OpenAI· Model Deployment for Business· San Francisco
Technical Deployment Lead, Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE)- Platform
Comp$198K – $335K
Classified Tasks (12)
Automate 0%Augment 42%Human-Only 58%
Augment (5)
AI assists, human decides
Ensure enterprise readiness from day one by pressure-testing security posture, permissions and access boundaries, auditability, and deployment/infrastructure requirements.
technical
Run multiple deployments with rigor by maintaining clear status, identifying risks, implementing mitigations across concurrent pilots, and continuously adjusting plans to protect outcomes.
operational
Convert learnings into actionable next steps by synthesizing what worked and what broke into clear requirements, sequencing proposals, and improvements to the platform delivery approach.
analytical
Translate raw customer signals into shipped software, repeatable patterns, and durable products by incorporating field feedback into product and platform roadmaps.
analytical
Track and report delivery outcomes and adoption metrics to assess impact against customer goals and inform roadmap and architecture decisions.
analytical
Human-Only (7)
Requires human judgment
Define pilot scope and success criteria by partnering with customer sponsors and technical leads to translate goals into concrete plans, measurable outcomes, and clear acceptance criteria.
leadership
Own the delivery plan across work streams by building and running integrated milestones, dependencies, and execution rhythms across Applied, platform engineers, and customer teams.
operational
Drive stakeholder alignment and decision-making by leading internal and external working sessions, keeping tradeoffs explicit, unblocking decisions, and escalating when needed.
leadership
Manage production adoption and value realization by driving onboarding, enablement, and change management so deployments land in real workflows and deliver measurable impact.
operational
Identify and address enterprise constraints upfront to prevent late-stage discovery of security, compliance, or infrastructural blockers.
technical
Coordinate with B2B Platform and FDE Platform teams to drive crisp execution, clarify tradeoffs, and plan scalable rollouts for platform design partners.
communication
Embed with customer-tagged FDE pods to provide hands-on support in architecting, product shaping, refactoring, and building.
technical
Job description
Technical Deployment Lead, Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE)- Platform | OpenAI Careers ## Technical Deployment Lead, Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE)- Platform Model Deployment for Business - San Francisco Apply now(opens in a new window) **About the team** OpenAI’s Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) org sits at the intersection of product, engineering, research, and go-to-market. We take frontier platform capabilities into the real world with design partners, turning raw customer signal into shipped software, repeatable patterns, and durable products. The FDE Platform team is primarily a leverage function that scales the FDE org’s impact to OpenAI’s platform and products. We provide hands-on leverage by embedding with customer-tagged FDE pods to aid in architecting, product shaping, refactoring, and building. This team is perfect for highly collaborative software engineers who love innovating on cutting-edge products with other builders. **About the role** This is a founding Technical Deployment Lead (TDL) role for the FDE Platform team. You will be accountable for making our earliest design partner deployments successful, from initial scoping and success criteria through production adoption and demonstrated value. This is an ops-heavy, technically deep role: you will drive alignment across OpenAI and customer stakeholders, run the delivery plan across interdependent workstreams, and ensure enterprise constraints are handled upfront rather than discovered late. You will work closely with B2B Platform and FDE Platform teams to drive crisp execution, clear tradeoffs, and a path to scalable rollout for our platform design partners. Success is defined by delivered outcomes and adoption in critical workflows, not activity or slideware. Success will be measured by platform outcomes that are measured by successful deployments. Deployments should deliver measurable value against customer goals, drive adoption, and become critical to their workflows. Additional measures of success include delivery reliability (milestones hit, low reopen/churn), operating leverage (patterns reused across deployments), judgment under pressure, and product impact (field signal that shifts roadmaps/architectures). This role is based in **San Francisco** or **New York City**. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week. We offer relocation assistance. Travel up to 50% is required. **In this role you will** * **Define pilot scope and success criteria:** Partner with customer sponsors and technical leads to translate goals into a concrete plan, measurable outcomes, and clear acceptance criteria. * **Own the delivery plan across work streams:** Build and run integrated milestones, dependencies, and execution rhythms across Applied, platform engineers, and customer teams. * **Drive stakeholder alignment and decision-making:** Lead internal and external working sessions, keep tradeoffs explicit, unblock decisions, and escalate crisply when needed. * **Ensure enterprise readiness from day one:** Pressure-test security posture, permissions and access boundaries, audit-ability, and deployment/infra requirements as part of the delivery plan. * **Manage production adoption and value realization:** Drive onboarding, enablement, and change management so deployments land in real workflows and deliver measurable impact. * **Run multiple deployments with rigor:** Maintain clear status, risks, and mitigations across concurrent pilots, and continuously adjust plans to protect outcomes. * **Convert learnings into actionable next steps:** Synthesize what worked and what broke into clear requirements, sequencing proposals, and improvements to the platform delivery approach. **You might thrive in this role if you** * **Have 5+ years leading complex, customer-facing technical delivery** where you owned outcomes end-to-end in high-ambiguity environments. * Are **deeply credible with senior technic