Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
Product Operations has become a core function in modern SaaS, especially where API platforms and end user products ship in parallel and releases carry meaningful downstream impact. This role sits at that intersection, translating product development into repeatable programs for betas, launches, and feedback loops. In an AI product environment with multiple stakeholders across safety, security, legal, and support, operational rigor is not administrative work but part of how products reach market responsibly and consistently.
For a SaaS career, the long-term advantage is learning how scale is built through systems rather than heroics. Running alpha to GA programs, establishing launch readiness cadences, and creating structured intake for user signals are durable skills across SaaS categories. The emphasis on automation and internal tooling also reflects a broader shift in SaaS ops toward leverage, where process design and lightweight software building increasingly differentiate senior operators.
This position suits an experienced operator who prefers ambiguous problem spaces and enjoys being the connective tissue across product, engineering, and go to market functions. It will likely appeal to someone who is comfortable influencing without direct authority, can move between details and org level patterns, and is motivated by building mechanisms that keep shipping predictable as product surface area expands.
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’s Applied AI org is the product development arm of the company, bringing the power of advanced AI models to the world via APIs and user‑interface products (ChatGPT,Codex, etc). The Product Ops team is responsible for providing operational expertise and leverage for product teams bringing solutions to market, and streamlining and automating org operations and information channels (across Applied and with adjacent functions) to set strong foundations for collaboration at scale.
About the Role
This Product Operations Manager role is for a senior IC.
Our ideal candidate has deep experience in Product Operations at one or more scaling tech companies, working very closely with Product/Engineering and XFN partners on both central systems (e.g., launch calendar / launch readiness) and bringing products to market by running betas and launch activities.
This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.
In this role, you will:
Stand up and operate alpha/beta/GA programs with clear entry/exit criteria, recruiting design partners, running internal dogfooding, and transforming qualitative/quantitative insights into prioritized product work.
Own the launch calendar and readiness cadence for a product group; run XFN checkpoints across Product, Eng, Research, Safety, Security, Legal, Support, and GTM.
Build the systems to capture, triage, and synthesize user feedback into actionable recommendations.
Lead coordination for high‑impact moments (e.g., Dev Day demos, rollout waves, partner showcases), managing timelines, resources, and communications to ensure successful outcomes.
Build internal tools/automations (code/no‑code/AI) that scale operations: Feedback intake, issue taxonomy, release notes, etc.Contribute to building and scaling the Product Operations function at OpenAI—codifying best practices, raising the quality bar, and mentoring peers.
You might thrive in this role if you:
Are regularly working with agentic AI tools to increase your leverage (e.g. Codex)
Have an entrepreneurial spirit, bias for action, and high agency; you ship v1s quickly and iterate to quality at scale.
Can build systems/tools (via code / no‑code / AI) to make internal processes simple, fast, and reliable.
Can self‑prioritize and context switch across multiple projects and stakeholders without losing the thread.
Are a clear, persuasive communicator in writing and in the room; you influence without authority.
Are engaged and curious about the rapidly evolving AI and agentic‑systems landscape.
Know how to find the line between chaos and bureaucracy when setting up processes.
Can nurture a fun, inclusive, high‑ownership team culture.
Appreciate the technical nuances of LLM‑powered agents (tool use, evals, telemetry, safety constraints).
Specific technologies / skills that will be helpful in this role
Experience with OpenAI tools and APIs (ChatGPT, Codex, text generation, structured outputs, function calling, etc)
Programming Languages: Python, JavaScript (for automation scripts).
No‑Code/Low‑Code Platforms: Airtable, Retool, Zapier (or equivalents).
Data Analysis & Visualization Tools: Experience with data languages/tools like SQL, Google Sheets automations, Databricks.
Git & GitHub.
Terminal proficiency and comfort with CLIs;
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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