How to apply for Economic Development Lead

About OpenAI

OpenAI is a frontier AI research and product company with teams working on alignment, policy, and security. It posts specific opportunities it considers high impact, and it points candidates to a career review discussing concerns about working at a frontier AI lab. The Site Readiness & Development team is building an AI infrastructure ecosystem, which means this role sits at the intersection of AI growth and physical development.

About the role

The Economic Development Lead works upstream on the national pipeline, engaging before a project is public and shaping incentive, relationship, community-benefit, and approval strategy for sites under evaluation. You own incentive strategy and negotiations, build state and local economic-development relationships, and coordinate with Site Selection, Land, Power, Legal, Finance, and Community Engagement. Once a project moves toward announcement, the dedicated Community Engagement Lead becomes the local owner, and you continue to support agreement-linked commitments and incentive execution.

A typical day

A typical day might involve reviewing a site under evaluation, drafting incentive strategy with Legal and Finance, and speaking with a state or local economic-development contact. You could also be coordinating with Site Selection and Power teams on approval risk, or preparing a handoff of local relationships to a Community Engagement Lead as a project moves toward announcement. The job description does not specify daily routines beyond these responsibilities, so ask about team cadence and travel expectations in interviews.

Who OpenAI is looking for

• 6+ years in economic development, public-private partnerships, infrastructure development, government affairs, or a related field.
• Has structured and negotiated incentive packages, and can show how those deals moved from early diligence to executed agreements.
• Comfortable entering projects before they are public and identifying political, commercial, and approval risks early.
• Can build local and state economic-development relationships and then hand them off cleanly to a Community Engagement Lead.

Tips for this application

• Name the exact deal types you have worked on: incentive packages, public-private partnerships, or infrastructure agreements. Include dollar ranges, jurisdictions, and your specific role in negotiations.
• Show that you understand the upstream phase. Describe examples where you engaged before a project was public and helped shape strategy, not just execute a signed deal.
• Address the handoff model directly. Explain how you have transitioned local relationships and commitments to another owner while staying involved in agreement-linked obligations.
• Reference OpenAI's stated focus on alignment, policy, and security, and note that you have read the 80,000 Hours career review linked in the job description. This shows you understand the concerns the company itself raises.
• Keep the resume focused on economic development, government affairs, and infrastructure. General operations or sales experience without a public-sector or incentive-negotiation angle will not match the requirements.

What to cover in your cover letter

['Your experience structuring and negotiating incentives, with one concrete example of a deal you shaped from early diligence through agreement.', 'Your ability to build state and local economic-development relationships and then hand them off to a local owner.', 'Your track record of identifying political, commercial, and approval risks early in a project.', "Why you want to work on AI infrastructure specifically at OpenAI, and how you have considered the concerns raised in the company's own career review."]

Research before applying

• Read the 80,000 Hours career review on working at an AI lab, linked in the job description, and be ready to discuss it.
• Study OpenAI's public materials on alignment, policy, and security to understand how the company frames its work.
• Look into the Site Readiness & Development team's stated function: converting powered-land opportunities into executable infrastructure options. Understand what powered land means in this context.
• Research recent large-scale infrastructure or data center incentive deals in US states to understand the landscape this role operates in.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• Walk through an incentive negotiation you led. What was the jurisdiction, the package, and the outcome?
• How do you assess political and approval risk before a project is public? Give a specific example.
• Describe a time you handed off local relationships and commitments to another team. How did you manage continuity?
• How would you coordinate with Site Selection, Land, Power, Legal, Finance, and Community Engagement on a single site?
• What concerns have you considered about working at a frontier AI company, and how do you think about them?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Applying with only private-sector deal experience and no economic development, public-private partnership, or government affairs background. The role requires 6+ years in those specific areas.
• Describing community engagement as your main strength. This role hands local ownership to a Community Engagement Lead and focuses on incentive strategy, negotiations, and agreement-linked commitments.
• Ignoring the ethical context. OpenAI itself links to a career review about doing harm at a frontier AI company. Not addressing that shows you have not read the job description closely.