Strategic Academic Research Partnerships Lead

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a hybrid business development and program management leader to build relationships with principal investigators, researchers, and university technology leaders. You will translate high-value use cases into sustained OpenAI usage across Pro, Codex, API, and ChatGPT Edu, while designing phased access and fellows programs and running pilots.

You will identify priority labs, qualify opportunities, and create repeatable paths from researchers to lab and institution adoption,

Qualifications

• Relevant experience in business development, program management, partnerships, or technical go-to-market work serving higher education, research, developer, or technical communities.
• Credibility with funded labs, researchers, or R1 universities is preferred.
• Strong program design and operating judgment to move from concept to repeatable motion.

Responsibilities

• Build a pipeline of funded labs, research centers, and technical champions at priority universities; qualify opportunities based on value, funding path, influence, and expansion potential.
• Run discovery with researchers and university stakeholders to understand workflows, data and security needs, procurement constraints, and success criteria.
• Design and operate phased access and fellows programs, including eligibility, selection, onboarding, and pilot goals.
• Translate research workflows into effective use of OpenAI products in partnership with Solutions, Product, and Education teams.
• Manage pilots end to end, remove blockers, and drive activation, retention, and expansion.
• Turn early usage into product feedback, documentation, case studies, and repeatable enablement.
• Build clear handoffs and expansion paths from researcher to lab to institution; track selection, activation, retained usage, workflow proof, conversion, and expansion.

Skills

Business development

Program management

Partnerships

Technical go-to-market

Job description

OpenAI is seeking a hybrid business development and program management leader to build relationships with principal investigators, researchers, and university technology leaders. You will translate high-value use cases into sustained OpenAI usage across Pro, Codex, API, and ChatGPT Edu, while designing phased access and fellows programs and running pilots.

You will identify priority labs, qualify opportunities, and create repeatable paths from researchers to lab and institution adoption,