--- title: 'Network Infrastructure Lead at OpenAI' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/network-infrastructure-lead-openai-united-states-nspnk0wc38x9' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-11-05' --- # Network Infrastructure Lead at OpenAI - **Company:** [OpenAI](https://feeny.ai/companies/openai) - **Location:** United States - **Compensation:** $177k–$285k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2026-10-28 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-05 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai/6c1d86d0-e89d-475b-a324-6c57fa30b345 ## Job description ## About the Role Lead OpenAI’s site network infrastructure delivery, coordinating the physical installation and readiness of network systems with the central network team and contracted installation providers. You will be OpenAI’s accountable on-site lead for physical network infrastructure construction and deployment, directing and overseeing the work of general contractors, specialist contractors and other service providers within your discipline. You will combine practical subject-matter depth with hands-on field leadership, managing contracted support to deliver safe, high-quality work to the integrated construction plan. Reporting and scope Report to the Site Construction Manager, who reports through the applicable project-management leadership. Maintain functional alignment with the Network Infrastructure leader and central network engineering team. Own day-to-day discipline execution and contractor performance within the assigned site scope and delegated authority. Coordinate priorities and interfaces through the Site Construction Manager; escalate material cost, schedule, design and acceptance decisions to the appropriate owners. This is a senior site delivery role, suited to an experienced superintendent, supervisor, manager or trade lead. Accountability is for an assigned discipline and site work packages. Site assignment, duration and any shared coverage follow project phase, workload and the staffing plan; effective on-site coverage is required during critical activities. ## Key Responsibilities - Manage structured-cabling contractors, fiber installers, network installation partners and other service providers against the site delivery plan. - Translate approved network designs into executable field packages and coordinate bills of materials, material availability and installation sequencing with the central network team. - Oversee pathways, duct banks and building-entry interfaces, fiber and copper cabling, racks, patching, labeling and network-equipment installation as applicable. - Direct fiber and cabling quality assurance, review test results and traceability, and drive correction of defective or incomplete installations. - Coordinate power, cooling, space and physical access readiness with electrical, mechanical and CSLA leads and hardware deployment teams. - Coordinate network provisioning, connectivity validation and handover with authorized network engineering and operations teams; maintain accurate installation and as-built records. - Set clear contractor deliverables and work priorities; review staffing, progress and quality, identify constraints early, and drive recovery actions through the Site Construction Manager. - Provide concise progress and risk reporting, evaluate field impacts of proposed changes, and maintain accountable handoffs between construction partners and OpenAI teams. ## Qualifications - Typically 8–10 years of large-scale data center network deployment, structured cabling, physical-layer installation or infrastructure delivery, with demonstrated field and contractor leadership. Equivalent depth of practical delivery experience will be considered. - Strong understanding of physical data center network topologies, network components, bills of materials, rack constraints and installation sequencing; translate approved designs into executable field plans. - Deep practical knowledge of fiber and copper plant installation, trunks, panels, terminations, cleaning, labeling and cable administration, including routing diversity and pathway separation. - Ability to oversee and assess port-to-port verification, continuity, optical power and optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) testing; troubleshoot field installation and mapping discrepancies and verify remediation. - Experience defining contractor work packages and statements of work, evaluating delivery requirements, forecasting labor needs and tracking quality, throughput, cost drivers and schedule performance within delegated authority. - Experience coordinating deployment prerequisites with engineering and construction teams and completing formal operations handover with as-builts, port maps, test evidence and clear ownership transfer. - Comfort with ticket-based execution, change control, incident escalation and documentation workflows that make network installation repeatable and auditable. - Demonstrated ability to lead contractors and service providers through changing site conditions, set clear deliverables and acceptance criteria, and resolve performance gaps across organizations without relying on direct reporting authority. - Strong written and verbal communication: maintain accurate field records, action and decision logs, and explain technical risks, schedule impacts and recovery options to site leadership, engineers and delivery partners. - Sound judgment when information is incomplete: identify assumptions, prerequisites and interfaces, determine what work can proceed within approved authority, and escalate unresolved risks before they affect safety, quality or delivery. - Relevant trade, apprenticeship, technical or degree-based preparation, or equivalent practical experience. Demonstrated field leadership and subject-matter competence are central to this site role. ## 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](https://cdn.openai.com/policies/eeo-policy-statement.pdf). 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. To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through [this form](https://form.asana.com/?d=57018692298241&k=5MqR40fZd7jlxVUh5J-UeA). 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](https://form.asana.com/?k=bQ7w9h3iexRlicUdWRiwvg&d=57018692298241). [OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy](https://cdn.openai.com/policies/global-employee-and-contractor-privacy-policy.pdf) 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. ## About OpenAI ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company with a mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity. - **Entity Type**: Private – structured as a nonprofit parent (OpenAI Foundation) governing a for-profit public benefit corporation (OpenAI Group). The company has confidentially submitted a draft S-1 registration statement to the SEC, signaling a potential future IPO. - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA - **Founded**: 2015 - **Founders**: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, Wojciech Zaremba, and others ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Artificial intelligence research and deployment - **Target customers**: B2B (enterprises via API and platform), B2C (ChatGPT users), and developers (API, open-source models) - **Mission**: To ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) – AI systems that are generally smarter than humans – benefits all of humanity. ## Products & Services - **[ChatGPT](https://openai.com/chatgpt)**: Conversational AI assistant available via web and mobile, used by consumers and integrated into enterprise workflows. - **[GPT-4 API](https://openai.com/product)**: Large language model accessed via API for developers to build AI-powered applications (text generation, summarization, code assistance, etc.). - **[DALL-E](https://openai.com/dall-e-3)**: Image generation model that creates images from natural language descriptions. - **[Whisper](https://openai.com/research/whisper)**: Open-source speech recognition system. - **[OpenAI Agents](https://openai.com/)**: Emerging product category focused on autonomous AI agents that can perform tasks on behalf of users (announced June 2026). ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed in the provided sources. Widely reported in the press at ~$300 billion as of early 2026 (post-funding round), but this figure is not confirmed by OpenAI’s official materials. - **Key Metric**: Total funding exceeds $13 billion from Microsoft and other investors. The company has also confidentially filed a draft S-1 with the SEC (see [openai.com](https://openai.com/) – “Confidential submission of draft S-1”). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Microsoft (strategic partner and largest investor), with additional participation from Thrive Capital, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and others. - **Growth Signals**: Active hiring with 721 open roles posted; expansion into agent-based products; confidential IPO filing; continued deployment of frontier models. ## Competitive Advantages - **First-mover & brand recognition**: ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer app in history, establishing OpenAI as the household name in generative AI. - **Research leadership**: Consistently publishes cutting-edge research (GPT-4, DALL-E 3, Whisper, etc.) and attracts top AI talent. - **Compute & infrastructure**: Exclusive partnership with Microsoft provides massive cloud computing resources (Azure) for training and inference. - **Unique governance structure**: The nonprofit parent ensures mission alignment (AGI benefiting humanity) while the for-profit arm can raise capital and scale products. ## Strategic Focus - **Safe AGI development**: Continued emphasis on safety research, alignment, and responsible deployment (e.g., safety systems, model provenance). - **Enterprise expansion**: Growing ChatGPT Enterprise and API offerings for businesses. - **Agentic AI**: Building autonomous agents that can “transform work” (announced June 2026). - **IPO preparation**: Confidential S-1 filing indicates intent to go public, which will require increased financial transparency and governance maturity. ## Why Work Here - **Culture & values**: OpenAI’s stated values include “Humanity first,” “Act with humility,” “Feel the AGI,” and “Ship joy.” Operating principles emphasize agency, creativity, rapid iteration, and intense focus. - **Benefits**: Competitive health insurance, mental healthcare support, 24-week paid birth-parent leave (plus 20 weeks for other parents), generous PTO, annual learning & development stipend, daily meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), and a domestic conference budget. - **Work environment**: Hybrid/office-based (San Francisco headquarters). The company offers a residency program for researchers and engineers transitioning into AI. - **Impact**: Employees work directly on frontier AI models that shape the industry and society. The mission-driven nature attracts talent passionate about AGI’s societal implications. ## Sources 1. [OpenAI About Page](https://openai.com/about/) 2. [OpenAI Careers Page](https://openai.com/careers/) 3. [OpenAI Job Search](https://openai.com/careers/search) 4. 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