Design Execution Manager - Stargate

About the Team:

OpenAI, in close collaboration with our partners, is embarking on a journey to build the world’s most advanced AI infrastructure ecosystem. The Stargate team is central to this mission, setting the core infra strategy and implementing this vision. From site selection to the buildout process, this team sits at the intersection of commercial, technical, strategy, and operations, interacting with teams and executives inside and outside of OpenAI.

About the Role:

OpenAI is seeking someone who is excited by massive global challenges spanning thousands of stakeholders; someone motivated by driving critical decisions that shape the infrastructure, compute, and suppliers landscapes both for OpenAI and the entire industry. Specifically, the Infrastructure Strategy & Delivery team supporting Stargate is seeking an experienced, ambitious, and driven Design Execution Manager to support data center design and construction administration.

This role will focus on the tactical execution of Stargate’s strategic technical roadmap, guiding external design partners and leading in-house system design to build cutting-edge AI infrastructure at scale. With scope spanning the concept, schematic, permitting, development, construction administration, commissioning, turn-over, and operation phases of the design lifecycle, this role is ideal for experienced subject matter experts seeking an opportunity to lead transformative data center projects.

From optimizing infrastructure design, to maximizing scalability and speed to deployment, to rapidly eliminating technical roadblocks throughout construction, this role is critical for both the near- and long-term success of OpenAI’s infrastructure destiny.

In this role you will:

• Apply knowledge of engineering codes, concepts, principles, practices, and procedures for design, analysis, and investigation.

• Partner with internal stakeholder teams to define infrastructure requirements.

• Partner with external design teams and stakeholders to execute design document development and issuance.

• Own the design change management process.

• Review and develop responses to contractor RFIs.

• Perform project site reviews and deliver technical reports.

• Support project closeout and as-built documentation processes.

• Review commissioning scripts and final reports to validate performance and functionality.

• Identify and implement opportunities for process improvements, design optimization, and schedule/performance/cost tradeoffs.

• Identify and mitigate design risks; ensure robust QA/QC practices.

• Interface with internal stakeholders to align design solutions with technical and business objectives.

• Integrate sustainability, energy efficiency, and resiliency goals into system designs.

• Travel between OpenAI HQ and project sites in the US and abroad as needed.

You might thrive in this role if:

• BS in related Engineering/Architecture field.

• Professional Engineer (PE) or Registered Architect (RA) license preferred, but not required.

• 7+ years of experience in mission-critical infrastructure design.

• Experience stamping construction drawing packages.

• Deep knowledge of industry standards, building codes, and safety standards.

• Proficient with Revit/BIM, Autodesk, or similar design software applications.

• Well-versed in the design, construction, commissioning, and operation of data center infrastructure.

• Excited by the opportunity to build supercomputers at unprecedented scale and speed.

• Thrive in fast-paced environments, balancing long-term infrastructure planning with immediate execution needs.

• Enjoy leading without authority and can align cross-functional teams around a shared technical vision.

• Are energized by ambiguity and can turn loosely defined goals into structured execution plans.

• Excel at communicating complex technical ideas to non-technical stakeholders and influencing executive decision-making.

• Take a system-level view, understanding how decisions in one discipline impact the overall performance, cost, and schedule.

• Have a track record of mentoring and elevating others, fostering a culture of technical excellence and accountability.

• Care deeply about design quality, and know when to optimize for speed, scalability, or resilience depending on the phase of the project.

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. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

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