OpenAI · 1 day ago
Sr. Employee Relations Partner (Non-Investigations)
San Francisco, CA
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
8+ years expOpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. They are seeking a Senior Employee Relations Partner to focus on non-investigative employee relations work, supporting complex people matters such as conflict resolution and performance management. The role requires exceptional interpersonal skills and a human-centered approach to navigate high-impact situations and foster a culture of clarity and accountability.
Agentic AIArtificial Intelligence (AI)Foundational AIGenerative AIMachine LearningNatural Language ProcessingSaaS
Responsibilities
Advise and guide managers, HRBPs, and cross-functional partners through complex or high-risk employee situations, including conflict resolution, interpersonal friction, performance challenges, and difficult conversations. You’ll bring emotional intelligence and principled thinking to every interaction
Partner closely with Legal and HRBPs on strategic performance management, offering guidance on performance improvement plans (PIPs), documentation, and exit strategies. You'll help ensure decisions prioritize fairness to the individual while also supporting overall team health and business needs
Lead or support sensitive, high-touch employee exits where preserving dignity, ensuring compliance, and maintaining cultural alignment are all essential
Act as a sounding board and escalation partner for workplace culture concerns, manager-employee dynamics, and early signals of broader people issues
Help build scalable tools and frameworks that strengthen ER support across the company and reduce over-reliance on formal processes or investigations
Collaborate cross-functionally with HRBPs, Legal, cross-functional partners, and leadership to ensure alignment on people decisions, organizational changes, and policy implementation
Navigate ambiguity with a proactive, calm, creative, and solutions-oriented mindset, helping to clarify issues and move toward resolution in a dynamic, evolving environment
Use data and insight to identify trends and advise on systemic solutions that promote trust, engagement, and long-term cultural health
Qualification
Required
A Bachelor's degree with 8+ years of experience in employee relations or other People experience roles, ideally in high-growth, fast-paced, and highly dynamic environments
A non-conventional mindset. You bring creative, outside-the-box thinking to complex people issues, and you're not bound by the way things have always been done
Proven experience managing high-tension, highly escalated employee situations with discretion, empathy, and calm under pressure
A proven track record of handling complex performance management, re-orgs, position elimination, sensitive exits, and conflict resolution with a steady, thoughtful, and pragmatic approach
Exceptional interpersonal and relationship-building skills—you build trust quickly, communicate with warmth and clarity, and can connect with employees, managers, and senior leaders alike
A low-ego, high-ownership mindset. You're equally comfortable advising executives and rolling up your sleeves to fine-tune a template, fix a process, or support an employee through a difficult moment
Strong instincts for people and culture, with the ability to read situations, understand organizational dynamics, and offer grounded, empathetic guidance
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, especially when navigating sensitive or high-stakes conversations
Comfort operating in ambiguity and rapid change, with the ability to move quickly and decisively while staying aligned with OpenAI's mission and values
A commitment to fairness, discretion, and principled decision-making. You're thoughtful, balanced, and clear-eyed, even under pressure
Preferred
Experience in tech, research, or mission-driven orgs is a plus
Benefits
Relocation assistance
Company
OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company that develops advanced AI models, including ChatGPT. It is a sub-organization of OpenAI Foundation.
201-500 employees
H1B Sponsorship
OpenAI has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (1)
2024 (1)
2023 (1)
2022 (18)
2021 (10)
2020 (6)
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageTotal Funding
$79BKey Investors
The Walt Disney CompanySoftBankThrive Capital
2025-12-11Corporate Round· $1B
2025-10-02Secondary Market· $6.6B
2025-03-31Series Unknown· $40B
Leadership Team
Sam Altman
CEO & Co-Founder
Greg Brockman
President, Chairman, & Co-Founder
Recent News
2026-01-09
The Motley Fool
2026-01-09
Company data provided by crunchbase