Technical Accounting Lead, Ads Revenue

Technical Accounting Lead, Ads Revenue | OpenAI

Careers

Finance - San Francisco and New York City

OpenAI Finance ensures the organization is positioned for long‑term success as we pursue our mission. The Revenue team plays a critical role in enabling OpenAI to scale commercial offerings by overseeing billing operations, deal desk, revenue systems, revenue accounting, and controllership. We work cross‑functionally with Product, Engineering, Go‑To‑Market, Tax, Legal, and Technical Accounting to support new monetization strategies, improve operational efficiency, and maintain financial integrity as the business grows.

This senior leader will own key elements of Ads revenue accounting from technical assessment through operational execution. The role will guide accounting for products, pricing, contracts, incentives, credits, refunds, makegoods, international expansion, and new go‑to‑market motions. It will establish governance and translate approved accounting positions into launch, billing, data, close, reconciliation, and control requirements. Success requires deep technical revenue expertise, strong business partnership, and the ability to build durable 0‑to‑1 processes in a fast‑changing environment.

Advertising is a critical and growing monetization vector for OpenAI, and this role will help shape the financial foundations that enable Ads to scale responsibly and transparently.

This role can be based in San Francisco or New York City. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

• Lead technical accounting assessments for Ads products and commercial arrangements, including performance obligations, variable consideration, allocation, principal‑versus‑agent, collectibility, contract modifications, refunds, incentives, credits, makegoods, and revenue presentation.

• Own and continuously evolve Ads revenue accounting policies and operating guidance as product behavior, pricing, contracting, incentive programs, and billing models change.

• Establish governance for new products and accounting decisions, including intake, decision rights, materiality and escalation thresholds, launch approvals, policy versioning, decision logs, and post‑launch monitoring.

• Translate accounting conclusions into clear requirements for product design, contracting, billing, data, estimates, close, reconciliations, controls, and reporting.

• Own the operating cadence for incentive and makegood accounting, invoice readiness, accruals and reserves, settlements, reconciliations, GL tie‑outs, flux analysis, reporting, and control evidence.

• Partner with Ads Product, Engineering, Data, Finance Engineering, Sales, Deal Desk, Legal, Tax, Billing, and Technical Accounting on launches, enterprise negotiations, and international expansion.

• Prepare concise technical memos and audit‑ready support; align novel or material conclusions with Corporate Technical Accounting and external auditors.

• Use data, AI, and automation to improve research, monitoring, policy maintenance, issue tracking, documentation, and repeatable Finance workflows with appropriate review controls.

• 10+ years of progressive experience in revenue accounting, including direct ownership of complex ASC 606 judgments and operational execution.

• Demonstrated leadership to independently set direction, prioritize across competing risks, and influence senior cross‑functional stakeholders.

• Experience with digital advertising, adtech, marketplaces, payments, usage‑based services, or another high‑volume transaction environment.

• Strong command of variable consideration, principal‑versus‑agent,…