How to apply for Manager, Applied AI Architect (India)

About OpenAI

OpenAI is a frontier AI research and product company with teams working on alignment, policy, and security. It posts specific opportunities it thinks may be high impact, and notes it does not necessarily recommend working at other positions there. Candidates can read concerns about doing harm by working at a frontier AI company in the 80,000 Hours career review linked in the job details.

About the role

This role leads a team of senior technical leaders who act as the CTO of the book of business for OpenAI's largest and most complex customers. The team owns technical strategy and the customer path from pre-sales discovery through deployment, adoption, and measurable business impact. You set the operating model for how Applied AI Architects own technical account plans across ChatGPT Enterprise, the OpenAI API, Codex, and other agentic AI solutions, partnering with Sales leadership and Account Directors.

A typical day

The job details do not describe a daily routine, so ask about team cadence and how time is split between customer work, Sales partnership, and managing architects. Expect the role to involve leading senior technical leaders, working with Sales leadership and Account Directors on customer portfolios, and engaging customer executives and technical teams across ChatGPT Enterprise, the OpenAI API, Codex, and agentic AI solutions.

Who OpenAI is looking for

• Has led senior technical teams, not just individual contributors, and can set an operating model for technical account plans across a portfolio.
• Can act as a peer to customer executives and technical teams, from pre-sales discovery and solution evaluation through production adoption.
• Has hands-on depth across ChatGPT Enterprise, the OpenAI API, Codex, and agentic AI solutions, or can credibly direct architects who do.
• Can partner with Sales leadership and Account Directors to prioritize customer portfolios, allocate technical resources, and translate business priorities into focused use cases, credible architectures, and adoption roadmaps.

Tips for this application

• OpenAI posts specific opportunities and says it does not necessarily recommend working at other positions there, so apply to this exact role rather than a general OpenAI opening.
• Address the 80,000 Hours career review on working at an AI lab in your materials, since the job details link it and OpenAI raises the concern directly.
• Show how you have owned technical account plans across a book of business, not just delivered one-off customer projects.
• Name the specific products in scope, ChatGPT Enterprise, the OpenAI API, Codex, and agentic AI solutions, and describe where you have deployed or architected with them.
• Demonstrate experience setting an operating model for a team of senior technical leaders, including how you prioritized portfolios and allocated technical resources with Sales.

What to cover in your cover letter

['Your experience leading senior technical leaders and setting the operating model for technical account plans across a customer portfolio.', 'Concrete examples of moving customers from pre-sales discovery and solution evaluation into sustained production adoption with measurable business impact.', 'How you have partnered with Sales leadership and Account Directors to prioritize customers and allocate technical resources.', 'Your direct work with ChatGPT Enterprise, the OpenAI API, Codex, or other agentic AI solutions, and your view on the concerns in the 80,000 Hours career review.']

Research before applying

• Read the 80,000 Hours career review on working at an AI lab, linked in the job details, and form a view you can discuss.
• Study OpenAI's products named in the role: ChatGPT Enterprise, the OpenAI API, Codex, and its agentic AI solutions.
• Look at OpenAI's published work on alignment, policy, and security, since those teams are named in the company description.
• Check what OpenAI says publicly about how the Applied AI Architect team partners with Sales, Product, Engineering, Research, and specialist delivery teams.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• How you would set the operating model for Applied AI Architects owning technical account plans across ChatGPT Enterprise, the OpenAI API, Codex, and agentic AI solutions.
• How you prioritize a customer portfolio and allocate technical resources with Sales leadership and Account Directors.
• A case where you moved a complex customer from early exploration to production adoption and measurable business impact.
• How you act as the CTO of the book of business with customer executives and technical teams.
• Your position on the concerns about doing harm by working at a frontier AI company, as raised in the 80,000 Hours career review.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Applying as a generalist to OpenAI without addressing this specific Applied AI Architect manager role and its book-of-business scope.
• Ignoring the 80,000 Hours career review on doing harm at a frontier AI lab that OpenAI links in the job details.
• Describing only individual delivery work without showing you have led senior technical leaders or set an operating model.