Datacenter Hardware Operations Technician Lead, Industrial Compute

📋 Description

• • Serve as OpenAI’s senior on-site hardware operations lead for server, GPU, storage, and rack-level infrastructure at one of the company’s flagship AI campuses in Abilene, Texas.
• • Drive technical triage and resolution of complex hardware failures impacting production systems, ensuring minimal downtime and maximum reliability.
• • Partner with Fleet Health Engineering to investigate recurring hardware issues, identify failure patterns, and implement improvements to enhance fleet reliability.
• • Lead root cause analysis (RCA) for critical hardware incidents and develop corrective and preventive action plans to prevent recurrence.
• • Collaborate with Oracle operations teams and OEM vendors to coordinate repairs, replacements, upgrades, and lifecycle management activities for hardware assets.
• • Establish, document, and continuously improve hardware maintenance procedures, operational runbooks, and troubleshooting standards for scalable deployment across future campuses.
• • Analyze hardware failure trends and operational metrics to proactively identify reliability risks and recommend system-level improvements.
• • Support new hardware introductions, validation activities, and production readiness reviews to ensure seamless integration into live environments.
• • Coordinate spare parts strategy and inventory planning with supply chain and operations teams to maintain optimal stock levels for critical components.
• • Provide field feedback to Hardware Engineering, Manufacturing, and Infrastructure teams to influence the design and durability of future hardware platforms.
• • Develop scalable operational standards and best practices that can be replicated across OpenAI’s global Stargate AI campuses.
• • Mentor junior technicians and partner teams on advanced troubleshooting methodologies, hardware operational excellence, and safety protocols.
• • Operate independently in high-priority production environments with significant responsibility for maintaining the integrity of thousands of GPUs and servers.
• • Travel occasionally to support new campus deployments, operational readiness activities, and cross-site technical initiatives.
• • Ensure all hardware operations comply with Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) practices in mission-critical datacenter environments.
• • Maintain accurate technical documentation and operational records to support audits, compliance, and knowledge transfer.
• • Act as the primary technical liaison between OpenAI and external hardware vendors, ensuring alignment on service levels, repair timelines, and warranty obligations.
• • Participate in on-call rotations to respond to critical hardware outages outside standard business hours.
• • Contribute to capacity planning efforts by providing real-world insights into hardware performance, failure rates, and lifecycle expectations.