Physical Engineering Business Lead (Special Situations)
About this role
Bridging the gap between frontier AI and physical product development, this role solves the challenge of turning complex engineering use cases into high-impact customer projects. The Physical Engineering Business Lead will join OpenAI's Physical Engineering team to bring firsthand product engineering experience directly into customer engagements. Daily work involves leading customer discovery sessions, collaborating with forward-deployed engineers and account teams, framing design and simulation problems, and guiding implementation from early stages through measurable outcomes.
The ideal candidate combines deep practical familiarity with CAD or simulation tools with strong customer-facing communication skills and commercial awareness. Prior artificial intelligence experience is not strictly required, making this an ideal opportunity for experienced engineers or consultants with high agency, sound judgment, and a low-ego approach to problem-solving. As the practice grows, the position may evolve into broader leadership responsibilities across go-to-market and partnership strategies.
What you will do
- Lead discovery and workshops with customer engineering teams and senior leaders to identify high-value design and simulation use cases.
- Develop promising use cases into significant projects with forward-deployed engineers and account teams by forming clear hypotheses about value, feasibility, and constraints.
- Work alongside technical teams through delivery to bring practical engineering context, surface risks early, and help projects achieve measurable outcomes.
- Explain how artificial intelligence can improve physical-product engineering through real experience with computer-aided design, simulation, and engineering workflows.
- Maintain a clear operating cadence across priority projects with explicit owners, risks, decisions, and success measures.
- Turn customer insights into reusable discovery methods, forward-deployed engineering guidance, and product feedback.
- Build relationships across physical-product engineering teams and the broader design and simulation ecosystem.
What you need
- Possess firsthand experience designing or building physical products, including substantial hands-on work with computer-aided design, simulation, or related engineering tools.
- Demonstrate a deep understanding of engineering workflows and tradeoffs with clear examples of personal contributions and impact.
- Show strong discovery and problem-framing skills to connect engineering details to customer needs and business value.
- Demonstrate the ability to work directly with technical teams, contribute practical engineering judgment, and stay engaged through implementation.
- Maintain strong customer presence and the ability to explain complex technical ideas clearly to senior leaders.
- Exhibit technical curiosity and the ability to learn quickly in a fast-moving environment.
- Display high agency, low ego, sound judgment, and a willingness to do detailed work.
Nice to have
- A background in mechanical engineering or a closely related discipline
- Consulting, founder, partnership, or other customer-facing experience that complements direct engineering work
- Experience working in high-bar, technology-forward physical-product engineering environments
- Experience translating customer or engineering insights into repeatable methods, product feedback, or go-to-market strategy
Benefits
- Offers Equity
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the compensation for this role?
The salary range for this position is $333K – $370K and includes offers of equity.
Where is the position located?
This role is located in San Francisco.
Is prior AI experience required to apply?
Prior AI experience is not required for this position.