Senior US Benefits Manager

About the TeamOpenAI’s People team aims to hire, engage, and retain world-class talent who will safely build and deploy universally beneficial Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The Benefits team is an important subset of the HR team and is responsible for creating and delivering best in class, innovative benefits, and experiences for a rapidly growing employee population, both in and out of the US.

About the RoleWe're looking to hire a US Benefits Manager to support the design and management of our US Benefits programs. This role will partner with our Global Head of Benefits to help OpenAI achieve its mission by improving the employee experience and maintaining operational rigor and excellence throughout our Benefits programs and processes. We’re looking for an astute problem solver who excels in employee experience, data management, and communications. This role reports to our Global Head of Benefits.

Your Responsibilities:

• Subject Matter Expertise: Serve as the primary escalation point for complex or sensitive benefits questions, ensuring timely, accurate, and empathetic resolutions. Maintain deep knowledge of plan design, regulations, vendor processes, and internal workflows.

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate closely with People Operations, Payroll, Finance, HR Systems, Legal, ER, Comms, and external vendors to ensure benefits programs are well-coordinated, compliant, and scalable. Clearly communicate requirements, surface risks early, and drive alignment across teams.

• Program Design & Implementation: Partner with the Global Head of Benefits to design, implement, and optimize best-in-class benefits programs. Translate strategy into clear processes, documentation, and employee experiences across medical, retirement, time off, leave, wellness, and other offerings.

• Operational Excellence & Data Integrity: Maintain high standards of accuracy in benefits data by conducting proactive audits, validating system inputs/outputs, and partnering with HR Systems to resolve issues. Ensure all programs meet regulatory requirements and internal controls.

• Process Improvement & Ownership: Identify gaps, inefficiencies, or recurring issues in benefits operations and lead end-to-end solutions. Build sustainable workflows, templates, checklists, and documentation to reduce manual errors and improve overall program quality.

• Employee Communication: Develop and deliver clear, concise, and employee-friendly communications that explain plan changes, enrollment processes, compliance considerations, and how to navigate benefits. Partner with Comms to ensure consistent and well-timed messaging.

• Vendor Management: Manage day-to-day relationships with carriers, brokers, and service providers. Hold vendors accountable to service-level expectations, escalate issues appropriately, and ensure smooth annual cycles (open enrollment, renewals, filings, audits).

We're Seeking:

• Technical Knowledge: In-depth understanding of benefits programs, laws, and industry best practices. Knowledge of US leaves and 401(k) required, along with Workday benefits administration and integrations.

• Communication and Presentation: Effective communication and presentation skills to explain and promote benefits to employees.

• Data Analysis and Reporting: Skills in data analysis and reporting to measure outcomes and costs.

• Project Management and Organization: Strong project management and organizational skills to plan and implement benefits initiatives.

• Leadership and Teamwork: Ability to collaborate effectively.

• Automation and streamlining: Finding ways to scale processes and ensure high data integrity as the company grows.

Workplace & Location

This role is based in our San Francisco office and we offer relocation support to new employees, and we use a hybrid work model: three days in the office per week with optional work from home on Thursdays and Fridays.

Our open-plan offices have height-adjustable desks, conference rooms, phone booths, well-stocked kitchens full of snacks and drinks, three in-house prepared meals daily, a private outdoor space for working in the sun or socializing, nap rooms, private bike storage, and more.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.

Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

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