Associate General Counsel, Commercial – Infrastructure

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 347,000 - 385,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking an Associate General Counsel, Commercial – Infrastructure in San Francisco to lead legal work for data center development and colocation projects. You will craft and negotiate complex infrastructure agreements and work with cross‑functional teams to move initiatives quickly and responsibly.

The role requires deep experience in data center transactions, strong business judgment, and the ability to operate autonomously in a fast‑paced environment.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of legal experience, primarily in commercial roles.
• Hands-on drafting, negotiating, and advising on colocation and data center agreements.
• Experience with first‑party data center builds, power arrangements, and related infra matters.
• Ability to lead high‑value commercial infrastructure transactions.

Responsibilities

• Lead commercial legal strategy and risk management for data center development and colocation transactions.
• Draft, negotiate, and advise on colocation, construction, power arrangements, and related contracts.
• Support projects involving raw land, site rights, EPC models, build‑to‑suit, and leasebacks.
• Collaborate across infrastructure, finance, procurement, and operations teams.
• Manage outside counsel across a high volume of infrastructure matters.
• Develop scalable legal playbooks for a growing portfolio of sites.

Skills

Legal experience

Colocation agreements

Data center agreements

Education

JD and CA license

Job description

Associate General Counsel, Commercial – Infrastructure

Legal - San Francisco

About the Team

OpenAI’s Legal team plays a crucial role in advancing our mission by tackling novel and consequential legal issues in AI. The commercial infrastructure legal team supports the systems and facilities that make advanced AI possible, including compute, first‑party silicon, colocation, and first‑party data center development.

About the Role

We’re seeking a senior commercial infrastructure lawyer to lead legal work across our rapidly growing data center development and colocation portfolio. You will advise on complex, high‑value transactions involving new data center sites, power, construction, colocation, and related infrastructure arrangements.

This role is designed for a lawyer who understands how data centers are developed and operated—not a general real estate practitioner. You will work closely with infrastructure, finance, procurement, and operations teams, while coordinating outside counsel where appropriate, to help projects move quickly and responsibly.

San Francisco is preferred, and occasional travel may be required.

In this role, you will:

• Lead commercial legal strategy and risk management for data center development and colocation transactions.

• Draft, negotiate, and advise on colocation agreements, construction agreements, power‑related arrangements, and other contracts supporting data center development.

• Support first‑party projects involving raw land, site and power rights, design and construction, EPC models, third‑party build‑to‑suit structures, and leasebacks.

• Partner cross‑functionally with infrastructure, finance, procurement, operations, and other stakeholders on fast‑moving, complex projects.

• Manage and collaborate effectively with outside counsel across a high volume of infrastructure matters.

• Develop scalable legal playbooks and contracting approaches for a growing portfolio of data center sites.

You might thrive in this role if you have:

• 12+ years of legal experience, primarily in commercial legal roles.

• Deep, hands‑on experience drafting, negotiating, and advising on colocation and data center agreements.

• Experience with one or more of the following: first‑party data center builds, construction and EPC agreements, power arrangements, raw‑land development, build‑to‑suit projects, or leasebacks.

• A track record leading sophisticated, high‑value commercial infrastructure transactions.

• Experience at a hyperscaler, cloud or compute provider, data center developer, major colocation company, or law firm practice focused on comparable commercial infrastructure matters.

• A mix of in‑house and top‑tier law firm experience.

• Excellent judgment and the ability to operate autonomously in a highly technical, fast‑paced environment.

• Strong communication skills and an ability to translate complex legal issues into practical, business‑aligned guidance.

• A JD and license or qualification to practice in California.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general‑purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Aff… Policy Statement .

Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US‑based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non‑public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

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At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.

Compensation

$347K – $385K + Offers Equity