Program Manager, Critical Harm Operations

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 252,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a highly capable Program Manager for Critical Harm Operations in San Francisco. You will build durable operating systems, align cross-functional partners, and drive complex safety programs from problem framing to scalable execution.

The role requires 8+ years of program management or related experience, exceptional organization, and the ability to navigate ambiguous problems with structured, data-driven approaches.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in program management, strategy and operations, product operations, technical program management, trust and safety, risk operations, or related field.
• Proven track record of taking complex, ambiguous work from framing through launch and scaled operations.
• Outstanding organizational skills with strong execution focus and ability to manage many moving parts.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic builds from problem to operating model with milestones, owners, risks, and success metrics.
• Translate policy, safety, technical, legal, and operational constraints into executable workflows, requirements, playbooks, escalation paths, and decision-making structures.
• Coordinate with User Ops leadership, Policy, Integrity, Safety Systems, i2, Legal, Product, Engineering, Support, vendors, and others to resolve dependencies and keep work moving.
• Move programs in and out as priorities shift and ensure durable ownership by right teams.
• Use data and frontline signals to identify bottlenecks, quality gaps, capacity needs, and escalation points.
• Drive high-priority escalations to closure with clear context and ownership.
• Create roadmaps, decision logs, status updates, risk registers and executive communications.
• Identify where AI tools, automation, or lightweight systems can improve speed, consistency, and scale.

Skills

Program management

Cross-functional collaboration

Operational planning

Risk management

Stakeholder alignment

Data analysis

Vendor operations

AI safety operations

Job description

ABOUT THE TEAM

Critical Harm Operations sits within User Safety & Risk Operations and builds enforcement systems for Frontier Risk and Material Harm that are accurate, fast, defensible, and built to scale. We turn policy intent into operational readiness, review standards, quality systems, escalation paths, automation guardrails, and durable cross-functional operating models.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are looking for an exceptional Program Manager to help build durable operating systems and run some of OpenAI's most complex safety operations. The core need is a high-agency operator who can take an ambiguous problem, create the right structure, align cross-functional partners, and drive the work through execution.

This role will move across Critical Harm priorities as needs evolve. You may step into operationalizing national security or violent-activities workflows, support wellbeing and Frontier Risk initiatives, or help scale programs such as Trusted Access. Deep domain expertise is helpful but not required; the strongest candidates will learn quickly, exercise excellent judgment, and make complex programs move.

IN THIS ROLE, YOU WILL:

• Lead strategic operational builds across priority workflows from problem statement to implemented operating model, including scope, owners, milestones, risks, success measures, and execution cadence.

• Translate policy, safety, technical, legal, and operational constraints into workflows, requirements, playbooks, escalation paths, and decision-making structures that teams can execute.

• Coordinate with User Ops leadership, Product Policy, Integrity, Safety Systems, i2, Legal, Product, Engineering, Support, vendors, and other partners to resolve dependencies and keep critical work moving.

• Move in and out of workflows as priorities shift-standing up new programs, stabilizing operations, improving handoffs, and transitioning durable ownership to the right team.

• Use operational data and frontline signals to identify bottlenecks, quality gaps, capacity needs, ownership failures, and the highest-leverage interventions.

• Drive high-priority escalations and cross-functional decisions to closure, ensuring the right context, accountable owners, clear next steps, and durable follow-up.

• Create the mechanisms that make programs run well: roadmaps, decision logs, status updates, risk registers, operating reviews, and crisp executive communication.

• Identify where AI tools, automation, lightweight systems, or simpler workflows can improve speed, consistency, and scale while preserving appropriate human judgment.

YOU MIGHT THRIVE IN THIS ROLE IF YOU:

• Have 8+ years of experience in program management, strategy and operations, product operations, technical program management, trust and safety, support operations, risk operations, implementation, or a related field.

• Have a track record of taking complex, ambiguous work from problem framing through launch and scaled operation.

• Are unusually organized, sharp, and execution-focused; you can manage many moving pieces without losing the few decisions that matter most.

• Build trust and drive alignment across teams without direct authority, while keeping ownership, accountability, and escalation paths clear.

• Are technically and analytically fluent enough to reason about data flows, dashboards, tooling gaps, automation, and failure modes-even if you are not writing production code.

• Communicate clearly with technical, operational, policy, and executive audiences, especially when tradeoffs are sensitive or evidence is incomplete.

• Operate calmly and flexibly in a fast-moving environment, learn new domains quickly, and are comfortable handling high-severity or sensitive work.

• Experience with vendor operations, QA programs, launch readiness, workflow automation, or AI-assisted operations.

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience in customer support or other high-stakes scaled operations.

• Deep expertise with national security, violence or other severe-harm domains.

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 Affi

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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Compensation Range: $252K - $280K