About the job
About Our Team
The Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team at OpenAI collaborates with leading global pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, contract research organizations (CROs), and research institutions to implement advanced AI systems throughout the research and development value chain. Our work lies at the convergence of customer engagement and core platform innovation, transforming initial deployments into standardized systems and evaluation methodologies that are scalable within regulated environments.
About the Position
In your role as the Life Sciences FDE Manager, you will oversee a team of FDEs responsible for delivering AI systems that support drug discovery and development processes. You will be accountable for the outcomes of your team’s deliveries while simultaneously acting as a player-coach. Your responsibilities will involve collaborating closely with the team, establishing the technical direction, and upholding rigorous standards for production-grade systems within regulated contexts.
Success will be evaluated based on the health and quality of your FDE team, the adoption of production systems, measurable impacts on workflows, the quality of evaluation-driven feedback provided to Product and Research, and the consistency of deployment strategies across life sciences clients.
This role is located in San Francisco, and we operate under a hybrid work model, requiring 3 days in the office weekly. We also offer relocation support, and the position may require travel up to 25%.
Your Responsibilities
Lead and expand a team of FDEs deploying AI systems in regulated life sciences settings.
Take ownership of your team’s comprehensive delivery outcomes, ensuring a balance between scope, speed, robustness, and risk in critical deployments.
Mentor and develop engineers through constructive feedback, high technical standards, and clear expectations for execution and responsibility.
Act as a player-coach, contributing directly to production systems while leading, mentoring, and directing technical efforts.
Guide teams through complex, multi-workstream engagements involving data, workflows, infrastructure, security, and scientific stakeholders.
Conduct evaluation loops to assess model and system quality against workflow-specific scientific benchmarks, transforming findings into actionable roadmap inputs.
You Will Excel in This Role If You
Possess over 8 years of experience in engineering or technical delivery...

