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OpenAI's Strategic Sourcing & Procurement team is seeking a senior leader to head Sourcing Enablement & Delivery. This role leads sourcing operational delivery, contracting enablement, and AI transformation while building Procurement's contribution to OpenAI's commercial growth.
You will build teams, systems, and service models that enable sourcing and contracting at scale. Key responsibilities include:
- Building and leading the organization: hire and develop managers, coach performance, build succession depth, and decide how employees, contractors, delivery partners, and AI share the work.
- Owning sourcing enablement and delivery operations: set service commitments and quality standards, match support to deal complexity and risk, and use customer feedback to improve service.
- Leading the sourcing operating rhythm: bring demand, priorities, and capacity into one forward plan informed by workload and performance data.
- Strengthening contracting: partner with Legal and Procurement Operations on contract lifecycle management, approved templates, and negotiation playbooks.
- Leading RACI development: define responsibilities, decision rights, handoffs, and escalation paths within Procurement and across partner teams.
- Creating mechanisms to bring sourcing into decisions earlier by connecting business demand, supplier activity, and renewals with Sourcing teams.
- Building AI-enabled ways of working: own use-case priorities, adoption, and business outcomes for sourcing and contracting experiences that begin in ChatGPT and connect to enterprise systems.
- Defining Procurement's commercial-enablement approach with GTM, Partnerships, Legal, and Compliance, while maintaining independent purchasing decision-making.
- Bringing procurement-buyer expertise into GTM: own buyer insights and use cases, work with Marketing, Sales, Product, Customer Success, and Partnerships on demonstrations and customer conversations.
- Driving OpenAI adoption across the procurement industry by exploring how third-party procurement partners can adopt and distribute OpenAI capabilities.
- Partnering with Legal and Compliance to embed business-integrity and confidentiality safeguards.
You will report to the Head of Strategic Sourcing and manage the Sourcing Delivery and Contract Management leaders. The role is based in San Francisco with a hybrid work model of 3 days in-office per week.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 12+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, vendor management, or commercial leadership, with strong judgment about supplier choices, negotiations, contracts, and risk.
- Demonstrated experience building or transforming a procurement capability through rapid growth or change, with clear evidence of better execution, commercial outcomes, or user experience.
- Proven track record managing managers and developing strong teams through hiring, coaching, performance management, succession planning, and thoughtful use of internal and external capacity.
- Experience working in or closely with marketing, sales, or commercial teams, ideally serving procurement buyers; ability to turn customer needs into use cases and business cases.
- Deep knowledge of the procurement industry—its buyers, technology providers, service firms, and buying priorities; understanding of how to sell to Procurement and how buyers assess risk and negotiate.
- Ability to use industry analysts, market research, buyer conversations, and professional networks to form points of view on emerging trends.
- Track record of turning AI, automation, or enterprise technology into capabilities people use; ability to work with technical partners, drive adoption, measure improvements, and recognize where human judgment remains essential.
- Ability to set direction when the path is not defined; strong prioritization and resource allocation skills; ability to explain tradeoffs plainly and earn support from teams you do not manage; curiosity about AI and willingness to test, learn, and change course.
