Supply Chain Operations Program Manager, AI Infrastructure

📋 Description

• • Serve as the single-threaded operational owner for New Product Introduction (NPI) and production ramp activities across OpenAI’s AI infrastructure hardware systems, accountable for outcomes from early bring-up through sustained production.
• • Translate OpenAI’s infrastructure strategy and engineering objectives into clear operating plans, execution priorities, and decision frameworks aligned with scalability, reliability, and cost targets.
• • Drive cross-functional alignment across Engineering, Operations, Strategic Sourcing, Finance, Capacity Planning, and Executive stakeholders by framing tradeoffs, risks, and actionable recommendations.
• • Define and enforce operational readiness for NPI builds, including material accountability, manufacturing and test readiness, product data availability, factory infrastructure, and qualification plans.
• • Lead the transition from NPI to mass production by partnering with Sustaining Operations teams to ensure seamless ownership transfer and continuous operational excellence.
• • Translate complex engineering requirements into factory-ready execution plans in collaboration with tier-1 manufacturing and integration partners.
• • Lead cross-functional build and debug cadences, ensuring all issues are owned, aggressively driven, and formally closed with documented root cause and preventive actions.
• • Own end-to-end risk management for hardware programs, including identification, mitigation planning, escalation protocols, and executive-level communication.
• • Drive factory and deployment ramp readiness by managing throughput, site readiness, yield targets, quality controls, and reliability gates.
• • Surface systemic bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or failure modes across processes, tooling, and organizational interfaces; propose and implement durable, scalable solutions.
• • Build, formalize, and scale repeatable operating mechanisms that enable predictable, high-velocity hardware development across global supply chains.
• • Define requirements for operational systems such as PLM enablement and partner with internal teams to implement, test, and operationalize them.
• • Establish clear scopes, roles, and responsibilities across internal teams and external partners to ensure clean execution boundaries and accountability.
• • Build and maintain trust-based relationships with contract manufacturers, OEMs, and integrators to drive performance, transparency, and continuous improvement.
• • Support onsite factory builds and field deployments as required, including domestic and international travel to manufacturing and deployment sites.
• • Ensure compliance with quality, reliability, and supply chain standards throughout the hardware lifecycle, from prototype through high-volume production.
• • Proactively identify inflection points requiring strategic investment or decision-making to safeguard long-term system scalability and operational repeatability.
• • Influence operational strategy with external manufacturing partners by setting expectations for execution rigor, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• • Maintain rigorous oversight of BOM management, ECO/MCO processes, material planning, factory test, and quality control systems.
• • Deliver clear, concise communication of complex technical and operational issues to executive and external audiences through written reports and presentations.
• • Support supplier engagement models, analyze build cost drivers, and navigate NPI scaling tradeoffs to optimize outcomes across time, cost, and quality dimensions.