The opportunity
OpenAI Finance helps ensure the organisation is positioned for long-term success as we pursue our mission. The Strategic Sourcing & Procurement team helps OpenAI scale responsibly and at speed by choosing the right external partners, structuring strong commercial agreements and…
What you'll do
Lead and develop the team: set clear objectives and expectations, delegate with appropriate decision boundaries, provide regular feedback, review performance and address persistent gaps. Build development and coverage plans that strengthen capability and reduce reliance on individual experts.
Set the Professional Services portfolio strategy and roadmap, connecting: business objectives, demand, spend, supplier markets and risk. Guide category plans and decisions on where to compete, consolidate, retain specialist partners or change the service delivery model.
Manage the team's pipeline and capacity across strategic negotiations,: supplier governance and recurring SOWs. Allocate work by capability, complexity and risk; make resource constraints and dependencies visible; and agree priorities and recovery plans before commitments become unachievable.
Personally lead selected critical negotiations and set standards for: commercial quality across the team. Review strategy and assumptions early, using credible alternatives and comparable economics to shape scope, resource mix, pricing, deliverables, acceptance criteria, change controls, audit rights and exit protections.
Build proportionate intake, tiering, preferred-partner models, playbooks and: review pathways with Procurement Operations, Contract Management, Enablement and control functions. Agree decision rights and usable handovers so repeatable work moves efficiently and material exceptions receive the right attention.
Strengthen supplier relationships and accountability through segmentation,: competition, performance reviews and improvement plans. Agree post-signature owners with the business and use service evidence, concentration risk, renewal exposure and transition options to guide supplier decisions. Assess supplier productivity proposals for their effect on staffing, fees, quality and delivery risk.
What they're looking for
- Partner with Finance and Accounting on spend visibility, demand scenarios,: forecasting, approval discipline and invoice-to-contract alignment. Test fee models, staffing assumptions, change exposure and total economics, with clear baselines for savings, cost avoidance and realized value.
- Partner with Legal, People and Extended Workforce to select appropriate: service models and distinguish Professional Services from contingent labour or hiring needs. Translate specialist guidance into practical safeguards for service delivery, intellectual property, confidentiality and workforce-related risk.
- Establish a concise view of portfolio and team performance covering: commercial and service outcomes, pipeline health, cycle time, risk, stakeholder experience and team capability. Use evidence to improve decisions, commitments and delivery; distinguish negotiated benefits from value realized.
- Build trusted senior stakeholder relationships and challenge demand, scope or: supplier preferences constructively. Resolve difficult trade-offs on value, speed, quality and risk, and escalate decisions beyond your authority with clear options and a recommendation.
