Academic Research Partnerships & Programs Lead

About the role

We are building a higher education researcher motion that helps funded labs adopt OpenAI across core research workflows. This role will develop relationships with principal investigators, researchers, research software engineers, research computing teams, and university technology leaders, then translate high-value use cases into sustained Pro, Codex, API, and ChatGPT Edu usage.

This is a hybrid business development and program management role. You will identify and qualify priority labs, design phased access and fellows programs, run pilots, remove technical and institutional blockers, and create repeatable paths from individual researchers to lab- and institution-level adoption. Additionally, this role will launch and manage a community of researchers with events, communications and support.

• Build a pipeline of funded labs, research centers, and technical champions at priority R1 universities; qualify opportunities based on workflow value, funding path, influence, and expansion potential.
• Run discovery with researchers and university stakeholders to understand workflows, data and security needs, procurement constraints, and success criteria.
• Design and operate phased access and fellows programs, including eligibility, selection, offer mechanics, onboarding, office hours, community programming, and pilot goals.
• Translate research workflows into effective use of Pro, Codex, API, and ChatGPT Edu in partnership with Solutions, Product, and Education account teams.
• Manage pilots end to end, remove trust, funding, and technical blockers, and drive measurable activation, retention, and expansion.
• Turn early usage into product feedback, workflow documentation, peer proof, case studies, and repeatable enablement.
• Build clear handoffs and expansion paths from researcher to lab to institution; track fellow selection, activation, retained usage, workflow proof, conversion, and expansion.

• Have relevant experience in business development, program management, partnerships, or technical go-to-market work serving higher education, research, developer, or technical communities.
• Demonstrate proven credibility with funded labs, hard‑science researchers, or R1 universities.
• Show strong program design and operating judgment, with the ability to move from an ambiguous concept to a measurable, repeatable motion.
• Exhibit technical fluency with AI platforms and research workflows; able to run credible discovery with researchers and research IT.
• Navigate complex institutions across researchers, central and research IT, procurement, funders, administrators, and executive sponsors.
• Communicate clearly, exercise high judgment, and execute cross‑functional tasks in a fast‑moving environment.

• PhD and experience within funded lab research.
• Hands‑on experience with AI platforms, developer products, or research infrastructure.

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.

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. For US‑based candidates, applicable San Francisco and Los Angeles County Fair Chance ordinances, and the California Fair Chance Act will be observed. The duties of the role may involve protecting computer hardware, returning hardware and data upon termination, and maintaining confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non‑public information.

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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.