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People Research Scientist

OpenAI· People
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San Francisco$170k - $220kFull-timePosted 2mo ago

About the role

OpenAI is seeking a People Research Scientist to design studies, evaluate people processes, and deliver rigorous, actionable insights across People programs. This high-ownership, individual-contributor role combines hands-on research, methodological leadership, and scalable people science capabilities to turn ambiguous people questions into validated designs and impact. Location options include San Francisco, CA or Mountain View, CA, with occasional travel to the San Francisco office.

Responsibilities

  • Design rigorous research and evaluation strategies for recruiting, organizational health, manager effectiveness, employee experience, and talent outcomes.
  • Apply advanced statistical modeling, machine learning, and research methods to inform program design, evaluate effectiveness, and quantify business impact.
  • Partner with People Operations, data engineering, and people systems teams to define data requirements, improve data quality, establish documentation standards, and ensure research datasets are governed, reproducible, and privacy-preserving.
  • Build scalable people science infrastructure, including self-service agentic tools, automated validation workflows, reusable research datasets and analytical pipelines.
  • Develop research playbooks that establish rigorous standards for study design, measurement, validation, and documentation, enabling high-quality, repeatable, and scalable research across the organization.
  • Communicate findings through concise, executive-ready narratives.

Qualifications

  • Deep curiosity, strong attention to detail, and passion for solving ambiguous and complex problems with creativity.
  • Exceptional strength in research design, experimentation, measurement, causal inference, and statistical modeling, including hands-on experience with psychometrics, survey methodology, structural equation modeling, multilevel modeling, randomized controlled experiments, A/B testing, quasi-experimental design, validation studies, and machine learning evaluation.
  • High proficiency in R or Python and SQL, with experience working across complex, messy datasets.
  • Experience building measurement systems, research programs, data products, reusable analytics frameworks, self-service tools, and governed analytical workflows.
  • Ability to communicate complex methods and tradeoffs clearly to senior leaders, technical partners, and non-technical audiences.
  • Sound judgment in handling sensitive employee data, including privacy, fairness, bias, and responsible research practices.

Skills

Required:Research designMeasurementCausal inference and statistical modelingProgramming (R or Python)SQLCommunicationPrivacy and ethics in research

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 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 Oct 15, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About OpenAI

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Company profileWebsite

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