Global Support Vendor Leader & WFM Architect

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a Support Vendor Manager to own the health, performance, and scalability of multiple support vendor relationships. You will drive commercial and operational accountability (SLAs, QBRs, escalation paths) and build the operating model to scale support without linear headcount growth.

A core portion of the role (25–30%) is establishing Workforce Management across internal teams and external BPO partners, defining forecasting, capacity planning, staffing, and performance-to-plan

Qualifications

• 5+ years in vendor/BPO operations management or partner performance leadership in a scaled environment.
• Proven ability to run vendor governance: QBRs, SLA/KPI design, escalation paths, remediation plans, and cross-functional stakeholder management.
• Awareness of and some experience with workforce planning approaches—e.g., forecasting frameworks, capacity models, staffing strategies, and performance-to-plan systems across global, multi-site support operations.
• Strong analytical and operational rigor: comfort working with data to define inputs/assumptions, evaluate tradeoffs, and drive outcomes (you do not need to be a data scientist, but you must be fluent).
• Familiarity with support tooling and operational systems (e.g., Salesforce Service Cloud or similar), and comfort partnering with Systems/Tooling to implement scalable processes.
• Exposure to WFM platforms and concepts (e.g., NICE, Assembled, Calabrio, Playvox, etc.)—with an emphasis on translating operational needs into platform requirements and governance.
• Strong communication skills and executive presence: ability to align diverse stakeholders, negotiate priorities, and drive accountability across internal teams and external partners.
• Comfort operating in fast-paced, ambiguous environments where you’re expected to build the structure, not just maintain the inherited ones.

Responsibilities

• End-to-end vendor leadership: Own day-to-day oversight, relationship health, and executive-level accountability for multiple support vendors/BPOs.
• Performance management & remediation: Define and manage SLA/KPI performance expectations, run WBRs/QBRs, identify performance gaps, and drive structured turnaround plans with clear owners and timelines.
• Escalation and risk management: Serve as the primary escalation point for vendor issues, including incident response, surge events, quality regressions, and continuity risks; ensure vendors have strong operational controls and playbooks.
• Commercial and operational governance: Partner on contract levers, staffing commitments, service scope changes, and operational cadences; ensure governance mechanisms produce measurable outcomes.
• Workforce Management (WFM) operating model design (25 - 30%): Establish the WFM approach across internal and BPO teams (forecasting, capacity planning, staffing assumptions, coverage standards). Stand up a consistent planning cadence tied to business drivers (weekly/monthly/quarterly) and ensure partners operate to it.
• Operational reporting and executive narratives: Produce clear, decision-ready reporting on vendor health, capacity risk, and scaling constraints; translate operational signals into recommendations for leadership.

Skills

Vendor operations

Governance

Forecasting

Data-driven

Stakeholder management

Communication

Tools

Salesforce Service Cloud

NICE

Calabrio

Playvox

Job description

OpenAI is seeking a Support Vendor Manager to own the health, performance, and scalability of multiple support vendor relationships. You will drive commercial and operational accountability (SLAs, QBRs, escalation paths) and build the operating model to scale support without linear headcount growth.

A core portion of the role (25–30%) is establishing Workforce Management across internal teams and external BPO partners, defining forecasting, capacity planning, staffing, and performance-to-plan