Tech Lead, Deployment & Operations — Custom Infrastructure

OpenAI; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a Technical Lead to spearhead deployment and operations for Silicon & Systems. The role focuses on bringing custom AI hardware from lab validation into production datacenters, ensuring reliability at scale.

You will build operational processes, tooling, and workflows while coordinating across hardware, software, and data center teams. The ideal candidate combines strong leadership with hands-on technical expertise in hardware bring-up, fleet deployment, debugging, and

Responsibilities

• Lead a team responsible for deployment and operations of OpenAI’s custom silicon and systems in data center environments
• Own the path from hardware bring-up and validation through production deployment, operational

Job description

About the Team

OpenAI’s Hardware organization develops AI-native silicon and system-level solutions for the unique demands of advanced AI workloads. Building on efforts like Jalapeño, the team is developing future generations of AI-native silicon and tightly integrated systems to power the next generation of frontier models. By co-designing chips, systems, tools, and methodologies, the team helps deliver faster, more efficient, and production-ready hardware for OpenAI’s supercomputing platform.

About the Role

We are seeking a Technical Lead to lead deployment and operations for OpenAI’s Silicon & Systems team. This person will become the Directly-Responsible Individual responsible for bringing OpenAI’s custom silicon and associated systems into data center environments, ensuring successful deployment, bring-up, validation, operational readiness, and ongoing reliability at scale. This role sits at the intersection of silicon, systems, infrastructure, data center operations, and software. You will lead a team focused on taking new hardware platforms from lab validation into production data center deployment. You will be responsible for building the operational processes, technical workflows, tooling, and cross-functional alignment required to deploy and operate custom AI hardware reliably in OpenAI’s supercomputing infrastructure. The ideal candidate is both a strong leader and a deeply technical operator. You should be comfortable staying close to the technical details of hardware bring-up, fleet deployment, debugging, system validation, data center integration, and production operations. This role requires strong execution, excellent cross-functional judgment, and the ability to drive clarity in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team responsible for deployment and operations of OpenAI’s custom silicon and systems in data center environments
• Own the path from hardware bring-up and validation through production deployment, operational