PROCUREMENT OPERATIONS LEAD

About the Team

OpenAI Finance is responsible for ensuring the organization is set up for success in pursuit of its mission. The Procurement team advises our business partners to make the best investments, ensures we acquire the resources needed for growth, and enables our mission through efficient procurement practices.

About the Role

Were hiring a Procurement Operations Lead to support the Head of Procurement Operations by overseeing the day-to-day activities of the procurement operations team and ensuring alignment with strategic goals.

You will manage a small team, ensure smooth execution of daily tasks, and optimize our procure-to-pay (P2P) systems and processes.

You will also provide critical insights and help drive improvements to support long-term success.

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 :

• Lead the procurement operations team, ensuring smooth execution of Tier 1 system admin processes, timely purchase order processing, vendor management, and compliance with internal controls and SLAs.
• Manage the month-end close process for Purchase Order accruals and Accounts Payable, ensuring accurate and timely financial reporting.
• Manage and optimize P2P systems (ZIP, NetSuite, Navan) for day-to-day operations, ensuring seamless procurement and financial operations.
• Oversee the travel & expense program and VIP travel, ensuring compliance, cost-effectiveness, and timely processing of requests, acting as the first point of escalation and delivering exceptional service to employees and executives.
• Generate insightful reports and dashboards in the P2P space that monitor performance, identify trends, and provide actionable insights to support data-driven decision-making aligned with OpenAIs financial and operational goals.
• Lead efforts to improve operational efficiencies, streamline processes, and implement scalable solutions in the P2P function.
• Ensure adherence to compliance standards, drive reporting initiatives, and oversee audit responses related to procurement and accounts payable.
• Partner with Procurement leadership to align team efforts with broader organizational goals, contributing both operational and strategic insights to support long-term objectives.

You might thrive in this role if you have :

• 7-10+ years of experience in procurement and P2P operations, with a proven track record of managing teams and overseeing day-to-day operations.
• A strong understanding of procurement systems (e.g., ZIP, NetSuite, Navan) and the ability to manage day-to-day operations and problem-solve in ambiguous, dynamic environments.
• Proven experience managing projects with a focus on continuous operational improvements that drive efficiency, scalability, and compliance.
• Strong expertise in using reporting tools to create dashboards, analyze procurement data, and provide actionable insights for decision-making.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work with varied cross-functional teams to resolve operational issues and optimize processes.
• A detail-oriented mindset in managing complex issues, ensuring accuracy and consistency across all workstreams.
• The ability to maintain composure and effectiveness in fast-moving environments, while ensuring stability and continuous improvement within the team and processes.

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 do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.

OpenAI Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement

For US Based Candidates : Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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.

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