Executive Compensation Lead

OpenAI, Inc.

Job Overview

Location

San Francisco

Job Type

Full-time

Full Job Description

📋 Description

• The Executive Compensation Lead at OpenAI will play a pivotal role in shaping how the organization compensates its most senior leaders, ensuring that executive pay strategies are aligned with long-term value creation, market competitiveness, and strong governance principles in support of OpenAI’s mission to develop safe and beneficial artificial general intelligence.
• This high-impact individual contributor role requires deep expertise in executive compensation, equity design, and financial modeling to advise senior leadership and the Compensation Committee on critical pay decisions that influence talent attraction, retention, and organizational performance.
• Design, evolve, and govern executive compensation and equity programs, including base salary, annual incentives, and long-term equity awards, ensuring alignment with business strategy, market benchmarks, and long-term shareholder value creation while maintaining disciplined stewardship of the equity pool.
• Lead executive compensation benchmarking and market analysis by constructing peer groups, evaluating pay positioning, and assessing emerging practices among late-stage private and public technology companies to inform competitive and equitable pay decisions.
• Develop and maintain sophisticated financial models to assess executive pay outcomes, equity grant sizing, dilution impact, burn rate, and stock-based compensation expense under multiple scenarios, supporting data-driven decision-making.
• Partner closely with Legal and Finance teams to ensure all executive compensation programs comply with disclosure requirements, governance standards, and regulatory obligations, particularly as they relate to SEC-like governance expectations in a high-visibility environment.
• Prepare clear, decision-ready materials for senior leadership and the Compensation Committee, including executive pay proposals, equity usage analyses, and compensation review recommendations that translate complex considerations into actionable insights.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders by synthesizing complex compensation, equity, and governance tradeoffs into concise, board-level communications that support sound judgment and strategic alignment.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Total Rewards, HR Business Partners, Recruiting, and Equity Administration teams to ensure accurate execution, implementation, and ongoing oversight of executive compensation programs across the employee lifecycle.
• The Equity Programs team at OpenAI operates at the intersection of People, Finance, and Legal, designing equity frameworks that align employee incentives with the long-term mission of building safe and beneficial AGI, and is known for its rigorous governance, scalability, and commitment to fairness as the organization scales rapidly.
• OpenAI is a mission-driven AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity, fostering a culture that values diverse perspectives, intellectual rigor, and responsible innovation in pursuit of transformative technological advancement.
• In this role, the individual will develop deep expertise in executive compensation governance within a high-growth, mission-critical AI organization, gaining exposure to board-level decision-making and advanced equity modeling practices that are rare outside of late-stage technology and public company environments.
• The role offers the opportunity to significantly influence how OpenAI attracts, retains, and motivates top leadership talent, directly contributing to the company’s ability to pursue its long-term mission while maintaining financial discipline and ethical stewardship of resources.

🎯 Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in executive and equity compensation, preferably within high-growth or late-stage technology companies.
• Direct experience supporting executive compensation decisions and/or Compensation Committee processes.
• Strong financial modeling and analytical skills, with proficiency in advanced Excel or Google Sheets and the ability to assess tradeoffs across pay, dilution, governance, and retention.
• Familiarity with executive compensation practices, including benchmarking, disclosure considerations, and governance standards.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with proven ability to produce board-level and executive-ready materials.
• High integrity, sound judgment, and discretion when handling sensitive executive and confidential information.

🏖️ Benefits

• Hybrid work model with 3 days in the San Francisco office and optional remote work on Thursdays and Fridays.
• Relocation assistance available for new employees transitioning to the San Francisco area.
• Access to OpenAI’s well-equipped office amenities, including height-adjustable desks, conference rooms, phone booths, wellness rooms, private bike storage, outdoor workspaces, and three in-house prepared meals daily.
• Opportunity to work on mission-critical compensation strategies that support the development of safe and beneficial artificial general intelligence.
• Exposure to senior leadership and board-level processes, including direct collaboration with the Compensation Committee and executive team.
• Comprehensive benefits package consistent with OpenAI’s commitment to employee well-being, including health, wellness, and professional development support.

Skills & Technologies

Senior

Remote

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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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