About the Team
Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and advancing toward AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world environments. Working across the full model and systems stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the physical constraints of real-world systems to improve people’s lives.
About the Role
As a Supply Chain Manager, Material & Partner Management on the Robotics team, you will own the operational and business relationships that enable our manufacturing partners and critical suppliers to execute reliably across development builds and production ramps. You will serve as the primary interface to partners, guiding capacity planning, materials readiness, and delivery commitments to ensure builds can happen on schedule.
You will drive partner operating cadences (build readiness reviews, materials checks, cost and capacity management, QBRs), review schedules and material receiving ladders to provide clear confidence levels on timely and capable execution, and drives escalations as needed for build blockers like shortages, late parts, and quality issues. You will also own the commercial side of partner management, including SOW development, contracts, and ongoing oversight of partner commitments, payments, and performance.
This role is based in San Francisco, and requires in-person presence 5 days a week to support physical operations.
In this role, you will:
Partner Management & Operating Cadence
Own end-to-end relationships with key manufacturing partners (CM/JDM/ODM) and critical suppliers, spanning executive alignment through regular operational execution
Run joint business operation cadences: planning and capacity reviews, materials readiness checks, and QBRs, with clear owners, actions, and follow-through
Serve as the business partner interface across Engineering, Quality, and Technical Ops to keep execution aligned and unblocked
Build Planning & Material Readiness
Drive build planning and materials readiness with partners by confirming capacity, long-lead coverage, promise dates, and readiness gates for program ramp
Own partner-side material pipelining and readiness visibility, surfacing risks early and driving mitigation plans
Performance Management, Escalations, and Issue Resolution
Manage partner performance using scorecards and readiness metrics (delivery, quality, responsiveness, readiness health) and lead corrective actions when performance falls below bar
Lead cross-functional escalation and issue resolution for build blockers (shortages, late parts, quality escapes), coordinating Engineering, Quality, and Technical Ops
Drive durable closure on recurring issues by tightening processes, owners, and partner accountability mechanisms
Build continuous improvement programs with partners to increase yield, reliability, documentation quality, and repeatable processes
Commercial Ownership: SOWs, Contracts, and Business Operations
Own the business relationship with major partners, including commercial alignment and ongoing operational management
Develop Statements of Work (SOWs) and drive contract development and review in partnership with Legal
Oversee partner business operations such as contracts, payments, and commercial commitments, ensuring alignment to build execution and materials readiness
You might thrive in this role if you:
Have owned execution with CM/JDM/ODM partners and can drive materials readiness against build plans and ramps
Are great at running partner cadences (readiness reviews, issue triage, QBRs) with clear owners and follow-through
Can assess build schedules + receiving ladders, make a confident on-time call, and close gaps fast
Lead escalations for shortages, late parts, and quality issues while coordinating Engineering, Quality, and Tech Ops end-to-end
Can manage the commercial side: SOWs, contract coordination with Legal, and ongoing partner business operations
Understand complex BOMs and fast hardware development cycles, ideally with final assembly
Enjoy owning large partner relationships and operating as the single point of accountability for successful collaboration
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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