OpenAI· Hardware· San Francisco
Strategic Sourcing Manager, Memory Storage & CPUs
Comp$226K – $378K
Classified Tasks (31)
Automate 0%Augment 55%Human-Only 45%
Augment (17)
AI assists, human decides
Develop business cases to justify sourcing initiatives and investments.
analytical
Enable operational readiness and implementation for new supplier engagements.
operational
Negotiate cost models and pricing structures.
analytical
Map sub-tier supplier networks and influence sub-tier suppliers to ensure extended supply chain resilience.
operational
Translate engineering requirements into actionable sourcing plans.
technical
Coordinate sourcing plans with tier-1 manufacturing partners to implement requirements.
operational
Drive cost benchmarking analyses.
analytical
Conduct teardown studies and extract insights to inform cost strategies.
technical
Develop long-term cost-down strategies based on benchmarking and teardown insights.
analytical
Align sourcing activities with Operations, Capacity Planning, Finance, and Program Management to ensure supply readiness for growth milestones.
operational
Synchronize supplier technology roadmaps with OpenAI system architecture needs.
technical
Define and implement scalable sourcing processes.
operational
Design and maintain dashboards that provide transparency on risk, cost, and performance.
analytical
Enable supplier capacity growth and ramp plans to support fleet expansion.
operational
Reduce long-term cost curves through strategic sourcing and supplier negotiations.
analytical
Secure supply resilience through diversification, redundancy, and risk mitigation strategies.
operational
Execute sourcing programs and long-term enablement initiatives across hardware components and subsystems.
operational
Human-Only (14)
Requires human judgment
Own end-to-end category strategy for Memory, Storage, and CPU components.
leadership
Lead supplier selection processes and qualify supplier partners.
operational
Secure executive alignment for sourcing decisions and investments.
leadership
Lead complex commercial negotiations with suppliers.
leadership
Negotiate master services agreements (MSAs).
operational
Negotiate non-recurring engineering (NRE) agreements.
operational
Negotiate open-book pricing arrangements.
operational
Negotiate ramp and capacity commitment agreements.
operational
Negotiate risk-buy frameworks.
operational
Build and scale a reliable global supply base with redundancy and geopolitical compliance.
operational
Build and maintain executive-level relationships with suppliers to secure priority allocation.
leadership
Mentor and develop sourcing peers through coaching, knowledge transfer, and leadership guidance.
leadership
Serve as the single-threaded leader across supplier strategy, selection, negotiations, and commercial/operational execution.
leadership
Lead supplier engagements and develop commercial architecture for advanced hardware systems (e.g., custom silicon, accelerators, CPU platforms, networking, memory, power delivery, cooling, rack solutions).
technical
Job description
Strategic Sourcing Manager, Memory Storage & CPUs | OpenAI Careers ## Strategic Sourcing Manager, Memory Storage & CPUs Hardware - San Francisco Apply now(opens in a new window) **About the Team** The Hardware Strategic Sourcing & Partnerships organization is responsible for the global supply of compute infrastructure powering OpenAI’s model training and inference. We lead strategy, supplier engagements, commercial architecture, execution, and long-term enablement across advanced systems including custom silicon, accelerators, CPU platforms, networking, memory, power delivery, cooling, and full rack solutions. We are a small, high-impact team working across engineering, operations, finance, legal, and executive leadership to scale OpenAI’s fleet worldwide. **About the Role** We are seeking a Sr. Strategic Sourcing Manager to own and lead sourcing strategy and global supplier partnerships for the Memory Storage & CPUs category (e.g., power systems, high-speed interconnect, memory subsystems, networking modules, mechanical enclosures, thermal systems, etc.). You will be the single-threaded leader across supplier strategy, selection, negotiations, and commercial/operational execution. You will be accountable for enabling massive growth, reducing long-term cost curves, securing supply resilience, and aligning supplier technology roadmaps with OpenAI’s future system architecture needs. This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees. **Key Responsibilities** 1. Own the category end-to-end: strategy, business case, supplier selection, executive alignment, and operational enablement 2. Lead complex commercial negotiations including MSAs, NRE, cost models, open-book pricing, ramp/capacity commitments, and risk-buy frameworks 3. Build and scale a reliable global supply base with redundancy and geopolitical compliance, including mapping and influencing sub-tier suppliers to ensure resilience across the extended supply chain. 4. Translate engineering requirements into actionable sourcing plans with tier-1 manufacturing partners 5. Drive cost benchmarking and teardown insights to shape long-term cost-down strategies 6. Maintain tight alignment with Operations, Capacity Planning, Finance, and Program Management to ensure supply readiness against growth milestones 7. Build executive-level relationships with suppliers to ensure priority allocation and roadmap synchronization 8. Define scalable sourcing processes and dashboards for risk, cost, and performance transparency 9. Mentor and uplift sourcing peers by role-modeling strong cross-functional leadership and commercial excellence **Qualifications** * 8+ years of strategic sourcing or supplier management experience in advanced electronics, cloud infrastructure, telecom, or semiconductor supply chains * Demonstrated success owning a category and supplier portfolio at scale (supply assurance, commercial strategy, cost roadmap), including leading complex negotiations * Strong understanding of electronic and module-level cost drivers (e.g., power, PCBAs, connectors, cooling, memory, networking) * Proven ability to influence and partner with Engineering, Program Management, Legal, and Finance at senior levels * Executive presence and ability to communicate clearly in high-stakes supplier and leadership forums * Comfort with fast-paced ambiguity and decisive decision-making in compressed timelines **Preferred Qualifications** * Experience in hyperscale datacenter supply chain environments * Familiarity with export controls and high-risk country strategies * Technical background in [mechanical/electrical engineering, high-speed IO, thermal systems, or rack-scale architecture] * Experience building sourcing playbooks, processes, and scalable operational mechanisms *To comply with U.S. export control laws and regulations, can