Senior Manager, Procurement Operations

OpenAI•San Francisco, CA

6d•$216,000 - $240,000•Hybrid

About The Position

OpenAI is building a future for Procurement that leverages AI-enabled systems, clean data, and scalable processes to manage increasing complexity and speed. The Procurement Operations team is responsible for the operational flow of purchasing across OpenAI, ensuring that business needs are met with policy-aligned and executable procurement activities. This involves partnering with various departments including Procurement, Finance, Legal, Security, Accounting, Accounts Payable, Systems, and business teams to enhance the processes for requests, suppliers, purchase orders, approvals, data, documentation, and downstream handoffs. As OpenAI scales, the goal is to build procurement operations that can handle greater complexity without introducing unnecessary friction, by thoughtfully using AI, simplifying processes, strengthening operating discipline, and continuously improving the stakeholder experience. This role is hands-on, requiring active participation in reviewing requests, guiding PO updates, and resolving operational issues. The Senior Manager, Procurement Operations will use this direct experience to identify areas for improvement and drive changes. The focus will be on enhancing procurement outcomes across intake, purchase requests, PO quality, supplier coordination, approval workflows, documentation, service delivery, and financial handoffs. Responsibilities include overseeing and improving operating effectiveness, utilizing data, AI-enabled tools, automation, and sound judgment to reduce friction while enhancing compliance, accountability, and speed.

Requirements

7+ years of procurement operations, P2P, sourcing operations, finance operations, supply chain operations, business operations, or related experience in a fast-moving environment.
High AI fluency, with demonstrated ability to use AI tools to improve how work gets done, reduce manual effort, strengthen analysis, improve documentation, and create scalable operating leverage.
Experience leading cross-functional operational programs with measurable improvements in service quality, operating effectiveness, cycle time, compliance, or stakeholder experience.
Advanced procurement operations judgment and the ability to independently resolve complex tasks while knowing when to seek guidance on higher-risk issues.
Strong understanding of how procurement decisions affect downstream financial outcomes, supplier experience, accounting accuracy, invoice readiness, commitment visibility, and business velocity.
Strong systems orientation, with experience using procurement, ERP, intake, ticketing, supplier, or workflow tools such as Zip, Oracle, Coupa, SAP, NetSuite, Jira, ServiceNow, or similar platforms.
High attention to detail and a strong sense of ownership for documentation quality, fiscal controls, audit readiness, and operating discipline.
Ability to identify patterns in operational issues and translate them into better processes, standards, workflows, and system improvements.
Practical judgment around AI adoption: knowing where AI can accelerate work, where human review matters, and how to build trust in new ways of working.
Comfort working across Procurement, Finance, Legal, Security, Accounting, Accounts Payable, Systems, and business stakeholders.
Clear communication skills and the ability to explain tradeoffs between speed, control, policy, and risk in a practical, enablement-focused way.
Ability to operate in ambiguity, bring structure to evolving processes, and raise the bar as the business scales.

Nice To Haves

Are energized by challenging current ways of working and building better operating models without creating unnecessary process.
Are already using AI tools to improve quality, speed, analysis, documentation, or decision support.
Care about creating clean, scalable foundations that allow teams to move faster with more confidence.
Enjoy turning operational complexity into clear standards, better workflows, stronger operating discipline, and smarter systems.
Are comfortable being hands-on while also improving the system, process, and operating model around the work.
Can balance a high bar for accuracy, risk management, and control with a practical, enablement-focused approach to helping the business move quickly.
Operate with ownership, humility, and a builder mindset. You improve the system, strengthen operating discipline, and make the work easier for others to execute well.

Responsibilities

Lead cross-functional procurement operations programs that support business priorities and functional strategy.
Own end-to-end execution of complex procurement operations initiatives across intake, request review, request updates, PO creation, PO maintenance, supplier coordination, approvals, documentation, and downstream handoffs.
Review requests in procurement systems, make or guide request and PO updates, resolve operational issues, and use those patterns to improve how the lifecycle works.
Design scalable processes, metrics, operating cadences, control checkpoints, and AI-enabled workflows that reduce friction while improving compliance, accountability, and operating effectiveness.
Identify recurring operational issues, separate symptoms from root causes, and build systems, playbooks, or process improvements that prevent repeat problems.
Partner with business stakeholders to clarify requirements, resolve blockers, and keep procurement activity moving with the right level of control.
Balance urgent business needs with policy requirements, approval controls, auditability, financial accuracy, and responsible risk management.
Improve service delivery and operating leverage in measurable ways, including cycle time, PO quality, exception rates, documentation completeness, invoice readiness, commitment visibility, and close readiness.
Work closely with Procurement, Finance, Legal, Security, Accounting, AP, and Systems teams to improve handoffs, governance, reporting, and stakeholder experience.
Build practical documentation, SOPs, playbooks, dashboards, templates, self-service guidance, and intake logic that make procurement easier to navigate.
Influence stakeholders without formal authority, driving alignment through clear communication, sound judgment, and strong relationships.
Mentor peers and junior teammates by raising execution quality, sharing context, and modeling thoughtful decision-making in ambiguous situations.