Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
Technical Sourcer roles matter in SaaS because hiring capacity is often a leading indicator of product momentum. This listing stands out by centering on highly technical, cross-disciplinary searches that sit adjacent to software-driven products—where talent markets, signal quality, and timing can meaningfully affect delivery. The on-site San Francisco setup also signals close proximity to engineering and product decision-making rather than a purely transactional sourcing function.
For a long-term SaaS career, this kind of seat builds durable leverage: translating ambiguous technical needs into searchable signals, building repeatable pipelines, and using data hygiene in an ATS to inform prioritization. The emphasis on market mapping, passive outreach, and multi-channel research aligns with how modern SaaS organizations scale specialist teams—especially when roles span firmware, manufacturing interfaces, and product engineering, where traditional playbooks are less reliable.
This role fits a sourcer who prefers deep domain immersion and methodical craft: structured research, disciplined tracking, and stakeholder partnership with technical hiring managers. It will suit someone who enjoys operating as an intelligence function for recruiting—comfortable forming hypotheses, testing sourcing approaches, and refining them over time—rather than relying on inbound volume or broad, generalized searches.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
About the Team
As a Technical Sourcer at OpenAI, you will play a key role in identifying and engaging top-tier talent to build our consumer products — from connected devices and user-facing hardware to embedded systems and manufacturable product designs. Your focus will be on sourcing engineers and product specialists across hardware, embedded firmware, industrial design, manufacturing, and related functions that power safe, delightful consumer experiences.
This role is based in our San Francisco Jackson Square office and we aren’t considering remote applications at this time. We offer relocation support to new employees, and we use a hybrid work model: four days in office with option to work remote on Wednesdays is typical.
You’ll be responsible for
Leading targeted sourcing strategies to identify and engage candidates across the entire consumer products hiring slate (electrical, mechanical, industrial design, firmware, test & validation, manufacturing/DFM, supply chain engineering, test automation, etc.).
Building and maintaining a strong pipeline of passive candidates through proactive outreach, market mapping, research, and community/network development (OEMs, contract manufacturers, fabless companies, design consultancies, maker communities, conferences).
Leveraging advanced sourcing techniques and tools (Boolean, GitHub/Repo signals, patent/driven searches, trade shows, academic labs, conference programs) to surface exceptional candidates.
Representing OpenAI at industry events, hardware meetups, and conferences to promote our mission and build long-term talent relationships.
Ensuring a high-quality candidate experience and maintaining accurate, actionable candidate data and metrics in the ATS to inform prioritization and decision-making.
You might thrive in this role if you:
5+ years of technical sourcing experience with a demonstrated focus on consumer hardware, embedded software/firmware, or adjacent product engineering roles.
Proven success sourcing for consumer-product engineering roles (examples: embedded firmware/RTOS engineers, BSP/board bring-up, electrical/analog designers, PCB/layout, mechanical engineers, industrial designers, DFM/manufacturing engineers, test & validation).
Strong understanding of the consumer product development lifecycle (concept → prototyping → pilot → high-volume manufacturing) and how hiring needs shift across those phases.
Ability to translate complex technical requirements into effective sourcing signals and candidate evaluation criteria.
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; experience partnering with technical hiring managers and cross-functional product teams.
Proficiency with sourcing tools and platforms (LinkedIn Recruiter, ATS, GitHub, patent/search tools, boolean/semantic search techniques).
Metrics-driven mindset and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-moving environment.
Hands-on familiarity with prototyping workflows, supply-chain/geographical hiring considerations (manufacturing ecosystem), or regulatory compliance signals (FCC/CE).
Experience recruiting for global manufacturing and supply-chain roles.
Technical degree or relevant hands-on experience in hardware or embedded systems.
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.
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, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. 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.
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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.
