Strategic Partnerships Deal Lead

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 333,000 - 401,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a Deal Lead to identify and execute high-value commercial opportunities, shaping offerings, pricing, and partnerships from thesis through launch. You’ll collaborate with Product, Research, GTM, Finance, Legal, and delivery teams to align customer needs with technology and viable economics.

This hands-on role requires structuring complex agreements, negotiating terms, and driving outcomes beyond signature, including launch and growth across industries as OpenAI expands its

Qualifications

• Have significant experience in business development, partnerships, corporate development, private equity, or founding roles where you personally led complex commercial opportunities from concept through execution.
• Have originated, structured, and closed significant deals—and stayed accountable for what happened after signing.
• Can turn an ambiguous opportunity into a clear commercial thesis, prioritized use cases, viable economics, and an executable plan.
• Bring strong commercial and financial judgment, including experience designing pricing, evaluating business models, and negotiating terms that align incentives.
• Learn unfamiliar industries quickly and bring relevant domain expertise, with an understanding of how sophisticated customers buy, partner, and deploy technology.
• Work effectively with FDEs, researchers, engineers, and product teams to connect technical capabilities with customer value and realistic delivery commitments.
• Build executive alignment across organizations, communicating opportunities, risks, and tradeoffs clearly and driving decisions when priorities differ.
• Are equally comfortable shaping strategy and doing the hands-on work: customer discovery, financial modeling, proposals, negotiations, and resolving execution blockers.
• Create structure and accountability across cross-functional teams without relying on formal authority.
• Exercise sound judgment under uncertainty, adapting as evidence changes and recognizing when to invest more, change course, or walk away.

Responsibilities

• Identify and develop high-value opportunities across industries, markets, and emerging capabilities, translating customer needs into concrete AI use cases and commercial opportunities.
• Shape new offerings and business models: define who we serve, what we offer, how we price it, and how we bring it to market.
• Originate and grow customer and partner relationships, building executive alignment around the opportunity, desired outcomes, and path forward.
• Work with FDEs, researchers, Product, and GTM teams to prioritize use cases and define scope, success criteria, resourcing, and a viable delivery approach.
• Structure and negotiate complex partnerships, including revenue sharing, royalties, outcome-based pricing, and other non-standard commercial arrangements.
• Drive executive-level decisions on strategy, economics, resourcing, and risk, keeping internal teams and external partners aligned as the work evolves.
• Drive commercial outcomes beyond signature, including launch, adoption, revenue, viable economics, and expansion.
• Build on early successes to develop repeatable offerings and partnerships, continuing to lead strategic relationships or establishing clear ownership as they scale.

Skills

Deal leadership

Business development

Partnerships

Corporate development

Private equity

Pricing

Negotiations

Financial modeling

Executive communication

Job description

OpenAI is seeking a Deal Lead to identify and execute high-value commercial opportunities, shaping offerings, pricing, and partnerships from thesis through launch. You’ll collaborate with Product, Research, GTM, Finance, Legal, and delivery teams to align customer needs with technology and viable economics.

This hands-on role requires structuring complex agreements, negotiating terms, and driving outcomes beyond signature, including launch and growth across industries as OpenAI expands its