Partnerships Operations Lead, OAI for Government

Job description

About the team OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. OpenAI for Government helps public-sector institutions use advanced AI responsibly to improve services and advance critical missions. The Partnerships team builds the external ecosystem and internal operating mechanisms required to deliver that work at scale. Role Summary We are seeking a Partnerships Operations Lead to build and run the operating foundation for OpenAI for Government’s Partnerships team. This person will serve as the operational connective tissue across the partner team, working closely with Account Directors, Solutions Architects, Revenue Operations, Deal Desk, and other cross-functional stakeholders to move opportunities from initial engagement through agreement and execution. They will help ensure a smooth handoff to Technical Success across accounts by establishing clear readiness criteria, capturing the right commercial and customer context, and aligning teams on partner roles, commitments, dependencies, and success outcomes. The ideal candidate is a true utility player who combines the relationship instincts of a growth oriented builder with the rigor of an exceptional business operator. They thrive in ambiguity, create processes that do not yet exist, and move fluidly between deal execution, workflow design, analysis, and cross-functional coordination. Key Responsibilities Own the end-to-end operating cadence for partner-sourced and partner-influenced opportunities, from intake and qualification through approvals, contracting, launch, and expansion. Build and continuously improve operating processes, standard procedures, stage gates, decision rights, and service expectations that make partner execution faster and more predictable. Operationalize new and existing government partner motions—including cloud providers, resellers, and sell-through models—by translating requirements that differ from standard commercial motions into clear workflows, enablement, decision rights, and cross-functional handoffs. Coordinate deal execution across Account Directors, Revenue Operations, Deal Desk, Legal, Finance, Security and Compliance, Product, Technical Success, and partner teams, ensuring every action has a clear owner and timeline. Establish a consistent handoff from commercial teams to Technical Success by standardizing readiness criter…