Hardware Finance Manager

OpenAI•San Francisco, CA

6d•$234,000 - $260,000

About The Position

OpenAI’s acquisition of io marks our entry into consumer hardware and our ambition to define the next human–computer interface. Success in hardware requires strong financial stewardship across the full product cost stack—from early design and sourcing decisions through manufacturing, logistics, inventory, returns, and warranty. Hardware Finance works across Product, Supply Chain, Operations, Accounting, Systems/Data, and Finance to connect business decisions to product cost, inventory, cash, COGS, and margin. We are seeking a Hardware Finance Manager to own an assigned area of hardware COGS and inventory end to end. The initial assignment will depend on business priorities and the successful candidate’s expertise. It may include BOM and product cost, manufacturing variance analysis, inventory planning, logistics, returns and warranty, customer support, or another connected set of hardware-finance responsibilities. This is an individual-contributor role with broad scope. Prior hardware experience and deep, hands-on expertise in at least two relevant domains are required. The person will be expected to operate independently, build reusable processes and analytical workflows, and remain accountable for the analysis, judgment, and recommendations.

Requirements

8+ years of prior consumer hardware or complex physical-product finance experience.
Deep, hands-on expertise across multiple relevant domains, with demonstrated ownership in at least two.
Demonstrated leadership of ambiguous cross-functional initiatives with material impact.
Strong financial modeling, analytical, communication, and stakeholder-influence skills.
Evidence of building scalable processes, systems, frameworks, or automated workflows.
Ability to identify accounting, control, data, and source implications and engage the right owners.
Ability to lead through influence and improve others’ effectiveness.

Responsibilities

Own an assigned area of hardware COGS and inventory end to end.
Own forecasting, close, and business variance analysis for the assigned scope.
Provide hardware leadership with clear variance explanations, trend analysis, and forward-looking signals that connect business and supplier decisions to inventory, cash, COGS, and margin.
Partner with business teams and Finance Platforms to establish the financial data, systems, and dashboards needed to support analysis.
Ensure data integrity and governance through clear definitions, ownership, validation checks, controls, and review processes.
Improve forecasting, reporting, systems, and finance processes so they remain reliable and can scale as the organization grows.
Build strong cross-functional relationships and identify material risks, opportunities, and tradeoffs early.
Develop practical scenarios and recommendations that help leadership make informed decisions.
Partner across Supply Chain, Operations, Product, Accounting, Systems/Data, and Finance.
Drive alignment without formal authority and communicate complex financial issues clearly to senior stakeholders.
Develop expertise in an adjacent COGS or inventory domain as business priorities evolve.