Principal Recruiter, Strategic AI Talent

OpenAI, Inc.

Job Overview

Location

San Francisco

Job Type

Full-time

Full Job Description

📋 Description

• Partner directly with the Head of Research Recruiting and OpenAI’s research leadership team to define priority talent targets and design bespoke, high-touch recruitment strategies for exceptional AI researchers, technical leaders, and operators.
• Build and maintain deep, real-time market intelligence across frontier AI, research, and engineering talent ecosystems, tracking competitor hiring patterns, candidate motivations, and shifting talent dynamics.
• Proactively identify, map, and cultivate relationships with high-profile, passive candidates who are not actively seeking roles and do not engage with conventional recruiting channels.
• Translate weak signals—such as subtle industry movements, publication trends, conference participation, and network referrals—into actionable recruitment plans and strategic recommendations for senior leadership.
• Manage confidential, customized candidate journeys that involve non-standard outreach, senior stakeholder alignment, bespoke evaluation paths, and complex compensation negotiations.
• Coordinate with executive search firms, specialized sourcers, recruiting coordinators, and internal networks to execute priority searches with speed, precision, and discretion.
• Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to research leaders on candidate positioning, timing, risk assessment, market benchmarks, and closing tactics for sensitive, high-impact hires.
• Operate outside of traditional requisition-based hiring models, focusing instead on anticipatory talent acquisition driven by emerging research directions and organizational needs.
• Maintain rigorous confidentiality in all candidate interactions, particularly when engaging with individuals at competing labs, startups, or academic institutions with non-disclosure agreements or sensitive affiliations.
• Leverage network intelligence and market context to anticipate talent gaps before they become formal hiring needs, enabling OpenAI to act preemptively in a competitive landscape.
• Ensure all recruitment activities align with OpenAI’s mission of building safe, broadly beneficial AGI, prioritizing candidates whose values, expertise, and vision align with long-term safety goals.
• Design and implement tailored engagement frameworks for candidates who require multi-touch, relationship-driven approaches rather than transactional hiring processes.
• Collaborate with compensation teams to structure unique, non-standard offer packages that reflect candidate motivations beyond salary—including research autonomy, resource access, and mission alignment.
• Act as a cultural ambassador for OpenAI within elite technical communities, building credibility and trust with researchers who may be skeptical of corporate environments.
• Document and refine recruitment patterns, candidate feedback loops, and strategic outcomes to continuously evolve OpenAI’s approach to attracting top-tier AI talent.

🎯 Requirements

• Significant experience recruiting for highly technical, senior, executive, or specialized talent in AI, machine learning, or related research domains
• Proven track record of building relationships with passive, hard-to-reach candidates who require personalized, high-touch engagement
• Strong judgment and discretion in handling confidential searches and sensitive candidate conversations
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize market intelligence from incomplete or ambiguous signals into concrete recruitment actions
• Experience partnering closely with senior leaders to shape recruitment strategy in fast-moving, ambiguous environments
• Deep interest in and understanding of the global AI research ecosystem, including academic labs, startups, and major tech institutions

🏖️ Benefits

• Hybrid work model with 3 days per week in the San Francisco Research office and optional remote work on Thursdays and Fridays
• Relocation assistance for new employees
• Three in-house prepared meals daily
• Well-stocked kitchens with snacks and drinks
• Height-adjustable desks, phone booths, conference rooms, and outdoor working spaces
• Wellness rooms and private bike storage
• Access to open-plan office with amenities designed for collaboration and well-being

Skills & Technologies

Design

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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