Manager, Applied AI Architect

OpenAI, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 280,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Hybrid work model

Job summary

OpenAI in San Francisco or New York City is seeking a Manager, Applied AI Architect to lead a team of Applied AI Architects. You will blend technical leadership, customer engagement, and team development to drive business impact from pre-sales through deployment.

The role uses a hybrid model (3 days in office) with relocation assistance. You will guide teams across Sales, Deployment, Product, Engineering and Research to deliver end-to-end customer journeys and measurable outcomes.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in technical customer-facing roles with C-level relationships.
• 3+ years leading technical pre-sales teams and mentoring staff.
• Led complex sales involving Generative AI or ML with cloud/network design.

Responsibilities

• Develop and communicate a strategic vision for the Applied AI Architect team.
• Guide a multifaceted team through the customer lifecycle with clear technical plans and measurable outcomes.
• Act as a trusted escalation point for key customers with executive-level stakeholders.
• Advocate for innovative applications of AI technologies across sectors.
• Coordinate delivery teams and establish clear ownership for implementation execution.

Skills

Technical leadership

Customer engagement

Team leadership

Sales experience

Job description

Technical Success - San Francisco and New York City

We’re looking for a Manager, Applied AI Architect to lead a team of Applied AI Architects. In this role, you’ll combine technical leadership, customer engagement, and team development to deliver exceptional customer experiences from pre-sales discovery and solution evaluation through deployment and adoption, driving real business impact.

You’ll guide your team through complex customer challenges, help them navigate ambiguity, and ensure solutions are grounded in both strong technical thinking and clear business value. You’ll also partner closely with Sales, Deployment, Product, Engineering, and Research to create a seamless end-to-end customer journey.

This role is open in our San Francisco or New York office. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will:

• Develop and communicate a clear strategic vision for the Applied AI Architect team, ensuring alignment with the company's overarching goals and the evolving needs of our customers.
• Guide and support a multifaceted team throughout the customer lifecycle, from pre-sales discovery and evaluation through deployment and adoption, ensuring clear technical account plans, measurable customer outcomes, and scalable systems and processes.
• Act as a trusted escalation point for key customers within your sales segment, helping to address complex technical challenges and ensuring clear communication with executive-level stakeholders.
• Advocate for the innovative and effective application of our AI technologies across various sectors, positioning the company as a leader in the industry.
• Ensure your team remains accountable for technical progress and customer outcomes, coordinating specialist support and establishing clear ownership with delivery teams for implementation execution.

You’ll thrive in this role if you:

• Bring 8+ years of experience in technical customer-facing roles, building and managing C-level technical and business relationships within complex, global organizations.
• Have 3+ years of experience leading technical pre-sales teams, with a proven track record of hiring, mentoring, and managing high-performing teams.
• Have successfully led complex sales involving Generative AI or traditional ML solutions, with a solid understanding of network and cloud architectures.
• Have a humble attitude, an eagerness to help others, and a willingness to learn whatever it takes to support the team and help customers thrive
• Approach work with humility, a collaborative mindset, and a willingness to learn whatever it takes to support the team and help customers thrive.

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.

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.

To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non‑compliant, please submit a report through this form . No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link .

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

$280K – $300K + Offers Equity Offers Commission

The base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. If the role is non‑exempt, overtime pay will be provided consistent with applicable laws. In addition to the salary range listed above, total compensation also includes generous equity, performance‑related bonus(es) for eligible employees, and the following benefits.

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts
• Pre‑tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit)
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer match
• Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non‑birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)
• Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non‑exempt employees
• 13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time (1 hour per 30 hours worked, or more, as required by applicable state or local law)
• Mental health and wellness support
• Employer‑paid basic life and disability coverage
• Annual learning and development stipend to fuel your professional growth
• Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible
• Relocation support for eligible employees
• Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided.

More details about our benefits are available to candidates during the hiring process.

This role is at‑will and OpenAI reserves the right to modify base pay and other compensation components at any time based on individual performance, team or company results, or market conditions.