Full-Time

Operations Program Manager

Robotics Data Acquisition

OpenAI

OpenAI

10,001+ employees

Develops safe AI models and tools

Compensation Overview

$177k - $251k/yr

San Francisco, CA, USA

In Person

Five days on-site per week required.

Bachelor's

Category
Mechanical Engineering (1)
Business & Strategy (1)
Required Skills
Six Sigma
Process Engineering
Robotics

Get referred to OpenAI

See people who can refer or advise you

Requirements
  • A bachelor's degree in Industrial, Mechanical, Manufacturing, or a related technical field is required.
  • Three to five years of hands-on experience in manufacturing, industrial or process engineering, operations, robotics, or production environments is required.
  • Experience using Lean, Six Sigma, time studies, or similar methods to improve processes is required.
  • Understanding of operating key performance indicators such as cycle time, takt time, throughput, utilization, yield, overall equipment effectiveness, and uptime is required.
  • Ability to manage multiple workstreams and coordinate across floor operators and technicians to drive execution with limited supervision is required.
  • Exposure to robotics data acquisition, autonomous vehicle systems, camera or audio systems, automation, or robotics systems is required.
Responsibilities
  • Coordinate daily operations readiness across workstations, operators, and materials.
  • Track core operating metrics including utilization, cycle time, throughput, downtime, operator productivity, and data quality.
  • Identify bottlenecks through workflow analysis, time studies, and capacity modeling, then drive practical fixes.
  • Execute the rollout of new hardware, sensors, tools, and process changes with Engineering, Operations, Facilities, Supply Chain, and Safety.
  • Identify equipment readiness issues and coordinate with technical support to keep workstations and test equipment calibrated, configured, maintained, and ready for rollouts and evaluations.
  • Lead root cause analysis for recurring operational issues and follow through on corrective actions.
  • Provide operations input to create and maintain standard operating procedures, work instructions, training materials, and process controls.
  • Identify and flag resource constraints and manage issue escalation and resolution.

OpenAI conducts AI research and deployment to build advanced AI models and tools that help people automate tasks, be more creative, and make better decisions. Its products include ChatGPT, a conversational AI that can write, code, tutor, and assist in interactive tasks, and Sora, which can generate videos from text prompts. OpenAI’s models typically run through cloud-based services and subscriptions, with licensing and partnerships for broader use. The company operates a capped-profit model to balance generating revenue with ensuring safety, ethics, and long-term societal benefits. Its approach emphasizes safety, responsible deployment, and collaboration with researchers, governments, and institutions. The goal is to ensure artificial general intelligence, when it arrives, benefits all of humanity and minimizes risks.

Company Size

10,001+

Company Stage

Private

Total Funding

$196.5B

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Founded

2015

Get referred to OpenAI

See people who can refer or advise you

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Private Safety Processing launched August 19, 2026, selling enterprise privacy without data retention.
  • OpenAI signed a 10-gigawatt Ohio lease in August 2026, locking massive compute supply.
  • InstantDB acquisition on August 22, 2026 strengthens backend infrastructure for persistent AI workflows.

What critics are saying

  • Brad Lightcap, Denise Dresser, and Chris Malone exited in August 2026, destabilizing sales and infrastructure.
  • OpenAI's Q2 2026 loss widened to $12.3 billion, outrunning $6.7 billion revenue.
  • A failed 2027 IPO forces Stargate-scale commitments onto a cash-burning balance sheet.

What makes OpenAI unique

  • ChatGPT owns consumer mindshare, with iMessage, SMS, and RCS control across Apple Silicon Macs.
  • Jalapeño, announced August 25, 2026, delivers 1.5-4.1x better performance per watt.
  • OpenAI's deployment stack now spans InstantDB, Tomoro, and custom chips for agents.

Help us improve and share your feedback! Did you find this helpful?

Benefits

Health insurance

Dental and vision insurance

Flexible spending account for healthcare and dependent care

Mental healthcare service

Fertility treatment coverage

401(k) with generous matching

20-week paid parental leave

Life insurance (complimentary)

AD&D insurance (complimentary)

Short-term/long-term disability insurance (complimentary)

Optional buy-up life insurance

Flexible work hours and unlimited paid time off (we encourage 4+ weeks per year)

Annual learning & development stipend

Regular team happy hours and outings

Daily catered lunch and dinner

Travel to domestic conferences

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

8%
CNBC
Aug 25th, 2026
OpenAI data centre chief exits amid wave of executive departures and $600B infrastructure plans

OpenAI's head of data centres, Chris Malone, has left the company after joining in March 2025, CNBC confirmed. Malone previously worked on data centre infrastructure at Meta and Google. His departure adds to a wave of recent executive exits at the AI lab. Earlier this month, revenue chief Denise Dresser left after less than a year, whilst longtime executive Brad Lightcap ended an eight-year tenure. Product and business chief Fidji Simo stepped down last month, and four other executives departed in April. The exits come as OpenAI works to justify its $852 billion valuation ahead of an expected IPO. The company confidentially filed its prospectus in June and aims to go public in 2027.

Bloomberg
Aug 25th, 2026
OpenAI's Jalapeno chips outperform Nvidia as Apple unveils upgraded Macs

Nvidia is set to report earnings on Wednesday as its stock prepares to end a seven-session losing streak. The chipmaker's results come amid heightened competition in the AI chip market. Apple has announced new Mac mini and Mac Studio desktop computers featuring significant processor upgrades, continuing its push into AI-enhanced computing. OpenAI has claimed its new Jalapeno chips outperform Nvidia's current chip lineup, marking a notable challenge to Nvidia's dominance in AI hardware. The development signals growing competition as AI companies seek alternatives to Nvidia's GPUs for training and deploying large language models.

Yahoo Finance
Aug 25th, 2026
Altman shelves Sora video tool over compute shortage as NVDA revenue hits $81.6B

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged AI adoption is progressing slower than anticipated, comparing the current state to the "palm pilot stage" rather than an iPhone moment. He attributed the lag to economic inertia and habit rather than technological limitations. Altman revealed OpenAI shelved its Sora video tool because it consumed excessive computing resources. He identified compute availability as the industry's biggest bottleneck, where he focuses most of his attention. The admission suggests demand for AI infrastructure remains robust despite slower enterprise adoption. Computing capacity gets consumed by model builders competing for available resources regardless of end-user uptake pace. Meanwhile, NVIDIA closed Monday at $208.48 with a market capitalisation of roughly $5.05 trillion. The chip maker's Q1 fiscal 2027 results showed revenue of $81.6 billion, up 85% year over year, with Data Centre revenue reaching $75.2 billion.

TechRadar
Aug 24th, 2026
AWS, Microsoft, and OpenAI invest billions in Forward Deployed Engineers for AI deployment

Major tech companies are ramping up investments in Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) to help customers implement AI systems. AWS announced a $1 billion investment to embed thousands of engineers with clients, whilst Microsoft plans to hire 6,000 people for a $3.5 billion AI delivery unit. OpenAI has established a dedicated Deployment Company and agreed to acquire Tomoro, adding approximately 150 FDEs. FDEs embed directly with customers to build integrations and move AI systems from prototype to production. They work to deploy probabilistic AI systems into deterministic business environments, addressing challenges around data quality, accuracy thresholds, and workflow integration. However, the growth of FDEs signals market immaturity. As AI products mature, the need for these specialists should decrease as repeatable work becomes standardised and embedded in software rather than requiring bespoke implementation for each customer.

Crypto Briefing
Aug 22nd, 2026
OpenAI acquires InstantDB team to bolster AI agent infrastructure

OpenAI has acquired the team behind InstantDB, a real-time database platform that served over 17,000 users and powered 400,000 applications. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, announced on 22 August. InstantDB, which went through Y Combinator in 2022, offered developers a Backend-as-a-Service product handling real-time data synchronisation. The platform processed roughly 2.5 billion transactions across its lifetime. Instant Cloud is being phased out, with new signups halted. Existing subscribers can claim refunds for billing after 31 July 2026. Cloud-hosted applications will continue running until 31 August 2027. The open-source codebase will remain available for self-hosting. The acquisition brings backend infrastructure expertise to OpenAI as it develops agent-based workflows requiring persistent state management and real-time data handling capabilities.