Strategic Sourcing Leader - Enterprise & Engineering Technology

About the Team OpenAI’s Strategic Sourcing team helps the company scale responsibly, efficiently, and at speed. We partner with technical and business leaders across Engineering, Security, IT, Finance, Legal, and Privacy to shape supplier strategy, negotiate critical agreements, and build resilient supplier ecosystems that support OpenAI’s mission. Within Strategic Sourcing, this team manages strategic supplier relationships across engineering platforms, infrastructure software, security technology, enterprise systems, IT, and hardware. Our work connects technical roadmaps, commercial strategy, supplier leverage, financial discipline, operational resilience, and security. About the Role OpenAI is seeking a Leader of Strategic Sourcing, Enterprise & Engineering Technology to lead complex technology sourcing work across a portfolio critical to how our teams build, secure, operate, and scale. This role will report to the Head of Strategic Sourcing. This is a senior sourcing leadership role for a recognized expert who can shape category direction, lead multiple complex workstreams, influence senior stakeholders, and solve high-stakes commercial problems with structured thinking and deep expertise. You will manage experienced sourcing professionals, guide strategic supplier negotiations, and help build scalable sourcing practices that strengthen OpenAI’s growth. You will partner closely with the CTO, CISO, IT, Finance, Legal, Privacy, and business organizations to translate technical needs, security requirements, supplier constraints, adoption patterns, and long-term operating priorities into clear sourcing strategies and commercial structures. You will also build and improve the operating system for the category, including category cards, negotiation playbooks, reporting mechanisms, supplier governance, coordinator workflows, and executive communication rhythms. You will be at the forefront of enabling AI within sourcing workflows, helping the team use AI to improve intake, market analysis, negotiation preparation, reporting, documentation, and decision quality. 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 sourcing strategy and execution across enterprise and engineering technology categories, including infrastructure software, engineering platforms, security technology, enterprise systems, IT, and hardware. - Independently define, prioritize, and lead multiple complex sourcing workstreams, shaping supplier strategy and commercial decisions without regular oversight. - Own strategic supplier negotiations, including major renewals, enterprise license agreements, infrastructure software commitments, security technology agreements, engineering platform agreements, and hardware-related sourcing decisions. - Manage and develop experienced category leads, creating clarity, improving commercial judgment, and empowering the team to deliver strategic goals without heavy managerial intervention. - Build scalable category tools and frameworks, including category cards, negotiation playbooks, supplier segmentation, renewal calendars, reporting dashboards, and escalation paths. - Partner with senior leaders across the CTO, CISO, and IT organizations to translate technical roadmaps, security requirements, platform dependencies, adoption plans, performance needs, and supplier constraints into sourcing strategies and commercial structures. - Advise senior leaders on major supplier decisions by presenting clear deal narratives, financial impact, risk, tradeoffs, supplier context, and recommendations. - Create cost and commercial structures aligned to OpenAI’s business model, including usage-based pricing, flexible consumption models, pooled commitments, ramp structures, scale protections, and performance-based economics. - Set direction for coordinators and category partners supporting quick-turn negotiations, ensuring routine work moves quickly with consistent standards, strong documentation, and appropriate escalation. - Establish supplier governance and portfolio reporting across pipeline health, savings, risk, renewal exposure, supplier performance, forecast accuracy, QBRs, escalation management, and value realization. - Influence difficult or highly opinionated stakeholders by building trust, clarifying tradeoffs, creating alignment, and positioning sourcing as a strategic partner in technical, security, and commercial decision-making. You might thrive in this role if you: - Are a recognized sourcing expert with deep experience across enterprise technology, infrastructure software, engineering tools, security technology, IT platforms, hardware, or adjacent technology categories. - Have led complex, high-stakes supplier negotiations and can balance cost, leverage, speed, flexibility, risk, security requirements, and long-term partnership value.