Associate General Counsel, Commercial (Silicon)

About the Role

We’re seeking an Associate General Counsel to lead commercial legal strategy and execution for OpenAI’s silicon initiatives and the semiconductor ecosystem that supports our AI infrastructure. This is a senior, highly cross-functional role for a lawyer who can advise business and technical leaders across the semiconductor development, manufacturing, and supply lifecycle.

The role will partner closely with silicon engineering, infrastructure, strategic sourcing, supply chain, manufacturing, finance, partnerships, IP, policy, regulatory, and trade compliance teams to structure and negotiate strategic arrangements with semiconductor ecosystem partners, technology providers, and critical suppliers. This person will help establish the commercial frameworks needed to protect OpenAI’s technology and support resilient, scalable commercial arrangements.

We’re looking for an experienced technology transactions lawyer with meaningful semiconductor industry experience who can translate highly technical and operational issues into practical commercial structures. The ideal candidate combines strong judgment, commercial creativity, and the ability to lead complex, high-value transactions in a fast-moving and complex global ecosystem.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3-days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

This role will:

• Lead commercial legal strategy and risk management for OpenAI’s silicon and related technology initiatives.

• Advise senior business, engineering, sourcing, and operational stakeholders on strategic relationships, commercial priorities, and complex transactions.

• Draft, negotiate, and advise on sophisticated development, manufacturing, supply, licensing, services, and strategic partnership agreements.

• Structure commercial arrangements that support long-term business and operational requirements.

• Advise on the commercial and operational issues that arise across the development, production, delivery, and lifecycle of strategic products and services.

• Partner with intellectual-property counsel and other specialists on ownership, licensing, confidentiality, and technology-related matters.

• Identify and manage material commercial, technical, regulatory, and supply-chain risks across strategic programs.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams and subject-matter specialists to address global compliance, operational, and business issues.

• Lead the resolution of significant commercial, supplier, and execution escalations and support practical, timely decision-making.

• Develop scalable legal playbooks, templates, processes, and governance frameworks that enable the business to move quickly while managing risk.

• Lead cross-functional legal work streams and coordinate effectively with specialist and outside counsel on complex and strategically important matters.

Skills/experience needed

• 12+ years of legal experience, including significant senior-level technology transactions and commercial contracting experience.

• Have a JD and license or qualification to practice in CA.

• A mix of in-house and top-tier law firm experience, with demonstrated ability to independently advise senior business, engineering, and operational leaders.

• Background in technology, infrastructure, manufacturing, supply chain, or other technically complex commercial matters.

• Demonstrated ability to structure and negotiate high-value development, supply, licensing, services, and strategic partnership agreements.

• Strong judgment in managing commercial, operational, IP, confidentiality, and regulatory risk.

• Familiarity with global supply chains, cross-border commercial arrangements, and related compliance considerations.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate complex issues into clear, practical, business-aligned guidance.

• Experience building scalable legal processes, templates, playbooks, and cross-functional workflows.

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.

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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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