Real Estate and Workplace, Strategy and Operations Manager

About this role

About The Team
The Real Estate & Workplace (REW) team is responsible for shaping how OpenAI’s physical environments enable innovation, collaboration, and growth. We oversee global real estate strategy, workplace operations, design & construction, and employee experience across a rapidly expanding footprint.


As OpenAI scales globally, REW plays a critical role in creating spaces that enable our team members to do the best work of their lives.


About The Role
The Strategy & Operations Manager is responsible for ensuring the REW organization operates cohesively as we scale. This role translates strategy into sequencing, governance, alignment, and change management across multiple functions including People, Finance, IT, Security, and Legal.


This is not a traditional project management role. It is a system-level integrator role that shapes how the organization moves.


This is an in office role (5 days a week) based in San Francisco, CA. Relocation is available.


In This Role You Will

• Translate REW strategy into clear priorities, sequencing, and execution plans across a fast-scaling org.
• Design and run operating cadences and governance forums that drive clarity, speed, and accountability (without adding bureaucracy).
• Lead cross-functional alignment across REW and key partners (People, Finance, IT, Security, Legal), surfacing tradeoffs and driving timely decisions.
• Drive change management for major workplace and real estate initiatives, including comms, rollout planning, and adoption follow-through.
• Identify recurring friction points (process, ownership, dependencies) and implement lightweight systems to remove blockers and improve coordination.
• Support enterprise-scale initiatives, including new business needs and M&A integration, ensuring REW operating rhythms scale with growth.
• Build simple, repeatable frameworks (planning, decision-making, operating metrics) that help the organization move predictably at speed.

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