PoP-WAN Program Manager

OpenAI•San Francisco, CA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a highly technical Program Manager to lead execution across CPU, Storage, PoP, and WAN infrastructure programs that directly unlock OpenAI’s next generation compute capacity. In this role, you will own complex cross-functional programs spanning compute cluster activation, storage deployment, PoP bring-up, and backbone expansion. You will coordinate hardware readiness, site readiness, network pathing, storage availability, vendor execution, and engineering dependencies required to turn contracted infrastructure into live training and inference capacity. This role requires strong technical fluency across hardware systems, network infrastructure, storage architecture, and deployment execution. You should be comfortable operating from rack-level implementation details through executive-level capacity planning discussions.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in technical program management, infrastructure deployment, network deployment, or data center operations
Strong experience delivering programs involving compute, storage, networking, or large-scale infrastructure systems
Working knowledge of servers, clusters, storage arrays, routers, switches, optics, and structured cabling
Experience owning cross-functional programs across engineering, operations, supply chain, and external vendors
Strong understanding of deployment lifecycles from planning and procurement through production handoff
Ability to reason across physical infrastructure execution and logical systems architecture dependencies
Proven ability to build integrated schedules and drive accountability across multiple stakeholders
Strong executive communication skills with experience managing critical escalations and leadership updates
Comfortable operating in fast-moving environments with aggressive timelines and evolving priorities
Highly analytical with strong problem-solving and execution instincts

Nice To Haves

Experience at a hyperscaler, cloud provider, AI infrastructure company, or global network operator
Experience deploying GPU clusters, HPC systems, or large training environments
Familiarity with distributed storage systems and high-performance data infrastructure
Experience with PoP deployments, WAN backbone expansion, or global network buildouts
Experience working across first-party, colo, and cloud environments
Experience building repeatable infrastructure deployment systems in high-growth environments

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end execution of CPU / GPU cluster activation programs across OpenAI’s global infrastructure footprint
Drive readiness to convert contracted compute capacity into schedulable production clusters
Own deployment programs for new PoPs, backbone nodes, WAN expansion, and interconnection initiatives
Build integrated schedules spanning procurement, logistics, installation, storage readiness, network turn-up, testing, and production handoff
Coordinate BOM readiness, server delivery, racks, optics, cabling, storage hardware, and vendor milestones
Partner with engineering teams to align compute, storage, and networking dependencies before cluster activation
Manage deployment of storage systems supporting training and inference workloads, including readiness, validation, performance checks, and scaling plans
Coordinate backbone capacity expansion, cross-connects, inter-region pathing, and cloud interconnect readiness with Azure and third-party providers
Lead physical deployment execution including rack-and-stack, hardware bring-up, L1 validation, and site acceptance criteria
Build repeatable deployment playbooks, dashboards, governance cadences, and operating mechanisms for scale
Identify risks early across supply chain, site readiness, technical constraints, and vendor execution, then drive mitigation plans
Communicate milestones, escalations, and capacity forecasts to senior leadership