Strategic Operations Lead, Marketing

About the Team

OpenAI’s Marketing team helps translate complex technology, research, and product moments into work that can be understood by audiences around the world. The team brings together creative direction, design, writing, production, strategy, marketing, and regional partners to deliver campaigns, launches, films, events, brand systems, social, digital, OOH, experiential, and emerging formats across global markets.

This role sits close to creative, production, Brand Marketing, Resource Management, agencies, and cross-functional partners. It is designed for someone who can turn approved strategic direction into a clear program path and keep that path moving—from goals and operating model through creative development, production, launch readiness, and closeout.

The role will work closely with Resource Managers to anticipate resource needs, maintain accurate allocations, and identify gaps early enough to address them before they become delivery risks.

About the Role

As a Strategic Operations Lead, Marketing, you will help design and run the leadership operating model for OpenAI's Marketing organization. This is a senior role for someone who has built 0-1 operating systems in high-growth marketing environments and can move fluidly between strategy, planning, executive communication, and hands-on execution.

We're looking for someone who can bring structure to ambiguity without adding unnecessary process: a strategic chief of staff who can stand up planning cycles, QBRs, headcount, prioritization, resourcing asks, investment governance rhythms, leadership cadences, while partnering with strategy & operations managers on budget forecasting, spend execution, variance analysis, and reporting.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model with in-office collaboration Monday through Wednesday and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will

• Build and run the core Marketing planning system, including annual and half-year planning, QBRs, roadmap inputs, operating reviews, and executive-ready decision forums.

• Own the leadership decision process for Marketing's headcount, PID, and resourcing asks, partnering with Finance, Recruiting, People, finance-ops owners, and functional leaders to make asks explicit, track decisions, and surface tradeoffs.

• Set the leadership-level budget governance rhythm and use the full Marketing budget tracker as a decision tool, partnering with the finance-ops owner on forecasting, spend execution, variance analysis, and reporting.

• Design and operate the Marketing leadership operating system, including staff agendas, follow-through, internal communications, decision logs, and cross-functional alignment mechanisms.

• Lead strategic projects that help the Marketing organization scale from 0-1, including operating-model design, role clarity, launch operations, planning architecture, and executive communication.

• Create crisp written narratives, recommendations, and operating materials that help senior leaders make decisions quickly and stay aligned across fast-moving workstreams.

You might thrive in this role if you

• Have 14+ years of relevant experience across strategy and operations, business operations, Chief of Staff, marketing operations, or related leadership roles in a 0-1 or high-growth environments.

• Bring top-tier management consulting experience or equivalent strategic operating experience, with strong structured problem solving and executive communication skills.

• Have deep experience with planning cycles, QBRs, budget governance, headcount planning, operating cadences, agency/RFP workflows, and cross-functional program leadership, with clear judgment about when to own a system versus partner with specialist operators.

• Can translate ambiguous priorities into clear plans, owners, decisions, and follow-through without creating unnecessary process.

• Are comfortable working with senior leaders, Finance, Recru