Senior Counsel, Sanctions and Trade Compliance

Responsibilities

• Advise cross-functional teams on compliance and legal requirements applicable to OpenAI’s products and services under U.S. and international sanctions regimes.
• Develop sanctions compliance strategies and processes at a global scale for a frontier AI company operating across jurisdictions and products.
• Partner closely with cross-functional teams across Finance, Integrity, GRC, and Engineering to implement sanctions screening and controls that are deeply embedded into business workflows.
• Own compliance documentation and reporting, including policies, standards, dashboards, metrics, and escalation frameworks to enable rapid monitoring, assessment, and improvement of compliance processes.
• Work with cross-functional teams to deeply understand and integrate compliance systems and tools, ensuring compliance checks are seamless, reliable, and adaptable as OpenAI evolves.
• Lead ongoing reviews and risk assessments to ensure the continued effectiveness of our compliance controls and processes.
• Manage and coordinate vendors and other third parties who support OpenAI’s compliance operations.
• Assist in the development of trade compliance training materials for our cross-functional partners and business teams.
• Explore and deploy AI tools to enhance and streamline OpenAI’s trade compliance efforts.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in the trade compliance field, including developing and implementing trade compliance programs at a large, technology-focused company.
• J.D. from an accredited law school and active license to practice law, in good standing, in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• Sophisticated understanding of how US and international sanctions laws apply to multinational US companies.
• Successfully embedded comprehensive compliance programs and incorporated compliance processes into complex business workflows without slowing innovation.
• Highly skilled at program management, including organizing complex systems, tasks, processes, and documentation.
• Strong communication skills that build trust with cross-functional teams, from engineers to business leaders.
• Strong sense of ownership, inquisitive and enthusiastic about technology, sound judgment in ambiguous situations.