Research Program Manager, Frontier Assurance

The Frontier Assurance team brings independent scrutiny into OpenAI's safety decisions and helps the public understand and assess our safety work. We lead third-party assessments and safeguard testing for OpenAI's flagship launches, pilot new assurance mechanisms such as embedded auditing, run our misalignment disclosure process, and incorporate independent expert input as evidence for critical safety decisions. As a Research Program Manager on the Frontier Assurance team, you will build programs that bring independent expertise into frontier AI safety decisions and make the evidence behind those decisions understandable to the public. You will lead external research partnerships and third-party assessments, coordinate public safety documentation, and develop new approaches to independent scrutiny and transparency. This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

Responsibilities

Design and run third-party assessment programs for frontier models and safeguards, including independent evaluations, adversarial testing, and embedded auditing; Build and manage strategic research partnerships with third-party evaluators, academic labs, and other independent experts; Bring external findings to safety decision-makers and translate them into actionable recommendations for safeguards, deployment, product, and policy; Track follow-up actions and ensure partners understand how their input was considered; Partner with research, product, policy, and communications teams to explain the evidence behind OpenAI's safety approach; Translate complex technical results into accurate, accessible communication for expert and public audiences; Lead public transparency programs, including system cards, summaries of third-party assessments, and updates on significant findings; Develop approaches to sharing methods, results, and limitations while protecting privacy, security, and sensitive information; Create channels for researchers and civil society to ask questions, provide feedback, and inform future assessments and transparency efforts; Own program goals, milestones, dependencies, and risks across assessment and transparency work

Requirements

Deep experience in research partnerships and program management with technical and research teams; Understanding of AI evaluations and measurement, and ability to engage with technical teams on evaluation design and results; Ability to interpret evaluation findings and communicate what they do and do not establish, including methodological limitations, uncertainty, and disagreement; Experience building research partnerships and managing external stakeholders, especially academic researchers and independent experts; Ability to synthesize technical and social science research into clear executive summaries and accessible explanations for public audiences; Experience delivering technical publications or public reports across multiple contributors, and exercising judgment about what to share, with whom, and when; Experience working cross-functionally across product, research, and engineering teams and coordinating complex programs with policy and communications partners; Understanding of and interest in frontier AI safety and policy; Understanding of AI safety research, alignment, and evaluations; Strong communication skills

Benefits

Relocation assistance for new employees