Marketing Center of Excellence Ops Lead

Marketing Center of Excellence Ops Lead
San Francisco

About the Team
OpenAI didn’t begin as a traditional company. It began as an idea: that artificial intelligence could be developed in a way that benefits everyone. As a creative team, our role is to help make sure the work behind that idea is understood, as it leaves the lab and meets the world. This company works at the frontier of intelligence. Like any frontier, it’s unfinished, constantly shifting, and still being explored. Our job is to stay close to that uncertainty and help shape how this story gets told, in a way that feels grounded and human. We do this through campaigns, launches, films, brand systems, and work that doesn’t fit neatly into any of those categories yet. This team is for people who want to help shape something from the beginning.

About the Role
We’re looking for a Marketing Center of Excellence Ops Lead to help build and run a production and vendor management center of excellence for OpenAI’s Marketing organization. This role will support how Marketing identifies, engages with, manages, and invests in external partners, including creative agencies, production companies, media partners, and specialized vendors. You’ll work closely with Marketing working teams, Procurement, Legal, Finance, and external partners to create clear, efficient, and compliant ways of working. The right person will be comfortable building processes while also solving day‑to‑day needs. You should bring strong marketing production judgment, vendor management experience, and the ability to translate business needs into practical workflows, investment structures, and operating models.

In this role, you will:

Serve as the primary Marketing point of contact for vendor management and production operations needs across external partners.

Partner with Marketing leadership and working teams to define agency and vendor engagement models, scopes, KPIs, and ways of working.

Build foundational Business Affairs frameworks for global marketing activations, including guidance around talent usage rights, localization, channel usage, content edits/slicing, and region‑specific production considerations across global campaigns.

Work with Procurement and Commercial Legal to execute vendor agreements and develop Marketing‑specific workflows and templates that help teams move quickly while staying compliant.

Advise teams on production‑related vendor needs, including agency models, production company engagement, usage considerations, and operational risk.

Help teams define what success looks like for each vendor relationship and ensure partners are delivering against agreed expectations.

Bring financial and operational discipline to investments through actionable data so marketing leaders can double down on what drives the most growth without slowing teams down.

Maintain visibility into vendor status, contract terms, spend, renewals, key obligations, and open issues.

Create documentation, training, and communications that help Marketing teams navigate vendor processes and internal systems.

Support compliance with OpenAI standards, including privacy, data security, AI tool usage, procurement, finance, and contracting requirements.

Identify opportunities to use AI and automation to improve workflows, scale operations, and reduce friction.

Develop repeatable frameworks and templates for agency engagement, production intake, media authorization workflows, and global campaign execution to reduce operational friction and improve speed‑to‑launch for global teams.

You might thrive in this role if you have

15+ years of experience in marketing operations, procurement, sourcing, business affairs, commercial legal operations, or production operations.

Hands‑on experience working with creative agencies, production companies, media partners, and marketing vendors.

Strong understanding of marketing production workflows, agency models, scopes of work, rate cards, vendor onboarding, contracting, and payment processes.

Experience partnering with Procurement, Legal, Finance, Operations, and senior Marketing stakeholders.

Sound judgment in balancing speed, compliance, cost, risk, and creative ambition.

Strong documentation, process design, change management, and stakeholder communication skills.

Comfort operating in a fast‑moving, ambiguous environment where processes are still being built.

A solutions‑oriented mindset and the ability to manage multiple workstreams without losing sight of detail.

Nice to haves

Experience in the technology industry or with high‑growth companies.

Experience building new operational functions, centers of excellence, or vendor governance models.

Familiarity with AI‑related vendors, data, privacy, or workflow considerations.

Experience implementing tools, templates, dashboards, or training programs that scale operational excellence.

Compensation
$266K – $295K + Offers Equity

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.

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