OpenAI · 6 hours ago
Strategic Finance, Hardware R&D Finance Manager
San Francisco, CA
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
8+ years expOpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. The Hardware R&D Finance Manager will own the financial strategy, investment modeling, and long-range planning for hardware R&D programs, partnering with Hardware Engineering and Product teams to ensure decisions are grounded in rigorous financial analysis.
Agentic AIArtificial Intelligence (AI)Foundational AIGenerative AIMachine LearningNatural Language ProcessingSaaS
Responsibilities
Own end-to-end hardware R&D financial models across the development lifecycle, from early concept and prototyping through development, validation, and transition to production
Serve as a key finance partner to Hardware Engineering and Product leadership, supporting decisions on roadmap sequencing, technical scope, resourcing levels, and investment pacing through clear financial frameworks and scenario analysis
Translate technical roadmaps into financially grounded R&D execution plans, integrating assumptions around headcount ramps, staffing mix, tooling, lab and test infrastructure, and development timelines
Drive capital discipline and investment efficiency, proactively identifying scope changes, resourcing inefficiencies, and investment risks before spend becomes structurally locked in
Own R&D forecasting, budgeting, and variance analysis, providing clear visibility into spend vs. plan, key drivers of change, and implications for broader hardware investment priorities
Frame program-level tradeoffs and decision scenarios for leadership, clearly quantifying implications across cost, schedule, technical risk, and long-term platform value
Build and maintain standardized R&D investment dashboards and program views to provide consistent, executive-ready visibility into burn rates, milestone progress, and capital allocation
Support portfolio-level decision-making by comparing investment profiles across hardware programs and generations, informing prioritization, sequencing, and long-term R&D strategy
Contribute to the development and scaling of the hardware R&D finance foundation, improving modeling rigor, governance, and decision support as the hardware portfolio grows
Qualification
Required
8+ years of progressive finance experience with significant exposure to hardware, manufacturing, or complex supply chain businesses
A passion for helping build world-class finance teams and driving business and financial outcomes, as measured on margin improvement, working capital efficiency, forecast accuracy, and execution of cost-reduction initiatives
A strong ability to critically evaluate opportunities and risks
Expert modeling skills with best-in-class attention to detail and unwavering commitment to accuracy
Exemplary ability to distill complex financial information into actionable insights
Excellent communication skills and 'story telling' ability when presenting data insights
Strong enthusiasm for building the human-computer interface for the AI era
Benefits
Relocation assistance
Company
OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company that develops advanced AI models, including ChatGPT. It is a sub-organization of OpenAI Foundation.
201-500 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageTotal Funding
$79BKey Investors
The Walt Disney CompanySoftBankThrive Capital
2025-12-11Corporate Round· $1B
2025-10-02Secondary Market· $6.6B
2025-03-31Series Unknown· $40B
Leadership Team
Fidji Simo
CEO, Applications
Sam Altman
CEO & Co-Founder
Recent News
2026-01-25
MIT Technology Review
2026-01-25
MIT Technology Review
2026-01-25
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