Supply Chain Manager, Material and Partner Management

About the TeamOur Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and advancing toward AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world environments. Working across the full model and systems stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the physical constraints of real-world systems to improve people’s lives.

About the RoleAs a Supply Chain Manager, Material & Partner Management on the Robotics team, you will own the operational and business relationships that enable our manufacturing partners and critical suppliers to execute reliably across development builds and production ramps. You will serve as the primary interface to partners, guiding capacity planning, materials readiness, and delivery commitments to ensure builds can happen on schedule.

You will drive partner operating cadences (build readiness reviews, materials checks, cost and capacity management, QBRs), review schedules and material receiving ladders to provide clear confidence levels on timely and capable execution, and drives escalations as needed for build blockers like shortages, late parts, and quality issues. You will also own the commercial side of partner management, including SOW development, contracts, and ongoing oversight of partner commitments, payments, and performance.

This role is based in San Francisco, and requires in-person presence 5 days a week to support physical operations.

In this role, you will:

Partner Management & Operating Cadence

• Own end-to-end relationships with key manufacturing partners (CM/JDM/ODM) and critical suppliers, spanning executive alignment through regular operational execution

• Run joint business operation cadences: planning and capacity reviews, materials readiness checks, and QBRs, with clear owners, actions, and follow-through

• Serve as the business partner interface across Engineering, Quality, and Technical Ops to keep execution aligned and unblocked

Build Planning & Material Readiness

• Drive build planning and materials readiness with partners by confirming capacity, long-lead coverage, promise dates, and readiness gates for program ramp

• Own partner-side material pipelining and readiness visibility, surfacing risks early and driving mitigation plans

Performance Management, Escalations, and Issue Resolution

• Manage partner performance using scorecards and readiness metrics (delivery, quality, responsiveness, readiness health) and lead corrective actions when performance falls below bar

• Lead cross-functional escalation and issue resolution for build blockers (shortages, late parts, quality escapes), coordinating Engineering, Quality, and Technical Ops

• Drive durable closure on recurring issues by tightening processes, owners, and partner accountability mechanisms

• Build continuous improvement programs with partners to increase yield, reliability, documentation quality, and repeatable processes

Commercial Ownership: SOWs, Contracts, and Business Operations

• Own the business relationship with major partners, including commercial alignment and ongoing operational management

• Develop Statements of Work (SOWs) and drive contract development and review in partnership with Legal
  Oversee partner business operations such as contracts, payments, and commercial commitments, ensuring alignment to build execution and materials readiness

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have owned execution with CM/JDM/ODM partners and can drive materials readiness against build plans and ramps

• Are great at running partner cadences (readiness reviews, issue triage, QBRs) with clear owners and follow-through

• Can assess build schedules + receiving ladders, make a confident on-time call, and close gaps fast

• Lead escalations for shortages, late parts, and quality issues while coordinating Engineering, Quality, and Tech Ops end-to-end

• Can manage the commercial side: SOWs, contract coordination with Legal, and ongoing partner business operations

• Understand complex BOMs and fast hardware development cycles, ideally with final assembly

• Enjoy owning large partner relationships and operating as the single point of accountability for successful collaboration

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.

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