About the job
About Our Team
At OpenAI, the Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team is at the forefront of transforming groundbreaking research into robust production systems. We collaborate closely with our clients to tackle high-impact challenges, functioning as the driving force behind our most intricate large-scale projects. Our agility allows us to swiftly transition from prototype stages to production, establishing reusable patterns that enhance our platform. Our work bridges the gap between deployment and development, enabling us to partner effectively with OpenAI Research, Product, and Partnerships.
About the Role
As a Technical Deployment Lead (TDL), you will be instrumental in shaping how OpenAI delivers sophisticated systems to our customers. You will take full ownership of their construction, delivery, and adoption processes. Your role will involve translating business objectives into comprehensive technical plans, overseeing daily operations across FDEs, Researchers, and Customer Engineers, and collaborating with customer teams to ensure our deliverables meet their objectives.
You will manage the complete delivery process: working alongside customers to outline workflows and success metrics, ensuring timely shipment of components, and leading readiness and change management initiatives for effective adoption. Your responsibilities will include monitoring progress, managing dependencies, making sequencing decisions, and driving the development of prototypes from inception to minimum viable product (MVP) and full-scale implementation. Additionally, you will share valuable field insights with Product and Research teams to inform roadmap decisions and priorities.
Your success will be evaluated primarily by the impact of deployments that yield tangible value against customer objectives, encourage adoption, and become integral to their operational workflows. Additional success metrics will include reliability of delivery (meeting milestones, minimal reopen/churn), operational efficiency (reusable patterns across deployments), decision-making under pressure, and product impact (field insights that influence roadmaps and architectures).
This role demands a high level of trust and autonomy. To thrive, you will need extensive technical project management expertise, a profound sense of ownership over outcomes, and the ability to immerse yourself in customer workflows while collaborating with teams to address complex engineering challenges promptly.
This position is based in New York City, utilizing a hybrid work model that requires three days in the office per week. Relocation assistance is offered, and travel is expected to range between 25% to 50%.

