Applied Data Science & Machine Learning Leader - Global Forecasting

OpenAI • San Francisco, CA

71d

About The Position

The Strategic Finance team at OpenAI plays a critical role in shaping the company’s long-term trajectory. We partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Go-to-Market teams to inform high-stakes decisions through rigorous data science and economic modeling. As part of our expanding Data Science function, we’re building a best-in-class forecasting capability to drive real-time, data-driven decision-making across user growth, revenue, compute infrastructure, and more. We are developing a scalable forecasting platform to help us understand and anticipate business dynamics in an increasingly complex, usage-based world. Our models are foundational to planning, pricing, operational efficiency, and growth strategy — supporting key investment decisions and unlocking OpenAI’s full potential.

Requirements

• Extensive experience building production-ready models for time series applications.
• Proven track record of building adjustable and explainable forecast models for multiple planning cycles.
• 10+ years of applied data science & engineering experience, with deep hands-on expertise in forecasting and predictive modeling.
• Demonstrated experience with model monitoring, debugging, and long-term maintenance in production environments.
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills — able to simplify complexity and influence executive stakeholders.
• Team leadership experience with a track record of building high-performing, engaged teams.
• An advanced degree (MS or PhD) in a quantitative field (e.g., Statistics, Computer Science, Economics, Operations Research).
• A self-directed, intellectually curious mindset and comfort leading ambiguous projects from 0→1.
• The ability to thrive in a dynamic environment — flexible, resourceful, and willing to do what it takes to succeed.

Nice To Haves

• Experience building or scaling forecasting platforms in a high-growth company.
• A passion for AI and a strong perspective on how machine learning should inform strategic decisions in fast-moving environments.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage a world-class team of applied data scientists and ML engineers to develop forecasting platforms at scale.
• Design and own the roadmap for the forecasting platform in partnership with cross-functional stakeholders.
• Collaborate closely with Strategic Finance teams to ensure forecasts are well integrated into planning processes, and executive decision-making.
• Work closely with cross-functional partners to help them adopt scientific, automated forecasting solutions.
• Own the end-to-end modeling lifecycle, including scoping, feature engineering, model development and prototyping, experimentation, deployment, monitoring, and explainability.
• Research and evaluate emerging tools and techniques in the forecasting space.
• Translate technical outputs into business-aligned recommendations and decision frameworks.

Benefits

• Relocation assistance to new employees.
• Hybrid work model of three days in the office per week.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Master's degree
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees