Partner Manager, OpenAI for Government

About the team OpenAI’s mission is to build safe artificial general intelligence (AGI) which benefits all of humanity. This long-term undertaking brings the world’s best scientists, engineers, and business professionals into one lab together to accomplish this. About the Role We are seeking a Partner Manager to join OpenAI for Government’s Partnerships team to help lead and scale OpenAI’s most important partner relationships. This role sits at the center of partner management, cross-functional execution, and internal governance. You will help shape how OpenAI works with major platform, cloud, systems integration, and go-to-market partners to unlock durable commercial outcomes, strengthen delivery readiness, and improve coordination across internal and external teams. The right candidate will be able to manage a high-level of activity across a portfolio of high-priority strategic relationships, drive operational rigor, and serve as a connective layer across business, technical, legal, product, policy, and delivery stakeholders. This position is ideal for someone who combines strong partner instincts with exceptionally strong program management discipline and can translate executive alignment into tangible execution across complex, fast-moving relationships. In this role, you'll: - Own day-to-day management of a portfolio of key strategic partners, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and other high-priority AI ecosystem relationships.

• Serve as a central point of coordination for joint planning, governance, escalation management, and cross-functional execution.
• Build and run partner operating cadences across leadership reviews, working teams, business development, technical alignment, and delivery stakeholders.
• Help drive commercial outcomes by supporting co-sell motions, opportunity coordination, and execution against shared objectives.
• Track partnership performance, milestones, dependencies, and risks across multiple workstreams and internal teams.
• Coordinate internal resources across Go-to-Market, partnerships, product, legal, security, communications, policy, finance, and operations to support partner success.
• Support implementation and operationalization of partnership agreements, statements of work, enablement plans, and governance structures.
• Identify and resolve blockers across joint initiatives, including issues related to prioritization, delivery readiness, technical engagement, or executive alignment.
• Help define the model for how OpenAI engages with partners such as cloud providers, strategic platforms, and other major partners over time.
• Develop clear internal reporting on partner health, strategic priorities, and progress against business goals.
• Drive consistency in how OpenAI manages partner communications, commitments, and cross-functional follow-through.
• Contribute to long-term expansion strategies for strategic relationships, including identifying new areas for product, Go-to-Market, or delivery collaboration. We're seeking someone with experience including: - Bachelor’s degree in Business, Technology, Public Policy, or a related field; equivalent practical experience welcomed.
• 8–12+ years of experience in business development, program management, or cross-functional strategic operations.
• Experience managing large, complex external relationships with meaningful commercial, operational, or technical scope.
• Strong program management capabilities, including operating cadence design, dependency tracking, stakeholder coordination, and executive communications.
• Experience working across technical, commercial, legal, and policy teams to move partnerships from concept through execution.
• Proven ability to manage multiple strategic priorities simultaneously and operate effectively in ambiguous environments.
• Strong executive presence and comfort engaging senior leaders both internally and externally.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex issues into clear recommendations and action plans.
• Experience supporting cloud, AI, enterprise software, or platform partnerships.
• Familiarity with enterprise go-to-market motions, delivery models, and partner ecosystems.
• Experience working with AWS specifically is a plus, particularly in program management, operations, cloud go-to-market, or ecosystem development. Nice to have experience: - Experience at a major cloud provider or managing strategic relationships with one is a strong plus.
• Familiarity with mission domains such as AI/ML, data platforms, cybersecurity, or defense systems.
• Prior experience in both technology companies and government-facing organizations. Active security clearance or eligibility to obtain one.
• Engineering degree or prior technical experience. You might thrive in this role if you: - Are an exceptional program manager. You bring structure, discipline, and momentum to complex strategic partnerships. You know how to establish operating cadences,