Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
This Government and Community Affairs Manager role stands out in SaaS because it sits at the intersection of product deployment and public-sector governance. For an AI platform operating nationally, state and local policy can shape everything from procurement pathways to acceptable-use expectations. The remit across California makes the position especially relevant in a market where tech regulation, education systems, and municipal innovation programs often set patterns that other regions follow.
Career-wise, the work builds durable SaaS leverage by developing fluency in how regulated stakeholders evaluate new software categories. Experience translating technical concepts into policy-ready narratives, tracking legislative and regulatory signals, and coordinating with Legal, Communications, Partnerships, and Product is broadly transferable across SaaS companies that sell into government, education, or other compliance-heavy environments. It also develops a practical understanding of how external affairs influences go-to-market constraints and reputational risk for emerging technologies.
The role is best suited to professionals who enjoy relationship-driven, long-horizon work and can move between detailed policy analysis and on-the-ground community engagement. It fits someone comfortable representing a technical product in public forums, coordinating across internal teams, and maintaining discretion while operating with significant autonomy in a remote setting.
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 Global Affairs team engages with governments, policymakers, civil society, community organizations, and other stakeholders around the world. The State and Local Government Affairs team leads OpenAI’s engagement with state and local governments across the United States and works cross-functionally to advance policies and partnerships that support OpenAI’s mission.
About the Role
As Government and Community Affairs Manager, you will help support OpenAI’s engagement with state and local policymakers, community organizations, civic leaders, educational institutions, workforce partners, and other stakeholders across California.
Reporting to the State and Local Government Affairs Lead, Western Region, you will develop and maintain relationships with elected officials, agency leaders, legislative staff, local government representatives, and community partners. You will monitor and analyze policy developments, support advocacy and engagement strategies, and help ensure that California stakeholders understand OpenAI’s technology, mission, and approach to responsible AI development.
This role extends beyond traditional government affairs. You will also help develop community partnerships, educational initiatives, events, and other programs that demonstrate how AI can benefit people and communities across California. You will work closely with colleagues across Global Affairs, Legal, Communications, Partnerships, Product, Go to Market, and other teams to connect OpenAI’s policy priorities with meaningful external engagement.
Although the role will focus primarily on California, you may also support engagement in other Western states on an ad hoc basis. We are looking for someone who is flexible, collaborative, comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment, and able to approach emerging needs with sound judgment and a bias toward action.
In this role, you will:
Help develop and execute OpenAI’s state and local government affairs and community engagement strategy across California.
Build and maintain trusted, bipartisan relationships with state legislators, executive branch officials, local elected leaders, agency staff, community organizations, educational institutions, workforce partners, and other key stakeholders.
Monitor, analyze, and communicate California legislative, regulatory, political, and local policy developments that may affect OpenAI, its users, or the broader AI ecosystem.
Represent OpenAI in meetings, public forums, coalitions, conferences, community events, and other external engagements.
Support advocacy strategies on issues related to artificial intelligence, innovation, safety, education, workforce development, government modernization, economic opportunity, and other emerging policy priorities.
Develop and support community partnerships, events, educational programs, and other initiatives that connect OpenAI’s mission and technology with communities across California.
Translate complex technical and policy issues into clear, accessible materials for policymakers, community stakeholders, and internal audiences.
Prepare briefing materials, policy analyses, presentations, talking points, stakeholder plans, and other written materials for internal leaders and external engagement.
Work cross-functionally with Legal, Product Policy, Communications, Partnerships, Product, and other teams to ensure that external engagement reflects OpenAI’s priorities and the perspectives of California stakeholders.
Identify opportunities to demonstrate the practical benefits of AI through partnerships with state and local governments, schools and universities, workforce organizations, nonprofits, and other community institutions.
Help plan and execute policymaker visits, product demonstrations, roundtables, community convenings, and other events.
Coordinate with consultants, trade associations, coalitions, and external partners as appropriate.
Support government affairs and stakeholder engagement in other Western states on an ad hoc basis as regional priorities evolve.
Handle sensitive matters with discretion and operate with a high degree of integrity, professionalism, and sound judgment.
You might thrive in this role if you:
Have 5+ years of experience in public policy, government affairs, legislative or regulatory work, political campaigns, community engagement, consulting, or a related field.
Understand California’s state and local political, legislative, regulatory, and stakeholder environment.
Have a track record of building trusted relationships with policymakers, staff, community leaders, and organizations representing varied perspectives.
Are an excellent writer and communicator who can translate complex policy and technical issues for different audiences.
Can independently manage projects and external relationships while collaborating effectively across teams.
Exercise strong political judgment and are flexible, resourceful, and comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment with a bias toward action.
Demonstrate integrity, discretion, curiosity, and humility when representing OpenAI and engaging with communities.
Are willing to travel regularly within California and occasionally to other states as needed.
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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