Senior Technical Recruiter

This role supports Applied Foundations, partnering with engineering leaders to hire the managers and senior leaders who will help build and scale OpenAI's foundational engineering capabilities. You'll own leadership searches from initial role definition and talent mapping through assessment, offer negotiation, and close, serving as a trusted advisor to senior engineering leaders.

Responsibilities

Lead full-cycle searches for senior engineering leaders across Applied Foundations; Partner with hiring leaders to define role scope, leadership expectations, technical requirements, and the outcomes a successful hire will deliver; Develop talent maps and targeted search strategies, combining direct sourcing, referrals, market research, and long-term relationship building; Engage passive leadership candidates through thoughtful outreach and substantive conversations about their experience, motivations, and potential impact at OpenAI; Partner with hiring teams to assess leadership capabilities, including building teams, developing managers, setting technical direction, and leading through change; Advise senior stakeholders using market intelligence and search evidence, including when to revisit requirements, broaden a talent pool, or adjust the hiring approach; Own complex closing strategies, partnering with hiring leaders and compensation colleagues to navigate competing opportunities, equity considerations, counteroffers, and career decisions; Maintain a rigorous operating rhythm across searches, communicating progress, surfacing risks early, and delivering a consistent candidate experience; Strengthen leadership recruiting practices by sharing insights, improving assessment approaches, and helping teammates navigate challenging searches

Requirements

Substantial technical recruiting experience, with a demonstrated track record of personally owning and closing engineering leadership searches; Experience in executive search, in-house leadership recruiting, or a comparable environment requiring targeted research, senior stakeholder partnership, and discretion; Ability to evaluate leadership scope beyond titles and partner with hiring managers to distinguish technical expertise, people leadership, and organizational impact; Ability to build credibility with senior engineering leaders and offer clear recommendations, including constructive pushback when needed; Experience managing complex offers and understanding how compensation, role scope, organizational context, and personal motivations influence a leadership candidate's decision; Strong strategic judgment combined with strong sourcing and execution skills, taking ownership from search kickoff through close; Ability to learn unfamiliar technical domains quickly and adapt as priorities or role requirements evolve; Clear communication, thoughtful handling of sensitive information, and humility when receiving feedback

Nice to have

Experience in executive search or an in-house leadership recruiting function