Technical Deployment Lead, Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) - SF

About the Role

The FDE team is known for its ability to move quickly from prototype to production, surfacing reusable patterns that shape the platform. This role is based in San Francisco, with a hybrid work model that includes 3 days in the office per week. Relocation assistance is offered, and travel between 25%-50% is required.

The success of the Technical Deployment Lead will be measured by the impact of deployments, delivery reliability, operating leverage, judgment under pressure, and product impact. This is a high-autonomy role that requires deep technical project management expertise, the ability to immerse in customer workflows, and partner with customer teams to solve complex engineering problems at pace.

What You Will Do

• Own the technical delivery plan for multiple interdependent work streams, translating business objectives into a roadmap with milestones, dependencies, and acceptance criteria.
• Run day-to-day engineering execution, tracking and driving delivery across OpenAI FDE and customer teams, ensuring progress remains unblocked and sequenced.
• Embed with customer teams to land production deployments and drive adoption, mapping workflows, shaping tools and integrations, and translating requirements into a delivery plan.
• Lead onboarding, adoption, and change management for customers, ensuring a smooth transition to new systems.
• Partner with Product and Research to ensure platform components and research work streams support deployment goals.
• Codify solution patterns and evaluations, extracting reusable patterns and packaging field signals to improve product and models.
• Own value cases and ROI, setting impact hypotheses, baselines, and KPIs, and running pre- and post-deployment measurements.
• Drive readiness and change management for adoption, ensuring customers are prepared for and able to fully utilize the deployed systems.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify and mitigate risks, ensuring the successful delivery of complex systems.

What We Are Looking For

• 7+ years of customer-facing technical delivery leadership experience.
• A track record of successfully leading large, complex, high-stakes customer engagements where customer outcomes depended on tight coordination and fast decision-making, ideally involving AI.
• Excellence in high ambiguity environments, with the ability to simplify complex and dynamic work.
• The ability to move fluidly between system-level understanding and execution-level detail, diving into customer workflows and data, mapping constraints, sketching architectures, and moving ambiguous problems to shipped systems.
• Strategic thinking and pattern-matching skills, able to step back from execution detail, recognize broader trends across deployments, and connect customer needs to scalable, reusable solutions.
• Strong technical fluency and sharp sequencing instincts, with the confidence to make real-time trade-offs on scope and priority to protect the critical path.
• Experience with Excel and other project management tools.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.

Nice to Have

• Experience in the AI and machine learning industry, with a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities in this space.
• Knowledge of Agile development methodologies and their application in complex system delivery.
• Experience with cloud-based technologies and their integration into customer workflows.
• A background in computer science or a related field, with a strong foundation in software engineering principles.

Benefits and Perks

• Competitive compensation package.
• Equity in OpenAI, offering the opportunity to be a part of a pioneering company in the AI space.
• Comprehensive health insurance, including medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Generous PTO policy, allowing for a healthy work-life balance.
• Remote stipend, supporting the ability to work from anywhere.
• Professional development opportunities, including training and conference attendance.
• Access to cutting-edge technologies and the opportunity to work on challenging problems.

• Tip: Showcase your experience in delivering complex systems to customers, highlighting your ability to work in high ambiguity environments and simplify complex work.
• Develop a deep understanding of the AI and machine learning industry, including the challenges and opportunities in this space, to stand out in your application.
• Be prepared to discuss your technical fluency and sequencing instincts, providing examples of how you have applied these skills in previous roles.
• Create a portfolio that demonstrates your ability to drive impact in a high-trust environment, including examples of successful system deliveries and customer engagements.
• When negotiating salary, consider the total compensation package, including equity and benefits, to ensure you are fairly compensated for your skills and experience.
• Be cautious of roles that lack clear goals or expectations, as these can lead to confusion and dissatisfaction in your work.