Economic Development Lead: Incentives & Partnerships

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking an Economic Development Lead to shape incentive strategies and develop robust local and state relationships across a national pipeline. You will coordinate with multiple teams to align project economics and community commitments from early evaluation through deal formation.

The role requires deep experience in incentives, public-private partnerships, and cross-functional collaboration, with a focus on risk assessment and strategic negotiations.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in economic development, public-private partnerships, infrastructure development, government affairs, or a related field.
• Experience structuring and negotiating incentive packages for large infrastructure, energy, technology, or real estate projects.
• Strong relationships and judgment across local, state, and regional economic-development stakeholders.
• Ability to connect incentives, community benefits, legal commitments, project economics, and approval risk.
• Excellent cross-functional coordination, negotiation, and executive-communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Own incentive strategy and negotiations.
• Build local and state economic-development relationships.
• Develop community-benefit commitments tied to project agreements.
• Coordinate with Site Selection, Land, Power, Legal, Finance, and Community Engagement.
• Identify political, commercial, and approval risks early.
• Transition local relationships and commitments to the assigned Community Engagement Lead as a project moves toward announcement.

Skills

Negotiation

Stakeholder relationships

Cross-functional coordination

Executive communication

Incentive strategy

Job description

OpenAI is seeking an Economic Development Lead to shape incentive strategies and develop robust local and state relationships across a national pipeline. You will coordinate with multiple teams to align project economics and community commitments from early evaluation through deal formation.

The role requires deep experience in incentives, public-private partnerships, and cross-functional collaboration, with a focus on risk assessment and strategic negotiations.