Site Operations Lead

About Team

Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and advancing toward AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world environments. Working across the full model and systems stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the physical constraints of real-world systems to improve people's lives.

About the Role

As the Site Operations Lead for Robotics, you will own the build-out and day-to-day execution of a production-like facility that enables robotics development, testing, and manufacturing work. This role is responsible for getting the site stood up and running smoothly: coordinating activities during construction and ramp, establishing the operating system for the space, and ensuring daily execution across manufacturing lines, warehousing, internal material movement, and overall site readiness.

This is an on-the-ground leadership role with high ownership of execution, safety, and site reliability. The Site Operations Lead partners closely with Facilities, Safety, Engineering, and Operations teams, and coordinates contractor teams to keep work moving at speed with strong operational control.

This role is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA and requires in-person presence 5 days a week to support physical operations.

In this role you will:

• Manage the onsite build-out day to day, coordinating daily activities with ongoing construction, contractors, and internal stakeholders

• Stand up site operating rhythms (daily readiness checks, shift/startup routines, issue triage, and escalation paths) to ensure stable operations during ramp and steady state

• Own daily site readiness and execution across manufacturing lines, work areas, and warehouse/stockroom spaces

• Coordinate closely with factory floor operations to align on priorities, line needs, staffing readiness, and execution plans

• Partner with and coordinate contractor workforces on-site (tasking, standards, safety expectations, performance follow-up, and escalation)

• Own internal material movement and transport inside the facility (staging runs, line-side replenishment, internal transfers), ensuring flow and safety

• Maintain clear standards for storage, labeling, staging lanes, workspace organization, and visual controls (5S or similar)

• Coordinate day-to-day facility operations: access, work orders, basic maintenance scheduling, supply replenishment, space planning, and issue triage/escalation

• Track and resolve operational issues that affect uptime or flow; drive root cause resolution across Facilities, Safety, Engineering, and Ops

• Build and maintain SOPs for site operations workflows; train team members/contractors on standard work and safety expectations

• Partner with Safety, Facilities, Engineering, and Ops teams to maintain a safe, compliant, and reliable operating environment

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have experience standing up and running day-to-day operations in a factory, lab, warehouse, or production-like facility

• Are highly organized and proactive about keeping environments clean, safe, and execution-ready

• Can coordinate multiple workflows (build-out, lines, warehousing, internal movement, facilities needs) without losing detail

• Communicate clearly with frontline teams, contractors, and cross-functional partners and follow through on issues

• Like improving systems and standard work, not just reacting to problems

• Are comfortable operating with urgency during ramp while building durable processes for long-term stability

• Remain calm under pressure, make decisions amid ambiguity, and stay focused on execution

• Enjoy taking messy, early-stage systems and turning them into reliable, scalable operations

What success looks like:

• Engineering and floor operations are never blocked by missing parts or emergency maintenance

• Inventory visibility is high - teams know what is on hand, what is coming, and where it is

• The site runs on clear processes rather than heroics

• Contractor operations run smoothly and scale effectively

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 safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

For additional information, please see OpenAI's Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.

Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.

OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy

At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.

Compensation Range: $295K - $335K