About this role
Strategists who excel at blending analytical rigor with hands-on pilot execution will find a natural home within the SMB Ads Marketing team at OpenAI. The group is currently constructing a new advertising platform from the ground up, designed to help small and medium-sized businesses connect with customers as artificial intelligence transforms how people discover information and make decisions.
Reporting to leadership in San Francisco, the SMB Innovation Sales and Strategy Lead acts as an internal entrepreneur who identifies, incubates, and scales fresh revenue opportunities. Daily responsibilities involve collaborating closely with product, engineering, data science, and sales departments to build business cases, launch commercial pilots, and transition successful programs into ongoing operations.
Candidates who thrive here usually possess deep experience in business incubation, growth strategy, or consulting, coupled with a practical understanding of self-serve and sales-assisted commercial models. The ideal practitioner brings a track record of translating customer discovery into actionable market segmentation, financial models, and scalable go-to-market playbooks within complex corporate environments.
What you will do
- Identify untapped commercial opportunities across various small and medium-sized business segments, industries, and distribution channels.
- Design and execute acquisition, activation, and expansion programs while partnering with internal sales teams and external providers.
- Translate customer insights into product opportunities by collaborating with engineering and product groups to guide future investments.
- Develop actionable customer segmentation frameworks based on business characteristics, advertising maturity, and unit economics.
- Manage pilot delivery and measure outcomes related to incremental revenue, conversion rates, and the cost to serve.
- Contribute market analysis and pilot results to help leadership and the strategy team shape broader departmental planning.
- Manage the innovation portfolio through clear roadmaps, performance measures, and structured decision milestones.
What you need
- Bring approximately 8 to 10 years of professional experience in business incubation, growth, strategy, business operations, product strategy, or consulting.
- Demonstrate substantial ownership of implementation and commercial results throughout a career.
- Understand small and medium-sized customer behaviors alongside self-serve, sales-assisted, and partner-led business models.
- Show a proven ability to take initiatives from initial customer insight and business case through pilot delivery and measurable impact.
- Apply strong analytical and financial modeling skills covering opportunity sizing, unit economics, funnel analysis, and experimentation.
- Work directly with customers to uncover needs and shape product and go-to-market recommendations.
Nice to have
- Experience in advertising platforms, marketplaces, or technology businesses targeting small and medium-sized enterprises
- Combined management consulting background with substantial hands-on operating responsibility
- Background working in both established technology companies and startup environments
- Familiarity with outsourced sales channels, sales-assisted growth, or industry-specific commercial programs
Benefits
- Offers Equity
Questions candidates ask
What is the work location and remote policy?
The role is based in San Francisco, California. It requires a hybrid schedule with an in-office requirement from Monday through Wednesday.
What compensation is offered for this position?
The position includes a salary range between $227K and $252K alongside offers of equity.
What kind of teams will I work with?
You will work closely with Product, Ads Engineering, Data Science, Sales, Marketing, and the Strategy & Operations team.