Program Manager, National Security Policy Operations

ABOUT THE TEAM OpenAI's mission is to ensure that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We believe that achieving our goal requires effective engagement with public policy stakeholders and the broader community impacted by AI. The Global Affairs team builds trusted relationships that help external stakeholders understand advanced AI and ensure that their perspectives inform our work. Within Global Affairs, the National Security Policy team works across OpenAI to understand how increasingly capable AI systems affect security, governance, and democratic resilience, and to advance policies that support the responsible development and use of AI. ABOUT THE ROLE OpenAI is seeking a highly organized and skilled Program Manager, National Security Policy Operations to join the Global Affairs team, reporting directly to Sasha Baker, who leads the National Security Policy team. This is a hands-on program management role focused on running the planning, coordination, and execution systems that enable the team to operate effectively. This person will translate team priorities into executable plans, synthesize data and inputs into clear program updates, manage key programs and workstreams, and create the operating discipline that keeps decisions, dependencies, and follow-through on track. This role sits at the center of the National Security Policy team's planning, prioritization, information flow, and execution. Success means giving the team clear visibility into commitments, dependencies, decisions, and risks; reducing fragmented operational work; enabling faster and better-informed decisions; and ensuring priorities move reliably from scoping through completion. The ideal candidate takes deep pride in program management as a craft and is energized by enabling policy and technical experts to do their best work. The role works closely with policy experts but is not primarily responsible for setting policy positions or serving as the team's external policy lead. This role may be based in San Francisco or Washington, DC. It will require travel as necessary, and we offer relocation assistance to new employees. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE: - Run portfolio planning and team operations, including intake, workplans, milestones, owners, dependencies, risks, and progress reporting. Surface capacity constraints, recommend sequencing and tradeoffs, and escalate decisions to the team lead, who sets priorities and makes resource decisions. - Build and maintain lightweight, repeatable operating systems for planning, meeting cadences, knowledge management, decision logs, and centralized tracking of developments, commitments, and follow-up. - Own the team's program metrics and central tracking of commitments, owners, deadlines, dependencies, decisions, and follow-up. Keep records current and reliable, and produce concise updates and practical dashboards that make progress, risks, and decisions clear to policy leaders. - Coordinate policy deliverables and external engagements from planning through follow-up. Assemble briefing packages; draft talking points, presentations, readouts, and updates; organize visits and convenings, including logistics; manage review cycles; and track action items through completion, with substantive input and approval from policy leads. - Own operational management of the team's contractors and consultants, coordinating onboarding, scopes of work, deliverables, contract renewals, invoices, and offboarding with Legal, Finance, Procurement, and other relevant teams. Track commitments and performance against agreed deliverables, and flag issues requiring the team lead's decision. - Coordinate across Global Affairs, Research, Safety, Security, Product Policy, Legal, Communications, and OpenAI for Government to manage dependencies, surface decisions, and advance shared priorities. - Continuously improve the team's operating model through feedback loops, retrospectives, and thoughtful use of AI, automation, and lightweight tooling. YOU SHOULD THRIVE IN THIS ROLE IF YOU: - Enjoy learning enough technical and policy context to coordinate work effectively and synthesize expert inputs into clear briefing materials and updates for technical and non-technical audiences. - Thrive in fast-paced, flexible environments where priorities evolve and good judgment matters. - Collaborate effectively across policy, technical, legal, operational, and business teams. - Can lead complex workstreams and keep stakeholders aligned through influence rather than formal authority. - View program management as a craft in its own right and take satisfaction in building durable systems, creating clarity, and helping teams deliver reliably. - Are passionate about the promise of AI and thoughtful about its potential national security and societal risks. - Are energized by enabling subject-matter experts and leaders to do their best work, and bring high standards, low ego, curiosity, and a strong service orientation. WE'RE LOOKING FOR A BLEND OF: - 5+ years of relevant experience in program management, project management, policy operations, strategic operations, chief of staff, government program delivery, or related roles. - Experience coordinating complex work across multiple stakeholders and building practical systems that help teams deliver. Experience supporting policy, government, national security, or technical teams is a plus. - A track record of independently driving complex cross-functional programs from scoping through delivery, managing stakeholders, dependencies, and risks while building durable systems and delivering measurable outcomes. - Strong analytical, writing, and communication skills, with the ability to synthesize quantitative and qualitative inputs into crisp decision materials, action plans, and executive-ready updates. - The ability to understand strategic context while remaining hands-on in detailed execution, influence without formal authority, and exercise sound judgment and discretion in fast-moving, sensitive environments. - Genuine care for the impact of AI on national security, democratic institutions, and society; familiarity with areas such as frontier risk, cybersecurity, biosecurity, critical infrastructure, defense and intelligence applications, or technical AI governance is a plus. Formal project or program management certification is welcome but not required. 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. 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