# Business Lead, Life Sciences 

**Company:** [OpenAI](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/openai)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** Business Development
**Salary:** $266k – $295k/yr
**Experience:** 10+ years
**Skills:** Business Development, Partnerships, Corporate Development, Deal Structuring, Negotiation, Semiconductor Industry, Strategic Partnerships, Commercial Strategy, Executive Alignment, Deal Negotiation
**Posted:** 2026-06-24

> Lead complex semiconductor partnership deals at OpenAI, originating and structuring multi-project programs that combine AI models, tooling, and services into high-value commercial outcomes. Requires 10+ years closing sophisticated deals and deep semiconductor industry experience.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Identify and size high-value partnership opportunities in the semiconductor industry, translating industry pain points into concrete AI-driven commercial theses
- Map the semiconductor partnership and competitive landscape, including internal AI teams and AI automation startups, and design differentiated partnership strategies that OpenAI can win and scale
- Learn the language, workflows, and commercial dynamics of the semiconductor ecosystem quickly enough to build trust with both technical and business leaders
- Work with FDEs and applied researchers to design multi-project programs that combine models, tooling, data, and services into outcomes partners will pay for
- Define use cases, scope, sequencing, and success metrics that turn ambiguous opportunities into executable programs
- Create the commercial and strategic narratives (decks, demos, proposals, and deal memos) that align partners, executives, and internal teams around a single plan
- Articulate why OpenAI is the right partner versus a build-it-internally approach or external AI automation vendors serving the semiconductor market
- Structure and negotiate non-standard partnerships, including revenue share, royalties, and bespoke commercial terms, through contract signature
- Drive executive-level alignment and decision-making on tradeoffs, resourcing, and risk

## Requirements
- 10+ years in business development, partnerships, corporate development, private equity, or founding roles where you personally drove and closed complex, high-dollar deals from concept through delivery
- Meaningful experience in semiconductors or closely adjacent industries, including an understanding of how large companies in the sector buy, partner, and deploy technology
- Ability to speak credibly with technical teams and learn specialized industry language and concepts very quickly
- Ability to take a vague opportunity and turn it into a clear commercial thesis that customers, executives, and technical teams can buy into and commit budget against
- Ability to develop a sharp view of the competitive market and persuasively explain why OpenAI is better positioned than internal AI automation efforts or semiconductor-focused AI services startups
- Experience building and closing non-standard deals that combine product, services, and long-term strategic value rather than off-the-shelf SKUs
- Ability to navigate large, sophisticated buyers, align multiple stakeholders, and keep deals moving when no one has full authority or clarity
- Ability to strengthen decisions by framing commercial and technical tradeoffs early so partners and OpenAI leadership can commit with confidence
- Ability to maintain momentum as scope, pricing, risk, and partnership structures evolve
- Ability to create structure and accountability across cross-functional teams so that deals actually convert into delivered outcomes
- Ability to deliver results without waiting for perfect information, adjusting the commercial and execution path as reality changes
- Executive presence and credibility in customer and partner settings, from first conversation through long-term partnership

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