How to apply for Powered Land Developer, Development & Power Projects

About OpenAI

OpenAI is a frontier AI research and product company with teams working on alignment, policy, and security. It posts specific high-impact opportunities, and this role sits within the team building the AI infrastructure ecosystem. The company notes it does not necessarily recommend working at other positions there.

About the role

The Powered Land Developer supports powered-land opportunities from intake through readiness, reporting to the Development & Power Project Lead. You own day-to-day development execution across 1–3 active sites, including utility applications, interconnection requests, study follow-through, queue milestones, and consultant workstreams. The role translates study and utility findings into clear schedule, budget, and risk implications for portfolio decisions.

A typical day

You might review utility study responses, update queue milestones, and coordinate with consultants on readiness studies for one to three active sites. You would track development schedules, dependencies, and risk registers, then translate findings into schedule, budget, and risk implications for the Development & Power Project Lead and portfolio decisions.

Who OpenAI is looking for

• Has hands-on experience managing utility interconnection applications, study responses, and queue milestones for large-load or generation projects.
• Can run multiple consultant workstreams and external studies to validate site readiness without direct reports.
• Tracks development schedules, dependencies, and risk registers across 1–3 active sites and hands off readiness for deeper diligence or commercial commitment.
• Translates technical study findings into schedule, budget, and risk implications that portfolio decision-makers can act on.

Tips for this application

• Name specific utility interconnection processes you have worked through, such as queue milestones, study follow-through, and utility inputs, because the role owns these directly.
• Quantify the number and complexity of sites you have advanced from intake through readiness, since the role covers approximately 1–3 active sites depending on complexity.
• Describe how you scoped and managed external studies and consultant workstreams, because the role requires validating readiness through outside parties.
• Show how you turned study or utility findings into schedule, budget, and risk implications for portfolio decisions, matching the role's stated translation responsibility.
• Note that this is an individual contributor lead role with no direct reports initially, so highlight your ability to lead through influence and manage execution yourself.

What to cover in your cover letter

['Your direct experience with utility applications, interconnection requests, and queue milestones for powered-land or large-load projects.', 'A concrete example of managing development schedules, dependencies, and risk registers across multiple active sites.', 'How you scoped and ran external studies and consultant workstreams to validate site readiness.', 'How you translated study and utility findings into schedule, budget, and risk implications that informed portfolio decisions.']

Research before applying

• Read OpenAI's career review on 80000hours.org about working at a frontier AI company, which the job description links directly.
• Review OpenAI's public materials on alignment, policy, and security to understand the company's stated priorities.
• Look into what powered-land and site readiness mean in utility interconnection and data center development contexts.
• Check what is publicly known about OpenAI's infrastructure ecosystem and site readiness work, and prepare questions about the team's current portfolio.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• Walk through a powered-land opportunity you advanced from intake through readiness, including utility application and interconnection follow-through.
• How do you track queue milestones and study responses across 1–3 active sites without direct reports?
• Describe a time you scoped an external study or consultant workstream to validate site readiness. What did you find and how did you act on it?
• How do you convert utility and study findings into schedule, budget, and risk implications for portfolio decisions?
• What concerns do you have about working at a frontier AI company, and how do you think about the infrastructure buildout this role supports?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Applying without showing direct experience in utility interconnection applications, study follow-through, or queue milestones, which are core to the role.
• Assuming the role manages a large team, when it is an individual contributor lead role with no direct reports initially.
• Treating the role as generic project management instead of powered-land development with specific utility and consultant workstream ownership.