Operations Program Manager - Robotics Data Acquisition

About Team

Our 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 Role

We are looking for an Operations Program Manager - Robotics Data Acquisition to own the day-to-day operating rhythm in our data collection facilities. You will work closely with operators, technicians, program managers, and engineers to keep rigs ready, campaigns moving, issues resolved, and performance improving.

This is a hands-on operations role that requires you to be comfortable spending time on the floor, working through ambiguity, and using data to make the operation more reliable and efficient.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA and requires in-person presence 5 days a week.

In this role you will:

• Coordinate daily operations readiness across workstations, operators, materials.

• Track core operating metrics including utilization, cycle time, throughput, downtime, operator productivity, and data quality.

• Identify bottlenecks through workflow analysis, time studies, and capacity modeling, then drive practical fixes.

• Execute the rollout of new hardware, sensors, tools, and process changes with Engineering, Operations, Facilities, Supply Chain, and Safety.

• Identify equipment readiness issues and coordinate with technical support to keep workstations, and test equipment calibrated, configured, maintained, and ready for rollouts and evaluations.

• Lead root cause analysis for recurring operational issues and follow through on corrective actions.

• Provide operation input to create and maintain SOPs, work instructions, training materials, and process controls.

• Identify and flag resource constraints and manage issue escalation and resolution.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have a bachelor's degree in Industrial, Mechanical, Manufacturing, or a related technical field.

• Bring 3-5 years of hands-on experience in manufacturing, industrial / process engineering, operations, robotics, or production environments.

• Have experience using Lean, Six Sigma, time studies, or similar methods to improve processes.

• Understand operating KPIs such as cycle time, takt time, throughput, utilization, yield, OEE, and uptime.

• Can manage multiple work-streams, coordinate across floor operators and technicians to drive execution with limited supervision.

• Have exposure to robotics data acquisition, autonomous vehicle systems, camera / audio systems, automation, or robotics systems.

What success looks like:

• Daily lab / floor operations run with fewer surprises, clearer priorities, and better readiness.

• Throughput improves because bottlenecks are measured, prioritized, and fixed.

• Fast execution in ambiguous environments with frequently changing priorities.

• New hardware and process changes are rolled out with clear owners and minimal disruption.

• Operators have the tools, training, materials, and ergonomics needed to work safely and consistently.

• Staffing, equipment, and facility decisions are supported by reliable operational data.

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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