Higher Education AI Transformation Director

OpenAI; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI seeks an Account Director for Higher Education in AMER to own strategic relationships with colleges, universities, and systems as they move toward institution-wide AI transformation.

You will lead multi-year enterprise sales, collaborate with executives, researchers, security and procurement teams, and translate institutional goals into an actionable AI transformation roadmap while driving revenue, adoption, and value realization.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience selling platform-as-a-service and/or software-as-a-service solutions.
• Direct experience selling to higher education institutions or systems.
• Ownership of consumption- or usage-based revenue, including forecasting usage and driving adoption.
• Technical depth to learn complex AI products and translate them into outcomes.
• Experience leading strategic transformations with governance, adoption, and measurable outcomes.
• Strong executive presence and cross-functional orchestration skills.
• Excellent account planning, qualification, negotiation, forecasting, and collaboration across teams.
• High judgment, curiosity, resilience, and comfort amid product change and evolving customer needs.
• Mission-driven approach to deploying AI responsibly in institutions.

Responsibilities

• Own and execute the AMER higher education territory and account strategy.
• Create pipeline and lead complex, multi-threaded new-business and expansion opportunities.
• Engage with presidents, provosts, CIOs, CTOs, academic leaders, researchers, security, and procurement teams.
• Lead cross-functional pursuit teams to design evaluations, pilots, and production deployments.
• Translate AI capabilities and governance into clear institutional value and roadmaps.
• Own revenue streams and forecast pipeline, growth, and adoption signals.
• Build durable executive relationships across stakeholder groups.
• Provide market insights to inform product, policy, and GTM strategy.
• Represent OpenAI at executive forums and industry events.

Skills

Enterprise sales

Higher education sales

Executive relationship building

Account planning & forecasting

Cross-functional leadership

Strategic transformations

Change management

Negotiation & closing

Problem solving under ambiguity

Revenue growth & expansion

Job description

OpenAI seeks an Account Director for Higher Education in AMER to own strategic relationships with colleges, universities, and systems as they move toward institution-wide AI transformation.

You will lead multi-year enterprise sales, collaborate with executives, researchers, security and procurement teams, and translate institutional goals into an actionable AI transformation roadmap while driving revenue, adoption, and value realization.