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience operating mission-critical facilities, data centers, industrial infrastructure, or large-scale technical operations environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day operations of mission-critical facility infrastructure across AI compute campuses.
• Own operational readiness activities supporting new campus deployments and infrastructure expansion.
• Partner with commissioning teams to transition facilities from construction and startup into steady-state operations.
• Develop, implement, and continuously improve operating procedures, maintenance programs, and response plans.
• Lead infrastructure incident response efforts and coordinate recovery activities during critical events.
• Drive root cause analysis investigations and corrective action programs to improve reliability and operational performance.
• Manage vendors, contractors, and service providers supporting facility operations.
• Partner with hardware deployment, networking, and engineering teams to coordinate infrastructure changes and maintenance activities.
• Monitor facility performance, operational risk, and capacity utilization across critical systems.
• Support staffing, training and development of facilities operations personnel.
• Ensure compliance with safety, environmental and operational standards.
• Establish operational processes that scale alongside OpenAI’s rapidly growing infrastructure footprint.

Skills

Electrical systems

Generators

UPS systems

Cooling systems

Building controls

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field

Job description

OpenAI seeks a Critical Facilities Manager to oversee commissioning, operational readiness, and long-term operation of AI data center campuses across the United States. You will lead day-to-day infrastructure activities, coordinate with commissioning, hardware deployment, and engineering teams to maintain reliable, scalable operations.

Ideal candidates have 8+ years in mission-critical facilities, strong knowledge of electrical, cooling, and building controls, and proven leadership in vendor and