How to apply for Development Lead

About OpenAI

OpenAI is a frontier AI research and product company. It hires for high-impact roles across alignment, policy, security, and infrastructure. Working there means shaping the systems that train and run advanced AI models.

About the role

This Development Lead role sits in the Site Readiness & Development team. You own the path from site screening to a building-level deployment plan. You validate power pathways, run phase-by-phase action lists, and close evidence gaps so sites become executable infrastructure.

A typical day

You would work with Power and utility partners to validate service options, interconnection, and delivery sequencing. You would update and drive the phase-by-phase action list, close open evidence, and turn site constraints into a building-level deployment plan. Exact daily routines are not listed in the job details; ask the hiring team how the team coordinates across diligence, design, construction, and operations.

Who OpenAI is looking for

• Experience owning stage-gate development paths from exclusivity and commercial terms through diligence, closing, and handoff to design and construction.
• Direct experience validating power pathways with utilities and power partners, including interconnection, delivery sequencing, readiness assumptions, schedule exposure, and cost implications.
• Skilled at turning development phases into action lists with owners, deadlines, closure criteria, open evidence, and escalation paths, and driving them to closure.
• Able to translate power, land, civil, environmental, access, entitlement, and permitting constraints into a sequenced building-level deployment plan with target timing.

Tips for this application

• Map your experience directly to the stage-gate path in the job description: exclusivity, commercial terms, desktop diligence, confirmatory diligence, site closing, and handoff.
• Give one concrete example of a power pathway you validated with a utility or power partner, including interconnection or delivery sequencing and the cost or schedule outcome.
• Show how you drove an action list to closure, not just reported status. Name the owners, deadlines, and escalation path you used.
• Describe a time you converted site constraints (civil, environmental, access, entitlement, permitting) into a building-level deployment plan with clear sequencing.
• Note that this is a remote US role and that OpenAI posts specific opportunities it thinks may be high impact. Read the linked career review before applying.

What to cover in your cover letter

Focus on the stage-gate path from exclusivity to handoff. Show one power pathway validation with a utility or power partner. Describe an action list you drove to closure with owners, deadlines, and escalation. Explain how you turned site constraints into a building-level deployment plan with target timing.

Research before applying

• Read OpenAI's posted materials on its infrastructure ecosystem and the Site Readiness & Development team's role in converting powered-land opportunities.
• Read the linked career review on working at a frontier AI company, including concerns about doing harm.
• Study OpenAI's alignment, policy, and security teams to understand how infrastructure work connects to the company's broader work.
• Check OpenAI's current infrastructure announcements to understand the scale and timing of its data center and power needs.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• Walk through a site you took from exclusivity and commercial terms through desktop diligence, confirmatory diligence, and closing.
• How did you validate a power pathway with a utility or power partner? Cover service options, interconnection, delivery sequencing, readiness assumptions, schedule exposure, cost, and decision points.
• Describe an action list you owned. How did you set owners, deadlines, closure criteria, and escalation paths, and how did you drive it to closure?
• Give an example of translating power, land, civil, environmental, access, entitlement, or permitting constraints into a building-level deployment plan.
• How do you handle open evidence and gaps when a site must become controllable and executable?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Applying without reading the linked career review on working at a frontier AI company.
• Describing development work in general terms instead of showing stage-gate ownership from exclusivity through handoff.
• Treating the role as status reporting rather than driving action lists to closure with owners, deadlines, and escalation paths.