OpenAI · 1 week ago
Deal Lead, Special Situtations
San Francisco
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$330K/yr - $420K/yr
15+ 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 Deal Lead, Special Situations to originate and execute new vertical bets across financial services, life sciences, semiconductors, and energy, driving complex, high-value commercial programs that leverage AI capabilities.
Agentic AIArtificial Intelligence (AI)Foundational AIGenerative AIMachine LearningNatural Language ProcessingSaaS
Responsibilities
Identify and size high-value opportunities across financial services, life sciences, semiconductors, and energy, translating industry pain points into concrete AI-driven commercial theses
Map the partnership and competitive landscape within your vertical and design differentiated strategies that OpenAI can win and scale
Partner with FDEs and applied researchers to design multi-project programs that combine models, tooling, data, and services into outcomes customers will pay for
Define use cases, scope, sequencing, and success metrics that turn ambiguous opportunities into executable programs
Create the technical and commercial narratives—decks, demos, proposals, and deal memos—that align customers, executives, and internal teams around a single plan
Structure and negotiate non-standard partnerships, including revenue share, royalties, and bespoke commercial terms, through contract signature
Drive executive-level alignment and decision-making on trade-offs, resourcing, and risk
Qualification
Required
Have 15+ years in business development, partnerships, corporate development or founding roles where you personally drove and closed complex, high-dollar deals from concept through delivery
Have deep domain experience in financial services, life sciences, semiconductors, or energy, including an understanding of how large enterprises in those sectors buy, partner, and deploy technology
Can take a vague opportunity and turn it into a clear commercial thesis that customers, executives, and technical teams can buy into and commit budget against
Excel at building and closing non-standard deals that combine product, services, and long-term strategic value rather than off-the-shelf SKUs
Know how to navigate large, sophisticated buyers, align multiple stakeholders, and keep deals moving when no one has full authority or clarity
Strengthen decisions by framing commercial and technical trade-offs early so partners and OpenAI leadership can commit with confidence
Maintain momentum as scope, pricing, risk, and partnership structures evolve
Create structure and accountability across cross-functional teams so that deals actually convert into delivered outcomes
Deliver results without waiting for perfect information, adjusting the commercial and execution path as reality changes
Represent OpenAI with credibility and executive presence in customer and partner settings, from first conversation through long-term partnership
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
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
Fidji Simo
CEO, Applications
Sam Altman
CEO & Co-Founder
Recent News
2026-01-25
MIT Technology Review
2026-01-25
MIT Technology Review
2026-01-25
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