Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
This role is notable in the SaaS ecosystem because it sits at the infrastructure layer that increasingly determines product reliability and delivery capacity for AI-driven software. While not a traditional application-side position, the remit connects directly to the physical foundations that enable cloud services to run at scale, where quality systems and supply chain execution translate into uptime, performance, and predictable expansion.
For a long-term SaaS career, the value comes from learning how operational rigor is built across partners and geographies, rather than within a single codebase. Vendor qualification, metrics-driven quality programs, corrective actions, and commissioning readiness are all disciplines that recur in SaaS companies operating their own infrastructure or working closely with hyperscalers. Experience aligning quality requirements with sourcing, design, and construction workflows also builds fluency in cross-functional decision-making that many SaaS organizations rely on as they mature.
The role best suits professionals who prefer structured problem solving, field verification, and stakeholder coordination across external manufacturers and internal engineering groups. It will appeal to those comfortable influencing without direct authority, traveling regularly to validate outcomes, and treating quality as a system that spans documentation, process control, and operational handoff.
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 partnership with our capital and technology partners, is building a global network of advanced data centers to support the most demanding AI workloads. The Infrastructure Quality team ensures that all datacenter systems are manufactured, delivered, and commissioned to the highest standards of quality, reliability, and performance.
We work closely with manufacturing partners, general contractors, engineering teams, and operations staff to ensure that every component is delivered ready for installation, startup, and long-term service. Our work spans vendor qualification through commissioning, ensuring operational readiness across our global portfolio.
About the Role
We are seeking an experienced Manufacturing Quality Engineer (MQE) to establish, implement, and manage a manufacturing-focused quality program for datacenter infrastructure. In this role, you will be responsible for vendor oversight, quality assurance, process improvement, and issue resolution for all critical systems.
You will conduct vendor audits, track performance metrics, and coordinate corrective actions to reduce risks, improve predictability, and ensure reliable delivery schedules. By partnering with vendors, construction teams, and internal stakeholders, you will help ensure OpenAI’s data centers are delivered on time and to the highest operational standards.
Key Responsibilities
Conduct vendor audits, evaluations, and performance reviews across production, inspection, testing, and delivery phases.
Develop and track quality metrics to assess manufacturing performance and identify trends.
Partner with vendors to refine processes, strengthen training programs, and enhance quality controls before shipment.
Build and maintain a datacenter-focused manufacturing quality program that supports rapid global deployment schedules.
Integrate quality requirements into sourcing, design, and construction workflows.
Provide leadership and guidance to vendor and contractor quality teams, ensuring adherence to OpenAI standards.
Collaborate with engineering, sourcing, construction, and operations teams to align quality processes with project objectives.
Mentor vendor teams and provide structured feedback to drive continuous improvement.
Lead corrective and preventive action plans, including root cause analysis for recurring issues.
Audit vendor and project sites to verify compliance and documentation completeness.
Monitor manufacturing schedules to ensure on-time delivery to datacenter sites.
Participate in project quality, commissioning, and operational readiness meetings.
Travel domestically and internationally (40–60%) to vendor facilities, datacenter sites, and partner locations.
Qualifications
10+ years in manufacturing quality management, supplier quality engineering, process improvement, or datacenter engineering/operations.
Bachelor’s degree in engineering, manufacturing, construction management, or a related field (or equivalent work experience).
Demonstrated ability to analyze data, solve problems, and improve manufacturing processes.
Proven track record managing deliverables for complex projects or supplier programs.
Strong communication skills, with experience influencing technical and executive stakeholders.
Preferred Skills
Technical knowledge of datacenter infrastructure systems, including mechanical, electrical, and compute components.
Experience in supplier performance management for mission-critical facilities.
ASQ Certified Quality Engineer, Quality Manager, or Quality Auditor.
PMP or equivalent project management certification.
Experience in industrial or high-volume manufacturing environments.
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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