Senior Data Center Operations & Commissioning Lead

OpenAI; United States; On-site; USD 159,000 - 285,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a Facilities Operations Lead to support commissioning, deployment, and long-term operation of our next-generation AI data centers. This role bridges data center construction and hardware landing, ensuring seamless integration of mission-critical infrastructure with hardware deployment timelines.

You will collaborate with design, construction, and hardware teams to define repeatable processes for new data center builds and lead hands-on operations to uphold the performance and

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in large-scale data center facility operations, commissioning, or critical infrastructure engineering.
• Deep familiarity with liquid-cooled IT systems, CDU and in-rack/in-row manifold design, bring-up, and servicing.
• Enjoy defining and improving infrastructure processes at the intersection of construction, hardware, and operations.
• Comfortable owning infrastructure from deployment to long-term maintenance and failure recovery.
• Experience responding to field issues and managing reliability through well-defined operational processes.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute sequences of operations, commissioning steps, and bring-up processes for mission-critical data center facilities.
• Interface with the design and hardware teams to define deployment procedures tailored to each data center and hardware configuration.
• Oversee installation, commissioning, and operational readiness of large-scale data center campuses.
• Manage monitoring, maintenance, and quality control of the data center infrastructure, including high‑performance liquid cooling systems.
• Develop on-site operations staffing strategy.
• Develop and enforce procedures for planned and unplanned downtime and SLAs for critical facility components.

Job description

OpenAI is seeking a Facilities Operations Lead to support commissioning, deployment, and long-term operation of our next-generation AI data centers. This role bridges data center construction and hardware landing, ensuring seamless integration of mission-critical infrastructure with hardware deployment timelines.

You will collaborate with design, construction, and hardware teams to define repeatable processes for new data center builds and lead hands-on operations to uphold the performance and