Senior Leader, Applied AI Engineering

OpenAI; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Hybrid work model

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a Manager, Applied AI Engineering (Digital Natives) in San Francisco with a hybrid model (3 days in-office per week) and relocation support. You will lead a team of Applied AI Engineers delivering meaningful AI solutions for strategic customers in the Americas, coordinating with Sales, Product, Engineering, and Research to drive adoption and impact.

You will mentor engineers, define repeatable patterns, and partner with executives to align technical outcomes with business

Qualifications

• 8+ years in deeply technical, customer-facing roles such as applied engineering, solutions architecture, deployment engineering, technical consulting, or similar roles.
• 2+ years of experience leading technical teams, with hiring, mentoring, and managing engineers.
• Experience building or deploying generative AI or cloud-based software in production environments.
• Strong technical depth across APIs, AI/ML systems, architecture, cloud infrastructure, and developer workflows.
• Hands-on software engineering with Python or JavaScript.
• Comfort working with CTOs and executive stakeholders and translating complex topics for diverse audiences.
• Ability to translate ambiguous customer problems into clear technical approaches and scalable patterns.
• Excellent judgment on investing in individual challenges vs repeatable solutions.
• Strong ownership, curiosity, and commitment to safe, beneficial AI.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the team's strategy and operating model for Digital Natives Applied AI Engineering.
• Hire, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of engineers.
• Lead hands-on work with customers to identify high-impact use cases and scale solutions.
• Collaborate with Sales to prioritize technical engagement for strategic customers.
• Serve as senior technical partner and escalation point for priority customers.
• Translate customer needs into repeatable technical patterns, architectures, and playbooks.
• Coach engineers on technical excellence, customer judgment, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Help customers adopt OpenAI's capabilities to build differentiated products.

Skills

Deep technical customer-facing

Technical leadership

APIs & AI/ML

Python/JavaScript

Customer engagement

Executive communication

Job description

OpenAI is seeking a Manager, Applied AI Engineering (Digital Natives) in San Francisco with a hybrid model (3 days in-office per week) and relocation support. You will lead a team of Applied AI Engineers delivering meaningful AI solutions for strategic customers in the Americas, coordinating with Sales, Product, Engineering, and Research to drive adoption and impact.

You will mentor engineers, define repeatable patterns, and partner with executives to align technical outcomes with business