Strategic Program Manager - National Security Policy Ops

OpenAI; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 171,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Travel as needed

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a highly organized Program Manager, National Security Policy Operations to join the Global Affairs team, reporting directly to Sasha Baker. This hands-on role translates priorities into executable plans, tracks commitments, and ensures decisions and risks are surfaced and resolved.

You will orchestrate planning, dependencies, and coordination across policy, legal, safety, security, and product policy teams, while managing contractors and external engagements.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant experience in program management, policy operations, or related roles.
• Experience coordinating complex cross‑functional programs across policy, legal, security, and technical teams.
• Ability to synthesize quantitative and qualitative inputs into crisp decision materials, action plans, and executive-ready updates.
• Strong analytical, writing, and communication skills; able to present to policy leaders and technical audiences.
• Comfort working in fast-paced, sensitive environments and influence without formal authority.
• Genuine care for AI impact on national security and society; familiarity with frontier risk, cybersecurity, biosecurity, or governance topics is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Run portfolio planning and team operations, including intake, workplans, milestones, owners, dependencies, risks, and progress reporting.
• Build and maintain lightweight operating systems for planning, meetings, knowledge management, decision logs, and centralized tracking.
• Own the team's program metrics and central tracking of commitments, owners, deadlines, dependencies, decisions, and follow-ups.
• Coordinate policy deliverables and external engagements from planning through follow‑ups; draft talking points, presentations, and updates.
• Oversee operational management of contractors and consultants, including onboarding, scopes of work, renewals, invoices, and offboarding with Legal, Finance, and Procurement.
• Coordinate across Global Affairs, Research, Safety, Security, Product Policy, Legal, Communications, and OpenAI for Government to manage dependencies and priorities.
• Continuously improve operating model through feedback loops, retrospectives, and use of AI and lightweight tooling.

Skills

Program management

Cross-functional coordination

Policy operations

Analytical writing

Executive updates

Stakeholder management

Budget and contracts

AI governance awareness

Job description

OpenAI is seeking a highly organized Program Manager, National Security Policy Operations to join the Global Affairs team, reporting directly to Sasha Baker. This hands-on role translates priorities into executable plans, tracks commitments, and ensures decisions and risks are surfaced and resolved.

You will orchestrate planning, dependencies, and coordination across policy, legal, safety, security, and product policy teams, while managing contractors and external engagements.