Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
Talent and succession work is often treated as an annual HR ritual in SaaS, but at scaling software companies it becomes part of the operating system that keeps product delivery, customer outcomes, and leadership continuity stable. This role is featured because it sits at that inflection point, owning the mechanisms that translate a talent philosophy into repeatable decision-making across leaders, HRBPs, analytics, and rewards.
For a SaaS career, the durable value here is learning how to design people infrastructure that can withstand headcount growth and organizational change without turning into process overhead. Building lightweight frameworks, piloting, iterating, and integrating signal sources mirrors how SaaS teams ship product, which makes the experience portable across companies that rely on systems thinking. The cross-functional scope also builds fluency in how talent decisions connect to performance signals and business-critical role planning.
This role tends to suit practitioners who prefer operating through clear models, templates, and governance rather than ad hoc advising. It aligns with someone comfortable influencing senior stakeholders, working through ambiguity, and balancing rigor with usability. It is also a strong fit for professionals who want to specialize in scalable talent architecture rather than generalist HR coverage.
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
The People Programs & Strategy team at OpenAI plays a pivotal role in creating an environment where every employee can thrive, grow, and contribute to our mission of ensuring that AGI benefits all of humanity. This evolving team designs and delivers people programs that support our rapid growth, unique culture, and innovative spirit.
We focus on making it easier for people to do their best work at OpenAI by shaping how performance, growth, onboarding, and related systems come together — moving toward simpler, more continuous, and more useful experiences in the flow of work.
About the Role
This role owns the Talent & Succession layer of OpenAI’s People Operating System — how we identify, differentiate, and invest in talent as we scale.
You will design and evolve the systems that power talent reviews, succession planning, and critical role decisions, building lightweight, scalable approaches that leaders and HRBPs can use effectively. The goal is to translate talent philosophy into clear, usable mechanisms that drive high-quality, timely decisions without adding unnecessary complexity.
This is a highly cross-functional role working closely with adjacent pillars within People Programs & Strategy (especially Performance & Rewards), as well as Compensation, People Analytics, and HRBPs to ensure talent decisions are connected, actionable, and grounded in strong signals.
This role reports to the Head of People Programs & Strategy and operates as a peer to the Performance & Rewards lead.
Your Responsibilities:
Own and evolve OpenAI’s talent review approach: Design and operationalize a practical, lightweight talent review model that leaders and HRBPs can use effectively.
Drive differentiation and talent decision quality: Build clear frameworks and guidance for identifying top, critical, and developing talent, and support consistent, high-quality decision-making.
Build bench and succession systems: Develop scalable approaches for assessing bench strength, succession readiness, and risk across critical roles.
Define and maintain critical roles frameworks: Partner with leaders and HRBPs to identify key roles, single points of failure, and succession priorities across the company.
Translate strategy into usable systems: Turn talent philosophy into concrete mechanisms — templates, pre-work, decision trees, and guidance that reduce ambiguity and improve execution.
Pilot, learn, and iterate quickly: Run targeted pilots, gather feedback, and continuously refine talent processes to improve speed, clarity, and impact.
Partner deeply with HRBPs and People leaders: Co-design approaches that balance company-wide consistency with local flexibility, preserving HRBP ownership of application and judgment.
Integrate closely with Performance & Rewards: Ensure talent decisions connect cleanly to performance signals, while partnering with Compensation and People Analytics to align decisions with rewards and insights.
Design for scale and simplicity: Build systems that increase rigor and signal quality while minimizing administrative burden for managers, leaders, and HRBPs.
We’re looking for someone with:
7+ years of experience in talent management, human resources, or related areas, preferably including experience in a fast-growing, early stage company context.
Proven experience designing and implementing talent systems — including talent review, differentiation, succession planning, and career progression — with a track record of translating strategy into simple, scalable, and usable solutions.
Strong understanding of talent management best practices and trends.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across all levels of the organization.
Strong attention to detail, with the ability to both get into the details while also zooming out to view the entire ecosystem in context.
Proficiency with HRIS and talent management systems.
Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Workplace & Location
This role is based in our San Francisco office and we are not considering remote applications at this time. We offer relocation support to new employees, and we use a hybrid work model: three days in the office per week with optional work from home on Thursdays and Fridays.
Our open-plan offices have height-adjustable desks, conference rooms, phone booths, well-stocked kitchens full of snacks and drinks, three in-house prepared meals daily, a private outdoor space for working in the sun or socializing, nap rooms, private bike storage, and more.
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.
To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.
We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.
OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy
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.
