Research Program Manager – Adversarial Model Research

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 239,000 - 328,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Hybrid work model

Job summary

OpenAI seeks a Research Program Manager to lead initiatives that test the safety and robustness of its models through creative experimentation and structured evaluation. You will coordinate across research and engineering teams to transform ambiguous risks into concrete programs and influence model development and deployment.

Based in San Francisco, CA, the role offers a hybrid work model with 3 days in the office per week and relocation assistance for new hires.

Qualifications

• Experience in technical program management with strong organizational and communication skills.
• Familiarity with large language models, prompt engineering, or model evaluation techniques.
• Ability to manage fast-paced, high-uncertainty projects and shape them from the ground up.

Responsibilities

• Lead programs that explore unexpected model behaviors and identify failure modes.
• Translate vague or emergent risk signals into clear priorities and actionable research plans.
• Design and run creative evaluations, experiments, and red-teaming campaigns.
• Collaborate with research, product, and deployment teams to integrate findings into model training and deployment cycles.
• Develop repeatable systems for tracking model performance and understanding emerging behavior patterns.

Skills

Technical program management

Organizational skills

Communication skills

Large language models

Prompt engineering

Model evaluation techniques

Project management under uncertainty

Creative problem solving

Stakeholder coordination

Job description

Research Program Manager – Adversarial Model Research

Human Data - San Francisco

About the Team

The Human Data team at OpenAI is responsible for identifying and mitigating risks in advanced AI systems by designing evaluations, surfacing vulnerabilities, and collaborating closely with researchers to strengthen model reliability and public trust.

About the Role

As a Research Program Manager, you will lead initiatives that test the safety and robustness of OpenAI’s models through creative experimentation and structured evaluation. You’ll coordinate efforts across research and engineering teams to transform ambiguous risks into concrete research programs and influence future model development and deployment.

We’re looking for people who are technically savvy, comfortable with ambiguity, and excited about shaping the future of safe AI.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. 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:

• Lead programs that explore unexpected model behaviors and identify failure modes.

• Translate vague or emergent risk signals into clear priorities and actionable research plans.

• Design and run creative evaluations, experiments, and red‑teaming campaigns.

• Collaborate with research, product, and deployment teams to integrate findings into model training and deployment cycles.

• Develop repeatable systems for tracking model performance and understanding emerging behavior patterns.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have strong experience in technical program management, with excellent organizational and communication skills.

• Are familiar with large language models, prompt engineering, or model evaluation techniques.

• Are comfortable managing fast‑paced, high‑uncertainty projects and shaping them from the ground up.

• Are creative and resourceful in devising new methods for testing model behavior and performance.

• Can effectively coordinate across technical and non-technical stakeholders to drive alignment and execution.

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.

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 .

OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy

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

$239K – $328K + Offers Equity