Land Development & Due Diligence Lead

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI seeks a seasoned professional to validate buildability, compliance, and cost-effectiveness of proposed sites for the Industrial Compute team. Lead multi-discipline diligence across civil, geotechnical, environmental, and entitlement aspects, identifying risks and guiding mitigations.

This role partners with internal teams and external agencies to frame go/no-go decisions and scalable review playbooks for future site reviews.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in land development, civil or environmental engineering, or data center diligence.
• Knowledge of permitting, entitlements, and AHJ engagement.
• Strong project management and technical review skills.
• Experience managing consultants and interpreting complex studies.

Responsibilities

• Lead all technical diligence: geotech, soils, title/ALTA surveys, mineral rights, and access.
• Oversee permitting/entitlement path and schedule governance with agencies.
• Evaluate generator air permits, wetlands, floodplain, and stormwater constraints.
• Manage consultants performing feasibility studies and environmental assessments.
• Deliver go/no-go recommendations with risk and mitigation options.
• Build diligence templates and playbooks to scale future site reviews.

Skills

Land development

Civil/Environmental engineering

Permitting & entitlements

Project management

Stakeholder communication

Job description

About the Team

OpenAI, in close collaboration with our capital partners, is embarking on a journey to build the world's most advanced AI infrastructure ecosystem. The Industrial Compute team is central to this mission, setting the core infra strategy and implementing this vision. From site selection to the buildout process, this team sits at the intersection of commercial, technical, strategy, and operations, interacting with teams and executives inside and outside of OpenAI.

About the Role

Responsible for validating that proposed sites are buildable, compliant, and cost-effective. You will lead diligence across civil, geotechnical, environmental, and entitlement dimensions, identifying risks and driving mitigation strategies.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead all technical diligence: geotech, soils, title/ALTA surveys, mineral rights, and access.
• Oversee permitting/entitlement path and schedule governance with agencies.
• Evaluate generator air permits, wetlands, floodplain, and stormwater constraints.
• Manage consultants performing feasibility studies and environmental assessments.
• Deliver go/no-go recommendations with risk and mitigation options.
• Build diligence templates and playbooks to scale future site reviews.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in land development, civil/environmental engineering, or data center diligence.
• Knowledge of permitting, entitlements, and AHJ engagement.
• Strong project management and technical review skills.
• Experience managing consultants and interpreting complex studies.

• Regularly communicate site readiness updates, risks, and milestones to executive stakeholders
• Establish and track key performance indicators to assess the effectiveness of the site selection program and the contributions of external vendors and partners.

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

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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