Manager, Forward Deployed Engineer - Tokyo

OpenAI’s Forward Deployed Engineering team partners with customers to turn research breakthroughs into production systems. As a foundational FDE manager, you’ll lead FDE through high-stakes, ambiguous customer deployments and own technical and business value outcomes end to end. You’ll grow a team that can operate under pressure and help OpenAI learn from the field.

Responsibilities

Lead and grow a team of FDE delivering production systems with frontier models; Own end-to-end delivery outcomes through clarity, speed, tight coordination, and technical quality; Codify what works into tools, playbooks, and roadmap inputs that create leverage for both OpenAI and our wider developer community; Notice early indicators and raise them with urgency, whether in product behavior, customer environments, or delivery practices; Use judgement to distinguish what requires action and what does not; Set a high bar for FDE performance and support each person’s growth through direct, actionable feedback; Define how we staff and support field teams that can scale without added complexity

Requirements

Bilingual—fluent in both Japanese and English (spoken and written); Resume must be submitted in English; 8+ years of engineering or technical delivery experience; 2+ years managing high-performing FDE or customer-facing engineers; Led high-pressure technical projects from prototype to production; Write and review production-grade code across frontend and backend; Simplify complex work and make fast, sound decisions under pressure; Elevate team performance through clarity, not process; Operate with urgency in ambiguous or evolving environments; Translate field experience into sharp, actionable feedback for Product and Research; Build deep trust with your team by modeling calm, focus, and judgment when it matters most

Benefits

Relocation assistance