Sourcing Manager - IT
OpenAI
Location
San Francisco
Employment Type
Full time
Department
Finance
Compensation
- $234K – $260K • Offers Equity
The base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. If the role is non-exempt, overtime pay will be provided consistent with applicable laws. In addition to the salary range listed above, total compensation also includes generous equity, performance-related bonus(es) for eligible employees, and the following benefits.
Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts
Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit)
401(k) retirement plan with employer match
Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)
Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees
13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time (1 hour per 30 hours worked, or more, as required by applicable state or local law)
Mental health and wellness support
Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
Annual learning and development stipend to fuel your professional growth
Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible
Relocation support for eligible employees
Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided.
More details about our benefits are available to candidates during the hiring process.
This role is at-will and OpenAI reserves the right to modify base pay and other compensation components at any time based on individual performance, team or company results, or market conditions.
About the Team
The Strategic Sourcing team at OpenAI partners across the business to build a scalable, efficient, and thoughtful procurement function. We work closely with Finance, Legal, Security, IT, and business stakeholders to enable smart purchasing decisions, improve vendor outcomes, and reduce operational risk as OpenAI continues to grow rapidly.
This role will sit at the intersection of procurement strategy, stakeholder partnership, and operational execution, with a primary focus on IT-related spend categories, vendors, and processes. The ideal candidate is excited to help build structure in a fast-moving environment and enjoys balancing pace with sound commercial judgment.
About the Role
The Sourcing Manager – IT will play a key role in scaling OpenAI’s procurement function by leading strategic sourcing initiatives across technology-related spend, including hardware, services, and other IT categories. This role partners closely with cross-functional stakeholders to understand business needs, drive vendor evaluations, lead negotiations, manage renewals and new purchases, and improve supplier performance, while balancing cost, speed, and risk. The ideal candidate brings strong sourcing and vendor management experience, sound commercial judgment, and the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, high-growth environment, while also helping build the processes, tools, and frameworks needed to support OpenAI’s continued scale.
You’ll be responsible for:
Leading sourcing, negotiation, and vendor management activities across IT categories and related spend areas
Partnering with IT, Security, Legal, Finance, and business stakeholders to understand requirements and develop sourcing strategies
Running competitive sourcing processes, including market scans, RFx support, vendor evaluations, and negotiation planning
Negotiating commercial, business, and operational terms with suppliers to drive favorable outcomes
Supporting contract renewals, expansions, new purchases, and supplier performance management
Identifying opportunities to improve cost efficiency, reduce risk, and increase process consistency across IT procurement
Helping build procurement playbooks, templates, category strategies, and reporting to support scale
Ensuring appropriate alignment with internal review processes, including legal, security, privacy, and finance approvals
Tracking pipeline, savings opportunities, contract milestones, and sourcing activity with strong operational rigor
We’re looking for someone with:
7-10 years of experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, vendor management, or category management, with meaningful experience supporting IT or technology spend
Strong sourcing and negotiation skills across software, services, and technology-related agreements
Experience partnering with cross-functional stakeholders in fast-paced environments
Strong commercial judgment and the ability to balance speed, risk, and business needs
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
Comfort working through ambiguity and helping build new processes where needed
Experience with procurement systems, contract workflows, and spend management tools is a plus
Experience at a high-growth technology company is a plus
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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We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.
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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.
Compensation Range: $234K - $260K