# Operations Program Manager, AI Infrastructure

**Company:** [OpenAI](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/openai)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** Technical Program Management
**Salary:** $177k – $285k/yr
**Experience:** 8+ years
**Skills:** Bom Management, Eco/Mco Processes, Plm, ERP, Npi, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing Processes, Risk Management, Cross-Functional Leadership, Datacenter Infrastructure
**Posted:** 2026-05-14

> Leads operational readiness for AI hardware NPI and production ramps, driving cross-functional alignment, risk management, and scalable processes for OpenAI's infrastructure systems. Requires 8+ years in hardware operations or program management with supply chain expertise.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities

### Strategic & Leadership Ownership
- Act as the single-threaded owner for operational readiness across NPI and ramp, accountable for outcomes from early bring-up through sustained production
- Translate OpenAI’s infrastructure strategy and engineering objectives into clear operating plans, execution priorities, and decision frameworks
- Drive alignment across Engineering, Operations, Strategic Sourcing, Finance, Capacity Planning, and Executive stakeholders by framing tradeoffs, risks, and recommendations
- Proactively identify inflection points where decisions or investments are required to protect long-term scale, reliability, or cost targets
- Influence operational strategy with manufacturing partners by setting expectations on execution rigor, accountability, and continuous improvement

### Program Execution & Operational Excellence
- Drive overall NPI build readiness, including material accountability, manufacturing and test readiness, product data availability, factory infrastructure, and qualification plans
- Lead transition activities from NPI to mass production, partnering closely with Sustaining Operations teams to ensure seamless ownership transfer
- Translate engineering requirements into actionable, factory-ready plans with tier-1 manufacturing and integration partners
- Lead cross-functional build and debug cadences; ensure issues are clearly owned, aggressively driven, and formally closed with root cause and prevention
- Drive factory and deployment ramp readiness, including throughput, site readiness, yield targets, quality controls, and reliability gates
- Own end-to-end risk management—identification, mitigation planning, escalation, and executive-level communication
- Surface systemic bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or failure modes; propose and implement durable solutions across process, tooling, and organizational interfaces
- Build, formalize, and scale repeatable operating mechanisms that enable predictable, high-velocity hardware development

### Systems, Process & Partner Leadership
- Define requirements for operational systems (e.g., PLM enablement), and partner with internal teams to implement, test, and operationalize them
- Establish clear scopes, roles, and responsibilities across internal teams and external partners to ensure clean execution boundaries
- Build strong, trust-based relationships with contract manufacturers, OEMs, and integrators—driving accountability, performance, and transparency
- Support onsite factory builds and field deployments as needed (domestic and international travel)

## Requirements
- 8+ years of experience in Operations, Engineering, Program Management, or equivalent, within hardware development, manufacturing, or supply chain domains (compute, networking, datacenter, or similarly complex systems)
- Proven track record leading complex hardware NPI programs end-to-end, from early bring-up through production ramp
- Strong understanding of manufacturing and supply chain fundamentals, including **BOM management**, **ECO/MCO processes**, build readiness, factory test, quality controls, and material planning
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams, influence senior stakeholders, and drive decisions in ambiguous, time-compressed environments
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to distill complex issues for executive and external audiences

## Preferred
- Experience operating in hyperscale datacenter or large-scale infrastructure environments
- Familiarity with supplier engagement models, build cost drivers, and NPI scaling tradeoffs
- Technical background in server, rack, and/or network hardware
- Experience designing or improving operational processes, dashboards, governance forums, or execution metrics
- Experience supporting **PLM** processes and familiarity with **ERP** systems

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