About the job
About Our Team
At OpenAI, our Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team collaborates with clients to transform groundbreaking research into operational systems. We thrive at the crossroads of customer engagement and core platform innovation.
About the Role
In this pivotal FDE managerial role, you will guide the team through critical and complex customer deployments, ensuring both technical and business value outcomes are achieved seamlessly. You will cultivate a resilient team capable of performing under pressure while enabling OpenAI to glean insights from real-world applications.
You will actively collaborate with Product, Research, Sales, and Go-To-Market teams to ensure that on-the-ground experiences shape our strategic priorities, inspire new initiatives, and facilitate secure, scalable deployments. Your leadership will play a crucial role in fostering customer trust in OpenAI's solutions. Success will be evaluated based on your team's delivery efficiency, the clarity of insights communicated to Research and Product teams, and the sustainability of your team and its operational model.
This position is based in San Francisco with a hybrid work model requiring three days in the office weekly, and we provide relocation assistance for new hires. Additionally, the role may involve travel up to 25% of the time.
In This Role, You Will
Lead and develop a high-performing FDE team delivering production systems utilizing cutting-edge models.
Oversee end-to-end delivery processes through effective communication, rapid execution, strong collaboration, and high technical standards.
Document successful practices into frameworks, toolkits, and strategic inputs that enhance productivity for both OpenAI and the broader developer ecosystem.
Identify early indicators of issues and escalate them swiftly, whether related to product functionality, customer environments, or delivery methodologies.
Exercise discretion to prioritize actionable insights appropriately.
Set and uphold high-performance standards for the FDE team while providing constructive, actionable feedback to support individual development.
Define staffing and support strategies for field teams that facilitate scalability without added complexity.
You May Excel in This Role If You
Possess 8+ years of engineering or technical delivery experience, including 2+ years managing high-performing FDE or client-facing engineering teams.
Have successfully led high-pressure technical projects from inception to production.
Demonstrate a strong technical acumen and the ability to bridge technical and business objectives.

