Strategic Technology Negotiations Lead at OpenAI · LumiJobs

Responsibilities

OpenAI is seeking a Strategic Technology Negotiations Lead to personally lead some of the company's most complex and consequential technology negotiations.
This is not a people manager role. It is a senior strategic IC operator role for an expert negotiator who wants to remain close to the work and personally drive high-impact outcomes. We are especially interested in leaders who have managed teams and are intentionally seeking an individual contributor role where their impact comes through judgment, influence, and direct ownership.
Rather than owning a fixed category, you will be deployed against high-priority opportunities where deal complexity, commercial stakes, executive visibility, or time pressure require exceptional negotiation leadership. Your initial focus will include data platforms and infrastructure, including data lake and lakehouse technologies, observability, and enterprise SaaS, with flexibility to work across other strategic technology areas. You will lead negotiations from strategy through execution, aligning decision-makers and driving agreements to closure.
Many of these negotiations exist within broader supplier and partner ecosystems. You will look beyond the immediate transaction to account for interconnected cost, equity, revenue, partnership, risk, and long-term strategic implications. Success requires strong economics, sound judgment under pressure, executive credibility, and the ability to bring stakeholders with you through difficult decisions.
This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.
Personally lead complex, high-value, and business-critical technology negotiations from initial strategy through signed agreement.
Develop fact-based negotiation plans that define objectives, leverage, alternatives, sequencing, roles, decision points, and escalation paths.
Rapidly synthesize technical requirements, supplier economics, market dynamics, adoption patterns, dependencies, and business priorities.
Partner with leaders across Engineering, Research, IT, Systems, Finance, Legal, Corporate Development, and other teams to establish a unified negotiation strategy.
Assess each negotiation within the broader supplier ecosystem, identifying interconnected relationships that may create value, constraints, dependencies, or leverage.
Shape complex deal structures with cost, equity, revenue, partnership, risk, and long-term strategic implications.
Advise executives through clear, decision-ready narratives covering deal strategy, financial impact, alternatives, risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations.

Strategic Technology Negotiations Lead

Responsibilities

Benefits

Company

OpenAI

More roles at OpenAI