Senior Program Manager, Manager Development

About the Team

Our People Programs team is building the infrastructure that enables OpenAI to scale with intention and care. We're responsible for key programs-like performance reviews, promotions, onboarding, engagement and learning & development to name a few-while ensuring our employees are equipped to lead, grow, and thrive.

About the Role

We're seeking an experienced L&D leader to drive OpenAI's manager development efforts. As we expand globally and across disciplines, manager development is a critical focus area, especially for technical and emerging leaders across AI research, engineering, GTM, and G&A functions.

You'll design, facilitate, and continuously evolve high-impact learning experiences and programs for people managers, drawing on best practices in leadership development and behavior change. You'll work closely with HRBPs, team leads, and other cross-functional partners to ensure our manager enablement offerings meet the unique needs of our fast-moving, high-performing teams. This is a deeply collaborative and hands-on role that blends strategy, design, facilitation, and feedback-driven iteration. This role reports to our Head of Learning, Development & Coaching.

Your Responsibilities:

• Design and scale manager development programming that aligns with OpenAI's growth, culture, and leadership expectations.

• Act as a program operator, balancing important details and careful craft while ensuring programs can scale and work properly.

• Facilitate engaging, high-trust learning sessions for diverse audiences across functions (including technical leaders).

• Translate feedback, data, and evolving org needs into improvements or new learning experiences.

• Partner with HRBPs, Org Development, and cross-functional leads to ensure programming is relevant and impactful.

• Model strong leadership behaviors-be a trusted peer and thought partner to our manager community.

• Build for scale while preserving quality and nuance in our development offerings.

We're Seeking:

• Deep expertise in leadership and manager development, grounded in applied practice.

• Experience leading or building manager development programs in fast-paced, high-growth orgs (tech or AI preferred).

• Background in supporting or directly managing technical teams or complex org structures.

• Exceptional facilitation skills and a confident, humble presence in the room.

• Strong strategic thinking and operational execution; comfortable moving between vision and detail.

• Clear, effective communication across written, verbal, and live formats.

• Collaborative and feedback-seeking, especially when partnering with HRBPs and cross-functional teams.

• Comfort with ambiguity and a fast-changing environment-thrives in iteration.

• Nice to have:

  • Advanced degree in I/O Psychology, Organizational Development, or a related field.

  • ICF (ACC+) or EMCC coaching credential, or training from an accredited coaching program.

Workplace & Location

This role is based in our San Francisco office, and we chose this location due to the proximity of our highest concentration of managers and leaders. We offer relocation support to new employees, and we use a hybrid work model: three days in the office per week with optional work from home on Thursdays and Fridays.

Our open-plan offices have height-adjustable desks, conference rooms, phone booths, well-stocked kitchens full of snacks and drinks, three in-house prepared meals daily, a private outdoor space for working in the sun or socializing, nap rooms, private bike storage, and more.

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.

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.

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: $260K