Applied AI Architect, Core Digital Native

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 221,000 - 278,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a solutions engineer in San Francisco, CA, to ensure Digital Native customers gain business value from our AI products. The ideal candidate has over 10 years of technical pre-sales experience, particularly in technology sales, along with strong programming skills and an understanding of IT security principles.

This role follows a hybrid work model with three days in the office. OpenAI fosters an inclusive environment and values diverse perspectives to advance our AI mission.

Compensation range is $221K – $278K annually.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in a technical pre-sales or similar role, with 4+ years selling to tech customers.
• Effective communicator who can bridge technical and business topics.
• Experience with Generative AI/ML solutions and network/cloud architecture.

Responsibilities

• Deliver exceptional pre-sales customer experience for Digital Native prospects.
• Demonstrate how OpenAI's products meet business needs.
• Create documentation and FAQs for pre-sales common questions.

Skills

Technical pre-sales experience

Experience with technology customers

Programming in Python or Javascript

Understanding of IT security principles

Presentation and communication skills

Job description

About the Team

The Technical Success team is responsible for the customer experience on the OpenAI suite of products, ensuring developers and enterprises maximize benefit, value, and adoption from our highly‑capable models. OpenAI's customers represent a range of diverse backgrounds and maturity, from early‑stage startups to established global enterprises.

About the Role

We are seeking a solutions engineer to partner with our Digital Native customers and ensure they achieve tangible business value from our models through the OpenAI suite of products. You will partner with senior business stakeholders to understand their pre‑sales needs, guide their AI strategy, and identify the highest value use cases and applications. You will work with business and technical teams to demonstrate the value of our solutions and recommend architectural patterns to kickstart their implementation and development. You will work closely with Digital Native Sales, Security, and Product teams.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA or New York, NY. 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

• Deliver an exceptional pre‑sales customer experience for Digital Native prospects and customers by providing technical expertise, outlining the value proposition, and answering product, API, and LLM‑related questions.
• Demonstrate how leveraging OpenAI’s suite of products can meet customers’ business needs and deliver substantial business value. This includes building and presenting demos, scoping use cases, recommending architecture patterns, and providing in‑depth technical advisory.
• Create and maintain documentation, guides, and FAQs related to common questions and requirements discovered during the pre‑sales process.
• Develop and nurture strong customer relationships during the evaluation, validation, and purchasing process.
• Foster customer advocacy and represent the voice of the customer with internal teams by gathering and relaying customer feedback, identifying themes across customers, and incorporating them into product planning.
• Serve as the first line of defense for security and compliance questions, explaining standardized collateral, guiding customers toward relevant resources (e.g., trust portal), and escalating complex requirements to the appropriate teams.

You’ll Thrive In This Role If You

• Have 10+ years of experience in a technical pre‑sales or similar role, including 4+ years selling to technology customers, managing C‑level technical and business relationships with complex global organizations.
• Demonstrate a thorough understanding of IT security principles and customer requirements for technical B2B SaaS products, with experience providing higher‑level security and compliance support.
• Have foundational training in programming languages like Python or Javascript.
• Have delivered prototypes of Generative AI/traditional ML solutions and have knowledge of network/cloud architecture.
• Are an effective presenter and communicator who can translate business and technical topics to all audiences, including senior leaders.
• Own problems end‑to‑end and are willing to pick up whatever knowledge you’re missing to get the job done.
• Have a humble attitude, an eagerness to help your colleagues, and a desire to do whatever it takes to make the team succeed.

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.

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.

Compensation Range: $221K – $278K