Commissioning Project Lead, Data Center Delivery

OpenAI, Inc.

Job Overview

Location

San Francisco

Job Type

Full-time

Full Job Description

📋 Description

• We are seeking a Commissioning Project Lead to own the commissioning strategy and execution for a large-scale, self-build data center project.
• You will lead the overall commissioning program from early construction planning through startup, functional testing, integrated systems testing, and final turnover.
• This role serves as the primary commissioning interface to project leadership, construction management, contractors, equipment vendors, operations, and commissioning partners.
• You will be responsible for creating clarity across organizations, identifying readiness and schedule risks early, and ensuring the facility progresses through testing and turnover against clearly defined acceptance criteria.
• The role will initially support planning and coordination in a hybrid capacity and transition to full-time onsite presence as construction, inspections, startup, testing, and turnover become active.
• Key Responsibilities:
• Own the project commissioning strategy and execution plan, including scope, governance, acceptance criteria, responsibilities, sequencing, and escalation paths.
• Lead the hybrid OpenAI and commissioning-partner delivery model, establishing clear RACI ownership, staffing requirements, performance expectations, and issue-management processes.
• Integrate commissioning into the master project schedule, including construction readiness, energization, equipment startup, functional testing, integrated systems testing, and turnover milestones.
• Lead commissioning coordination across construction management, contractors, design teams, equipment vendors, operations stakeholders, and field/test engineering teams.
• Drive multidisciplinary commissioning readiness across electrical, mechanical, controls, and supporting infrastructure, identifying dependencies and resolving blockers before they affect testing.
• Own visibility into commissioning risks, including schedule constraints, readiness gaps, design and submittal issues, safety constraints, resource bottlenecks, deficiencies, and documentation quality.
• Coordinate QA/QC inspections and test execution with discipline commissioning leads, contractors, equipment vendors, and commissioning partners.
• Review commissioning plans, test procedures, readiness checklists, deficiency logs, test reports, turnover packages, and other commissioning deliverables against established acceptance criteria.
• Provide clear project and executive reporting on commissioning readiness, staffing, test progress, open risks, issue aging, and turnover status.
• Drive final system acceptance, turnover readiness, closeout, and lessons learned to support a reliable transition from construction into operations.

🎯 Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in commissioning, construction, engineering, technical program management, or project delivery for mission-critical facilities or similarly complex technical infrastructure.
• Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary commissioning programs through construction readiness, startup, functional performance testing, integrated systems testing, and turnover.
• Strong working knowledge of electrical and mechanical commissioning workflows, with the ability to coordinate dependencies across power, cooling, controls, and supporting systems.

🏖️ Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Comprehensive benefits package
• Opportunity to work with a leading AI research and deployment company
• Collaborative and dynamic work environment
• Professional development opportunities
• Flexible work arrangements

Skills & Technologies

Senior

Hybrid

Degree Required

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OpenAI, Inc.

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About OpenAI, Inc.

OpenAI is a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence research and deployment company founded in 2015. It develops large-scale AI models such as GPT, DALL-E, and Codex, providing cloud APIs and consumer applications like ChatGPT. Originally established as a non-profit, it later created a capped-profit subsidiary to attract capital while maintaining its mission to ensure artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.

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