About this role
Translating ambiguous market opportunities into viable commercial models and structured partnerships requires bridging technical capabilities with concrete customer use cases. The Special Situations team at OpenAI addresses this challenge by building new businesses, capabilities, and strategic partnerships where the delivery approach and commercial framework are yet to be defined. Operating in this function means identifying high-value opportunities, designing new offerings, and managing transactions from initial thesis through launch and long-term scale.
Day-to-day work centers on originating customer relationships, structuring non-standard commercial agreements such as revenue sharing or outcome-based pricing, and driving executive-level decisions on strategy and risk. Collaboration is essential, as the hire will partner closely with product, research, go-to-market, finance, and legal teams to connect technical capabilities with sustainable economics. Candidates who thrive here typically bring a background in business development, corporate development, or private equity, paired with the ability to handle complex negotiations and hands-on execution.
What you will do
- Identify and develop high-value opportunities across industries by translating customer needs into concrete artificial intelligence use cases and commercial strategies.
- Shape new business models and offerings by defining target audiences, product scope, pricing mechanisms, and go-to-market execution plans.
- Originate and grow customer and partner relationships to build executive alignment around desired outcomes and the path forward.
- Collaborate with forward deployed engineers, researchers, and product teams to prioritize use cases, define scope, and establish viable delivery approaches.
- Structure and negotiate complex partnerships that include revenue sharing, royalties, and other non-standard commercial arrangements.
- Drive executive-level decisions regarding strategy, financial economics, and risk while maintaining alignment between internal teams and external partners.
- Manage commercial outcomes beyond the initial signature, overseeing launch, adoption, revenue generation, and ongoing market expansion.
What you need
- Significant professional background in business development, partnerships, corporate development, private equity, or founding roles with hands-on transaction experience.
- Demonstrated history of originating, structuring, closing, and managing complex commercial deals through post-signature execution.
- Ability to convert ambiguous opportunities into structured commercial theses, prioritized use cases, and executable plans.
- Strong commercial and financial judgment encompassing pricing design, business model evaluation, and incentive-aligning negotiations.
- Capability to learn unfamiliar industries quickly and understand how sophisticated enterprise customers purchase and deploy technology.
- Experience working alongside technical teams like engineers, researchers, and product managers to connect technical capabilities with customer value.
- Skill in building executive alignment across organizations and driving decisions under uncertainty without relying on formal authority.
Benefits
- Offers Equity
Questions candidates ask
Where is the position located?
The role is based in San Francisco.
What is the compensation for this role?
The salary range is $333K to $401K with offers of equity.
Which internal teams will I work with?
You will work closely with Product, Research, GTM, Finance, Legal, and delivery teams.