Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
This role sits at the infrastructure layer that increasingly underpins modern SaaS, where product delivery is inseparable from reliable compute, networking, and supply chain execution. OpenAI’s “Stargate” framing and the emphasis on a global footprint point to a large scale buildout rather than a single-site operations post, making the remit relevant to SaaS-adjacent platforms that run high-availability services and AI workloads.
For a long-term SaaS career, the value is in learning how operational systems are designed when software growth meets physical constraints. Owning metrics and SLAs across hardware logistics, repairs, and vendor coordination builds fluency in reliability, capacity planning, and throughput, which are transferable across cloud infrastructure, platform engineering, and technical operations leadership. The cross-functional interface with engineering, construction, and supply chain also mirrors how SaaS companies mature from ad hoc execution to repeatable operating models.
This position is best suited to an experienced operations leader who prefers measurable outcomes, process design, and stakeholder management over purely technical build work. It will fit someone comfortable translating operational risk into plans and controls, and who enjoys coordinating external partners while aligning internal teams around service levels and traceability. On-site presence in San Francisco suggests hands-on oversight and real-world accountability for physical systems.
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
OpenAI, in close collaboration with our capital partners, is building the world’s most advanced AI infrastructure ecosystem. This team defines and executes our core infrastructure strategy. From site selection through full buildout, we sit at the intersection of commercial, technical, strategy, and operations, partnering closely with internal teams and external stakeholders.
About the Role
We are seeking a Data Center Hardware Operations Lead focused on hardware and network operations, and logistics, with 15+ years of experience managing complex, mission-critical data center environments. You will oversee and optimize day-to-day hardware physical operations—including material movement, and hardware maintenance—across our expanding global footprint. This role includes designing scalable repair and logistics systems, managing vendors, and ensuring seamless coordination across facilities, supply chain, and engineering. If you thrive in highly complex, fast-paced environments and have a track record of operational excellence at scale, we encourage you to apply.
Key Responsibilities
Collaborate with internal and external teams to establish the hardware operations strategy, critical metrics and SLAs.
Lead daily physical operations for data center campuses, from commissioning through ongoing maintenance.
Design and implement robust logistics systems for material movement, repairs, and operational workflows.
Collaborate with engineering, construction, supply chain, and operations teams to streamline processes and resolve bottlenecks.
Develop tools and practices for improved traceability, throughput, and vendor coordination.
Manage relationships with external partners and ensure alignment with operational goals.
Apply best practices in logistics and operational planning to support scalable infrastructure growth.
Qualifications
15+ years of experience in physical operations and logistics for mission-critical infrastructure and data centers.
Proven ability to manage complex logistics systems and coordinate across disciplines.
Deep understanding of operational processes for large-scale facilities including maintenance, construction support, and warehousing.
Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and working with third-party vendors.
Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Logistics, Operations Management, or a related field (advanced certifications preferred).
Preferred Skills
20+ years of experience managing global-scale data center operations and logistics.
Expertise in supply chain logistics and systems implementation for hyperscale environments.
Strong leadership in dynamic, high-pressure settings with evolving technical needs.
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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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.
