Research Communications Manager, Safety

Research Communications Manager, Safety
Location: San Francisco, CA – hybrid (three days per week in office).

About the Role
OpenAI is seeking an experienced communications professional to join our Platform & Research Communications team. This role works closely with the Research Communications Lead and partners deeply with safety researchers, alignment researchers, and cross‑functional teams to shape how OpenAI’s safety research is understood by researchers, journalists, policymakers, and the broader public.

Responsibilities include developing and executing external communications strategies around OpenAI’s safety research—from alignment and evaluations to broader work that helps advance the safe development and deployment of increasingly capable AI systems. The ideal candidate brings strong science or technical fluency, excellent storytelling instincts, and experience helping researchers communicate complex work with clarity, accuracy, and nuance.

In this role, you will:
Shape Safety Research Narratives

Develop clear, credible external narratives around OpenAI’s safety research, including alignment, evaluations, preparedness, interpretability, and other areas connected to the safe development of frontier AI.

Translate complex technical work into accessible stories without oversimplifying, overstating impact, or creating unnecessary alarm.

Help define and reinforce OpenAI’s POV on key safety research topics and how they connect to OpenAI’s broader research roadmap and mission.

Partner Deeply with Researchers

Work directly with safety and alignment researchers to understand their work, identify the most important ideas, and help position those ideas publicly.

Serve as a communications thought partner to researchers—helping them anticipate questions, clarify implications, and communicate with precision.

Build communications plans that help researchers share their work through the right channels, at the right level of depth, and with the right context.

Lead Proactive Storytelling & Content Strategy

Develop proactive storytelling opportunities across blogs, explainers, video, podcasts, events, and other channels beyond traditional media.

Help identify creative ways to elevate safety research and make the work more legible to expert and non‑expert audiences.

Look across the safety research portfolio to identify broader themes, narrative opportunities, and moments where OpenAI can contribute meaningfully to public understanding.

Support Research Launches & Publications

Partner with research teams to plan communications for major papers, evaluations, model‑related research, safety initiatives, and other technical publications.

Collaborate with editorial, design, social, policy, and research teams on blogs, explainers, visuals, briefing materials, and supporting content.

Ensure launches are grounded in evidence, appropriately scoped, and aligned with OpenAI’s safety, policy, and communications priorities.

Lead Research‑Focused Media Engagement

Build and maintain trusted relationships with science, technology, AI, and business journalists who cover frontier AI and safety research.

Manage proactive and reactive media engagement related to safety research announcements, papers, collaborations, and emerging narratives.

Prepare researchers and executives for interviews, briefings, events, and public appearances.

Cross‑Functional Partnership

Work closely with Product, Policy, Safety, Legal, Marketing, and other Communications teams to align safety research communications with broader company goals.

Partner with teams managing crisis and reactive safety communications to ensure clear coordination, while maintaining focus on proactive research storytelling.

Help build a stronger communications muscle around safety research across the organization.

Risk Anticipation & Mitigation

Identify potential reputational, scientific, policy, or misinterpretation risks early.

Develop mitigation strategies, Q&A, messaging guidance, and briefing materials for sensitive or high‑profile safety research topics.

Help ensure OpenAI communicates responsibly about frontier capabilities, limitations, uncertainty, and the role of ongoing safety research.

Qualifications
7+ years of experience in research, science, technology, or safety‑related communications.

Demonstrated experience working directly with scientists, engineers, researchers, or technical leaders.

Strong understanding of AI, machine learning, safety research, alignment, or adjacent technical domains.

Exceptional writing and editing skills, with the ability to adapt tone for expert and general audiences.

Strong judgment handling complex, ambiguous, or high‑stakes narratives.

Experience developing proactive storytelling strategies across multiple channels, including blogs, media, video, podcasts, events, or long‑form content.

Experience managing multiple workstreams in a fast‑paced environment with shifting priorities.

Strong project management and cross‑functional collaboration skills.

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.

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement
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.

Additional Information
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.

Compensation
$185 K – $205 K + Equity

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