Business Operations Manager

About the Team

The Data Acquisition team within Foundations at OpenAI is responsible for all aspects of data collection to support model training. We build and operate large-scale crawling infrastructure, source and structure external datasets, and work with research, product, and partnerships to ensure OpenAI has the data needed to build and deploy frontier AI systems.

We are a small, high-performing team that thrives in ambiguity. We combine technical fluency, operational rigor, and strategic thinking to move quickly on mission-critical initiatives. Team members bring structure to complex problems, align stakeholders, and drive execution across the organization.

About the Role

We are hiring a Business Operations Manager to lead data operations and acquisition programs. In this role, you will partner closely with research, product, and business teams to identify data needs, source and evaluate data opportunities, and ensure that high-quality data is efficiently delivered into our training pipelines.

You’ll develop a deep understanding of our models, product goals, and the broader data ecosystem. You will work with researchers and engineers to clarify data requirements, design and manage acquisition workflows, engage external partners, and establish processes that improve our ability to create, acquire, and manage data at scale.

This role requires a blend of strategic thinking and hands-on execution. The ideal candidate can navigate ambiguity, break down complex problems, manage cross-functional stakeholders, and drive alignment across technical and business teams. You’ll help the organization anticipate data needs, uncover new opportunities, build internal capability, and operationalize solutions that meaningfully accelerate research progress

This role is based in our San Francisco HQ or New York office. We operate on a hybrid work model with three days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance.

In this role, you will:

• Work closely with research, product, and partnerships teams to understand data needs and define acquisition priorities aligned with model and product goals.

• Translate research objectives into clear technical requirements and operational plans, ensuring data workflows, timelines, and quality standards are well understood and executed.

• Lead vendor and partner engagements for data sourcing—including evaluating suppliers, negotiating agreements, and managing delivery.

• Establish and maintain metrics for data quality, throughput, spend efficiency, and overall program performance, ensuring visibility to leadership and cross-functional partners.

• Identify gaps in our data ecosystem and proactively drive initiatives to strengthen our data acquisition and creation capabilities over time.
  

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have 8+ years of experience in business operations, strategy, venture capital, private equity, consulting, or operations management with at least 2 years operating within a company. We will also consider high-trajectory candidates with fewer years of experience but at top companies with a clear track record of excellence.

• Have experience taking end-to-end ownership of large, ambiguous problems, and breaking them down into clear, actionable plans.

• Have direct experience engaging with executives and senior leaders to influence and drive strategic decisions.

• Excel under pressure, bringing a high motor and exceptional adaptability and flexibility in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

• Are highly analytical – sophisticated in your understanding and approach to analyses; ability to ask and answer the most important questions, and present results clearly to leaders to influence decision making.

• Are comfortable operating at all altitudes – discussing strategy and vision with executives, and troubleshooting operations with individual contributors and external partners.

• Have excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

• Are passionate about technology and artificial intelligence, and interested in its impact on business and society.
  

Nice to haves:

• Technical background with a computer science degree or work in engineering/product

• Experience working in AI.

• Experience working in data science

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. 

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.

Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

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