Hardware Strategic Sourcing Manager, Optics

About the Team

OpenAI’s Hardware organization develops silicon and system-level solutions designed for the unique demands of advanced AI workloads. The team builds next-generation AI-native silicon and systems while working closely with software, research, and manufacturing partners to co-design hardware tightly integrated with AI models. In addition to delivering systems for OpenAI’s supercomputing infrastructure, the team develops the tools, methodologies, and strategic partnerships needed to accelerate hardware innovation.

About the Role

We’re seeking an experienced Hardware Strategic Sourcing Manager to own sourcing strategy and supplier partnerships for fiber and optical interconnect components across OpenAI’s next-generation AI infrastructure.

Reporting to the Head of Partnerships & Strategic Sourcing, you will lead sourcing across fiber cable assemblies, internal optical harnesses, fiber shuffles, optical backplane assemblies, connectorized and standalone passive optical assemblies, fiber-array units (FAUs), fiber-to-chip and coupling interfaces, detachable connectors, optical routing, and assigned optical packaging, assembly, and test services.

You will work closely with electrical engineering, optical engineering, systems engineering, mechanical and packaging engineering, quality, rack integration, data-center deployment,manufacturing, supply chain, finance, legal, and program management teams to translate demanding bandwidth, signal integrity, reliability, and scale requirements into resilient supplier partnerships and scalable commercial strategies.

Your work will directly support the performance, reliability, manufacturability, and scale of the high-speed optical connectivity required for OpenAI’s next-generation AI systems.

In this role, you will:

• Develop and execute a comprehensive sourcing strategy for fiber and optical interconnect components supporting high-bandwidth AI systems and infrastructure.

• Own sourcing across optical fiber cable assemblies, internal optical harnesses, fiber shuffles, optical backplane assemblies, standalone passive optical assemblies, FAUs, fiber-to-chip interfaces, detachable connectors, and optical routingDevelop a deep understanding of the optical supply chain, including critical raw materials, fiber and cable manufacturing, connector ecosystems, component manufacturing, assembly and test capacity, and key sub-tier dependencies.

• Identify, evaluate, qualify, and manage suppliers across the fiber and optical interconnect ecosystem, including fiber manufacturers, cable and assembly suppliers, connector manufacturers, optical component suppliers, fiber suppliers, connector/ferrule suppliers, FAU suppliers,manufacturing partners.

• Lead RFIs, RFPs, and RFQs; establish evaluation criteria; coordinate technical and commercial assessments; and recommend sourcing decisions aligned with performance, cost, supply security, quality, capacity, and scalability requirements.

• Partner with engineering teams to evaluate supplier capabilities across optical performance, insertion loss, return loss, signal integrity, bandwidth, power consumption, reliability, thermal performance, mechanical robustness, manufacturability, and production readiness.

• Partner with engineering to understand technology roadmaps and translate next-generation system requirements into sourcing strategies, supplier development plans, and long-term capacity requirements.

• Negotiate supplier agreements covering pricing, engineering support, nonrecurring engineering, tooling, manufacturing and test capacity, lead times, quality requirements, intellectual property, warranties, service levels, and long-term supply commitments.

• Develop and maintain detailed cost models and pricing frameworks covering fiber, connectors, cable and assembly content, optical and electronic components, manufacturing, testing, yield, logistics, supplier margins, and total cost of ownership.

• Drive competitive cost structures through should-cost analysis, open-book pricing, benchmarking, volume agreements, value engineering, supplier competition, and multiyear cost-reduction roadmaps.

• Collaborate with engineering and manufacturing teams to support supplier qualification, design reviews, component selection, validation, pilot builds, system bring-up, production readiness, and ramp to volume.

• Establish sourcing and capacity strategies that address long lead times, constrained manufacturing capacity, sub-tier dependencies, supplier concentration, geographic and geopolitical exposure, technology transitions, and component lifecycle risks.

• Develop multi-source and supply-continuity strategies for critical optical components, identifying where supplier concentration or specialized manufacturing capabilities create risk to development or production ramps.

• Work with suppliers to secure capacity ahead of demand, including visibility into raw materials, manufacturing equipment, assembly capacity, test capacity, yield, and sub-tier constraints that could limit system production.

• Build and manage strategic supplier relationships through executive engagement, business reviews, performance scorecards, issue escalation, corrective action plans, and alignment on future fiber and optical-interconnect technology roadmaps.

• Partner with finance, legal, security, quality, and operations teams to ensure sourcing decisions meet technical, commercial, compliance, and risk-management requirements.

• Develop repeatable processes and reporting for category strategy, supplier performance, pricing, capacity planning, component availability, and supply risk, including relevant ERP, MRP, and PLM workflows.

You might thrive in this role if you have:

• Ten or more years of experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, supplier management, or supply-chain leadership within optical communications, fiber optics, high-speed interconnects, semiconductors, networking hardware, data-center infrastructure, or advanced hardware manufacturing.

• Demonstrated experience sourcing fiber-optic components, optical cable assemblies, sourcing fiber connectivity, passive optical assemblies, optical packaging/assembly services, or similar high-volume hardware-integration categories.Strong familiarity with the fiber and optical interconnect supply chain, including cable assemblies, harnesses, fiber shuffles, backplanes, FAUs, fiber-to-chip interfaces,optical packaging services.electronics, assembly, test, and associated manufacturing processes.

• Experience evaluating optical and interconnect suppliers against technical requirements such as bandwidth, insertion loss, signal integrity, reliability, thermal performance, power, quality, manufacturability, and production readiness.

• Understanding of the technical and supply-chain challenges associated with scaling high-speed optical connectivity in AI, hyperscale data-center, or high-performance computing environments.

• A proven track record of leading competitive sourcing processes, negotiating complex commercial agreements, and building long-term supplier partnerships.

• Expertise in should-cost modeling, open-book pricing, total cost of ownership, supplier cost structures, and commercial optimization for hardware components and assemblies.

• Experience securing supplier capacity and managing supply constraints across complex, multi-tier global supply chains.

• Experience supporting supplier qualification, product development, manufacturing readiness, program bring-up, production ramp, and ongoing supplier performance management.

• The technical credibility to collaborate effectively with optical, electrical, signal-integrity, systems, manufacturing, and reliability engineers and translate engineering requirements into actionable sourcing strategies.

• Strong analytical judgment and the ability to balance cost, performance, supply continuity, quality, capacity, and delivery across a complex supplier ecosystem.

• Experience working with global suppliers and identifying opportunities to improve supply resilience, production capacity, and long-term technology alignment.

• Comfort operating in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment and building scalable sourcing processes where established playbooks do not yet exist.

• A commitment to OpenAI’s mission of ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. 

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.

Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

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