Strategic Site Selection Leader

OpenAI; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 223,000 - 385,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI in Seattle seeks a Site Selection Lead to define the site-attractiveness rubric and translate it into executable portfolio choices and deployment plans.

You will own the strategy across priority geographies, convene Power, Land, Development, Engineering, Construction, Environmental, Community, Commercial, Legal, and Finance partners, and present executive-ready recommendations for top sites.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in site selection or related fields.
• Strong strategic judgment on market intelligence and portfolio construction.
• Ability to lead cross-functional organizations through ambiguous decisions.
• Fluency connecting site quality to terms, capital, schedule, and risk.
• Experience building screening frameworks and executive materials.

Responsibilities

• Own the site-selection strategy across priority geographies.
• Convene cross-functional partners to define a shared rubric for a high-quality site.
• Translate rubric into screening criteria across power readiness, land control, timing, scale, cost, community risk, environmental constraints, AHJ path, budget, schedule, and counterparty credibility.
• Orchestrate Commercial, Legal, Finance, Power, and Development teams to shape exclusivity, initial terms, site-control strategy, funding assumptions, and the path to deployment before deeper commitment.
• Build a deployment plan for top candidates that identifies capacity, sequencing, capital implications, critical-path approvals, risks, owners, and stage-gate decisions.
• Lead conceptual site planning and test-fit screening using boundaries, map layers, buildings, substations, roads, parking, laydown, stormwater, utility corridors, acreage, and estimated load.
• Maintain a single decision-support view of pipeline stage, site health, power readiness, finance review, maps, project evidence, outstanding source data, owners, deadlines, and escalations.
• Present executive-ready advance, defer, or stop recommendations with clear trade-offs, resource asks, and next steps; hand qualified sites to the Development Lead with a complete screening record.

Skills

Strategic judgment

Cross-functional leadership

Portfolio prioritization

Data-driven decisions

Screening frameworks

Tools

Dashboards

Job description

OpenAI in Seattle seeks a Site Selection Lead to define the site-attractiveness rubric and translate it into executable portfolio choices and deployment plans.

You will own the strategy across priority geographies, convene Power, Land, Development, Engineering, Construction, Environmental, Community, Commercial, Legal, and Finance partners, and present executive-ready recommendations for top sites.