Program Manager, M&A Recruiting

The Strategic Initiatives team sits within OpenAI’s Recruiting org and focuses on some of the most dynamic, people-driven areas of the company. We lead efforts across Executive Recruiting, Mergers & Acquisitions, Talent Intelligence, High Impact Talent, and Special Projects.

About the Role

As a Mergers & Acquisitions Program Manager within Recruiting, you’ll be a key partner in managing people XFN from diligence through employee onboarding on M&A deals. This role demands exceptional judgment, speed, and absolute discretion. You’ll operate at the center of some of OpenAI’s most impactful decisions - shaping the future of the company by bringing in extraordinary, mission-aligned talent.

We’re looking for someone who thrives in ambiguity, moves seamlessly between strategic thinking and execution, and is energized by complexity, challenge, and pace.

This role is based either in our San Francisco office or remote. (For in office : we use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.)

Your Responsibilities

Design, lead, and scale the M&A People workstream program, driving end-to-end management of timeline, candidate experience, and key touchpoints that enable smooth deal execution and set the stage for positive onboarding and integration.

Build and uplevel playbooks, processes, and communications to support increasing deal volume and complexity, creatively solving for new challenges while ensuring clarity, alignment, and efficiency across cross-functional stakeholders (ex : Recruiting Operations, Comms, Events, etc.)

Deliver a high-impact candidate and acquired team experience, including producing events such as Town Halls, onboarding customizations, and cultural moments that reflect OpenAI’s mission.

Partner closely with senior leaders, founders, and acquired teams, demonstrating executive presence and the ability to navigate sensitive situations and competing priorities.

Lead post-mortem retrospectives for People XFN both at a deal and program level to build repeatable playbooks / process improvement for future deals.

Liaise with Recruiting Operations and cross-functional partners to build and scale efficient M&A recruiting processes and tools. This may include initiatives related to headcount tracking and allocation, offer creation and issuance, confidentiality workflows, etc.

Flex into other high-priority areas of Strategic Initiatives as needed.

We're Seeking :

4+ years of experience in program management within Mergers & Acquisitions

Strong project management skills, including the ability to coordinate across stakeholders, timelines, and tools.

Analytical mindset—confident working with data to track program health and inform decisions.

Proven adaptability, resilience, and the ability to navigate ambiguity in fast-paced environments.

Have a strong sense of ownership, are inquisitive and enthusiastic about technology, enjoy being continually challenged, and can demonstrate sound judgment in ambiguous situations.

Proven success operating with discretion and high judgment on sensitive or high-profile hires.

Ability to context-switch and operate at altitude, while still executing with precision.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Nice to Have :

Familiarity with technical hiring, especially in research or machine learning domains.

Background in recruiting, education program design, or talent development.

Experience supporting or building community-based programs.

Project Management certification (e.g., PMP or equivalent).

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.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable law, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act. 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.

To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form . No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link .

At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.

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