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Manager, Applied AI Engineering (Startups)

OpenAI· Go To Market
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Hybrid (San Francisco), Hybrid (Mountain View)$302k - $335k + equityFull-timePosted 5mo ago

About the role

Lead and scale the Startups Applied AI Engineering motion to help high-growth startups move from experimentation to production, unlocking meaningful usage and building durable technical partnerships with OpenAI.

Responsibilities

  • Craft and continuously refine the strategic vision and operating model for the Startups Applied AI Engineering team, aligning it with OpenAI’s broader company objectives and the evolving needs of high-growth startup customers.
  • Lead, mentor, and grow a team of high-performing technical ICs supporting startup customers across AI-native, developer-led, and product-led companies.
  • Help startups move from early experimentation to production usage by identifying technical blockers, advising on architecture, and driving practical paths to deployment.
  • Partner closely with Sales to determine where technical engagement can accelerate adoption, production usage, and long-term account growth.
  • Represent the technical voice of startup customers by synthesizing high-signal feedback, especially around developer experience, product gaps, deployment blockers, model performance, and emerging use cases.
  • Translate recurring startup needs into repeatable playbooks, starter packs, reference architectures, internal tooling, and customer-facing assets that help the broader team move faster.
  • Serve as a senior technical escalation point for priority startup customers, including founder-, CTO-, and technical executive-level conversations.
  • Balance urgent customer needs with OpenAI’s broader product and platform priorities, especially when startups request niche features, bespoke support, or accelerated roadmap changes.
  • Coach Applied AI Engineers on technical quality, customer judgment, prioritization, executive communication, and cross-functional partnership.
  • Partner across Sales, Product, Engineering, Research, and other GTM teams to improve how OpenAI supports startups from early adoption through scaled production usage.

Qualifications

  • Have proven experience founding, scaling, or operating within early-stage startups, ideally in technical leadership roles where you owned both product or customer outcomes and technical execution.
  • Have a strong track record of building and leading technical, customer-facing teams in high-growth, ambiguous, or startup-heavy environments.
  • Bring strong technical depth across APIs, platform products, AI/ML systems, developer workflows, and production deployment considerations.
  • Have experience creating scalable operating models, not just managing one-off customer escalations.
  • Are comfortable working directly with founders, CTOs, technical executives, and highly technical ICs.
  • Demonstrate strong judgment about when to go deep for a strategic customer versus when to build repeatable mechanisms for the broader segment.
  • Can translate complex technical and product considerations into clear decisions, practical guidance, and customer-facing recommendations.
  • Operate with speed, iteration, and pragmatic customer impact without sacrificing quality, safety, or OpenAI’s long-term platform strategy.
  • Are personally committed to fostering the safe and beneficial development of AI.

Skills

Required:Strategic vision and operating model designTechnical leadership of AI/ML systems teamsSystems architecture and deployment planningCustomer engagement and executive communication

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts
  • Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit)
  • 401(k) retirement plan with employer match
  • Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)
  • Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees
  • 13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time
  • Mental health and wellness support
  • Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
  • Annual learning and development stipend
  • Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible
  • Relocation support for eligible employees
  • Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends
Last updated Sep 17, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About OpenAI

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