Program Director, Catalytic Deployments

The OpenAI Foundation; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 270,000 - 330,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Travel opportunities

Job summary

The OpenAI Foundation seeks a Program Director for the Catalytic Deployments team in San Francisco, CA. This leadership role combines philanthropic investment, strategy, and operations to develop large, transformative AI-enabled initiatives with global impact.

You will build partnerships, design grant programs, and guide the portfolio with rigorous diligence, aiming to accelerate AI’s positive social outcomes while maintaining strong governance and autonomy.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of leadership experience in nonprofits, philanthropy, or government.
• Credible experience building and scaling large social-sector initiatives.
• Experience in sourcing, assessing, and structuring grants.
• Subject matter expertise in at least one social sector domain, such as public health, education, poverty alleviation, and economic mobility.
• Ability to reason clearly about AI capabilities, implementation constraints, organizational readiness and the risks of deploying AI systems in civil society contexts.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate technical or organizational opportunities and make strong recommendations.
• Comfort operating in a fast-moving environment where priorities may evolve.
• Experience engaging credibly with external experts, institutions, and senior stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information clearly and persuasively.
• Strong strategic judgment combined with a bias toward execution.
• High degree of ownership, discretion, and accountability.
• Deep motivation to accelerate AI’s impact in civil society and contribute to the Foundation’s mission.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to strategy and prioritization of Catalytic Deployments.
• Source, evaluate, and recommend grants and funding opportunities.
• Design and manage a growing portfolio of grants with strong judgment.
• As the organization grows, manage other Catalytic Deployments team members.
• Engage deeply with researchers, nonprofits, academic centers, funders, and potential grantees.
• Identify gaps in the ecosystem and develop ideas for new efforts, partnerships, or field-building initiatives.
• Develop and launch new initiatives from zero-to-one, shaping concepts and convening stakeholders.
• Represent the Foundation in external conversations to build credibility and source opportunities.
• Write clear internal recommendations and strategy memos to support decision-making.
• Use frontier AI to support work across activities described above.

Skills

Leadership experience

Grant sourcing & assessment

Strategic judgment

Communication skills

AI capability reasoning

Job description

The OpenAI Foundation seeks a Program Director for the Catalytic Deployments team in San Francisco, CA. This leadership role combines philanthropic investment, strategy, and operations to develop large, transformative AI-enabled initiatives with global impact.

You will build partnerships, design grant programs, and guide the portfolio with rigorous diligence, aiming to accelerate AI’s positive social outcomes while maintaining strong governance and autonomy.