Research Program Manager, Data Acquisition

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI seeks a Research Program Manager, Data Acquisition, to partner with research, engineering, and operations in San Francisco. You will design and implement pragmatic data acquisition solutions and serve as the interface between the research roadmap and external data offerings.

Based at the San Francisco HQ, you will work with a team of RPMs to push the frontier of data acquisition, building lightweight systems and dashboards and driving security-conscious roadmaps with engineers.

Qualifications

• Experience translating research data needs into clear execution plans.
• Ability to design pragmatic data acquisition solutions for research teams.
• Proven track record building lightweight data tooling and dashboards.

Responsibilities

• Partner with research to scope data needs, define success criteria, and translate priorities into execution plans.
• Shape the data acquisition pipeline by evaluating opportunities balancing research value, feasibility, quality, and responsible execution.
• Unblock work using technical judgement and scrappy execution while longer-term solutions form.
• Build lightweight systems and visibility using SQL, Python, dashboards, and simple tooling to track performance and blockers.
• Drive technical roadmaps with engineers to enhance data platforms and ensure secure access management.
• Scale impact by equipping vendors and internal teams with context, standards, and rhythms.

Skills

SQL

Python

APIs

Codex

Dashboards

Data analysis

Tools

Dashboards

Job description

About the Team OpenAI's Research Data Team exists to accelerate the evaluation, safety and capabilities of our models and products. Made up of technical operators and software engineers, we design the methods in which we acquire and create data.

About the Role As a Research Program Manager (RPM), Data Acquisition, you will partner with research, engineering, and operations to design and implement pragmatic solutions for acquiring data. You will be a key interface between our research roadmap and external data offerings.

This role is based in our San Francisco HQ and will be part of a team of RPMs pushing the frontier of data acquisition.

In this role, you will:

• Partner deeply with research: Work with researchers to scope data needs, define success criteria, and translate priorities into clear execution plans.
• Shape the data acquisition pipeline: Identify, evaluate, and advance high impact data opportunities - balancing research value, feasibility, quality, and responsible execution.
• Unblock yourself: Move work forward even when the path is unclear — using technical judgement, creative problem solving, and scrappy execution to make progress while longer-term solutions are still forming.
• Build lightweight systems and visibility: Use SQL, Python, dashboards, and simple tooling to track performance, quality, and blockers.
• Drive technical roadmaps: Collaborate with engineers to enhance data platforms, resolve blockers, and ensure security best practices such as access management.
• Scale your impact: Equip vendors and internal teams with the context, standards, and operating rhythms needed to focus on the most important problems.

You’ll thrive in this role if you:

• Are proficient in SQL and Python for analysing datasets, querying databases, building dashboards, and generating actionable insights.
• Are comfortable using APIs, automation, and AI tools such as Codex to accelerate workflows, remove manual overhead, and upskill quickly in unfamiliar technical areas. Experience sourcing, evaluating, or working with startups, founder and vendors
• Are excited to understand the technicalities of cutting-edge AI research and work alongside researchers from instantiation to launch.
• Can move fluidly between research context, commercial execution, and data operations.
• Want to get your hands dirty; grit and creative problem solving will be required daily
• Learn technical concepts exceptionally quickly, seeking out knowledge to become proficient in areas that are new to you
• Operate with high horsepower, are adept at frequent context switching and working on multiple projects at once with expansive ownership, and ruthless prioritization
• Thrive in dynamic environments and can navigate ambiguity with ease

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 Affiant Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.

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.