Facilities Standards & Strategy, Program Manager

About the Team

The Real Estate & Workplace (REW) team at OpenAI designs and manages spaces, programs, and services that empower our employees and advance our mission. Our team covers a diverse range of functions, including leasing, global operations, analytics, construction, workplace experience, and employee services. We strive to support OpenAI’s mission of researching and deploying safe artificial general intelligence that benefits all of humanity by optimizing the employee experience and maintaining operational excellence and financial discipline through rigorous focus on flexibility, cost effectiveness, intentional design, and scalable, people-centric solutions.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly experienced facilities professional to support parts of our expanding real estate portfolio across the globe. This is an extremely dynamic role that balances time between large scale collaborative projects and focus work around facilities standards and safeguards. This role reports to the AMERs Workplace Leader within the Workplace Operations org and involves close collaboration across various REW pillars and other cross-functional partners including Design & Construction, Leasing, Global Food Programs, Corporate Security, IT, and other external partners.

This position is based in San Francisco, CA, with the requirement of being in the office 5 days per week. Relocation assistance is available for new hires.

In this role you will:

• Develop, align, and maintain technical facilities standards globally, defining how OpenAI designs, operates, and maintains its buildings in a way that ensures safety, reliability, scalability, and consistency across regions while respecting local requirements.

• Build and manage a high-quality vendor bench for facilities operations, including selecting, onboarding, and partnering with specialized service providers to support maintenance, emergency response, and ongoing operational excellence.

• Serve as the primary point of contact for senior leadership during critical or crisis situations, providing rapid technical assessment, clear communication, and confident recommendations to stabilize operations and minimize business impact.

• Advise construction project managers and architects on MEP systems during design and build phases, ensuring building systems are fit for purpose, operationally sustainable, and aligned with long-term facilities standards.

• Strengthen facilities data and analytics through technical rigor and standardization, ensuring that building system data, asset information, and performance metrics are accurate, comparable, and useful for planning, risk management, and optimization.

• Act as a trusted Source of Truth for facilities standards and technical guidance, supporting Workplace, Design & Construction, and cross-functional partners with clear direction, expert judgment, and escalation paths.

You’ll thrive in this role if you have:

• 10+ years of experience in facilities engineering, building systems design, or technical operations within high-growth, global organizations.

• Deep knowledge of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, with hands-on experience troubleshooting complex issues.

• Professional Engineering (PE) license, CFM, or equivalent technical certification preferred.

• Experience with BAS/BMS platforms, energy management systems, and commissioning processes.

• Familiarity with global building codes, health & safety standards, and landlord/tenant relationships.

• Strong analytical, diagnostic, and project management skills.

• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to non-technical audiences.

• Comfortable operating as an independent contributor and trusted advisor rather than a people manager.

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