Strategic Partner Manager

About the Role

We are seeking a Strategic Partner Manager to build and manage trusted relationships on behalf of OpenAI.

You will identify and develop strategic partnerships that help people explore meaningful uses of AI and create value for OpenAI and the partners we work with. As the relationship owner, you will guide opportunities from initial engagement through development, execution, and ongoing growth, coordinating across product, technical, marketing, and other internal teams.

This is a senior individual contributor role for someone with an established network, strong strategic judgment, product curiosity, and a track record of turning relationships into successful partnerships.

This role is based in Los Angeles, CA. We use a hybrid work model of three days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees. Domestic and occasional international travel should be expected.

In This Role, You Will

• Originate, develop, and grow trusted external relationships.
• Serve as the primary owner for a portfolio of strategic partners.
• Understand partners’ goals, audiences, businesses, and concerns.
• Identify meaningful applications of OpenAI’s products and develop partnership plans around them.
• Lead opportunities from initial engagement through negotiation, execution, evaluation, and ongoing growth.
• Develop clear narratives and value propositions for prospective partnerships.
• Coordinate closely with teams across Product, Marketing, Communications, Global Affairs, Research, Legal, and Safety.
• Represent partner perspectives and share relevant insights with internal teams.
• Evaluate opportunities based on alignment, authenticity, feasibility, potential impact, and risk.
• Manage multiple complex relationships and priorities while maintaining a high standard of execution.

You Might Thrive in This Role If You

• Have 10+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, or a related field.
• Bring an established external network and a record of building trusted relationships.
• Have experience originating, negotiating, and growing complex partnerships.
• Can identify valuable opportunities and clearly articulate why they matter.
• Quickly understand a partner’s business, audience, incentives, and concerns.
• Are curious about technology and can identify relevant product applications.
• Bring strong judgment around trust, rights, safety, reputation, and the sensitivities surrounding AI.
• Communicate effectively with senior external partners and internal product and technical leaders.
• Lead effectively across functions, including when priorities are not fully aligned.
• Thrive in fast-moving, ambiguous environments and balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution.

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.