Program Director, Catalytic Deployment

About OpenAI Foundation: AI is already changing how people work, learn, and access care. It has the potential to unlock extraordinary benefits—faster medical breakthroughs, accelerated scientific discovery, more personalized services in healthcare and education, new tools for creativity and invention, higher productivity and economic growth, improved public services like transportation systems, and more. Building powerful systems to benefit humanity is only part of the work. Advanced AI models will also present new challenges, and we need to identify these and develop solutions. The Foundation aims to enable AI to solve humanity’s hardest problems, transform capabilities, and deliver real benefits—while preparing society for AI advances. Over the next year, the Foundation expects to invest at least $1 billion across life sciences, curing diseases, jobs and economic impact, AI resilience, and community programs.

About Civil Society And Philanthropy

The Civil Society and Philanthropy team is a new OpenAI Foundation initiative dedicated to applying advanced AI to global challenges. We partner with nonprofit and civil society organizations and governments worldwide, providing resources to ensure AI meaningfully supports their work. Combining philanthropic investment, technical expertise, and convening power, we work alongside trusted partners delivering essential services across geographies and issue areas. Together, we identify opportunities where AI can strengthen their work, expand reach, and tangibly benefit communities.

Focus Areas

• Put AI to work in essential services where it can improve access and outcomes.
• Give civil society organizations the tools, expertise, and support to adopt AI responsibly.
• Build shared infrastructure so successful tools and lessons benefit the entire social sector.

We believe the most meaningful AI applications will be shaped by teachers, clinicians, legal advocates, public servants, researchers, governments, and community organizations—not technology companies alone.

About The Role

The Program Director is a leadership role on the Catalytic Deployments team, combining philanthropic investment, strategy, institution-building, and operations. Catalytic Deployments is a small, flat, and fast-moving team designed to make large, transformative investments across civil society. Program Directors own the strategy and execution of major portfolio areas, working closely with the Head of Catalytic Deployments to set team priorities. They lead the development of large philanthropic investments globally, from grants to multi-year initiatives and potentially new institutions. This role requires deep experience in at least one social sector domain (e.g., public health, education, poverty alleviation, economic mobility), strong judgment, high ownership, and meaningful autonomy.

In the first year, Program Directors will develop an investment thesis in priority domains, build a pipeline of opportunities, launch significant partnerships or investments, and help establish the team’s operating model. This role reports to the Head of Catalytic Deployments and is based in San Francisco, CA, with a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week. Some travel within the U.S. and internationally will be required.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the strategy, prioritization, and approach of Catalytic Deployments; over time, own specific areas within the portfolio.
• Source, evaluate, and recommend grants and other funding opportunities.
• Conduct diligence on organizations, projects, and leaders, assessing execution capability and potential for scaling AI-enabled approaches.
• Design and manage a growing portfolio of grants, ensuring strong judgment, prioritization, and follow-through.
• As the organization grows, manage other members of the Catalytic Deployments team.
• Engage deeply with the external ecosystem, including researchers, nonprofits, academic centers, public-interest organizations, data platforms, funders, and grantees.
• Identify gaps in the current ecosystem and develop ideas for how the Foundation can support new efforts, partnerships, or field-building initiatives.
• Develop and launch new initiatives from zero-to-one, including shaping concepts, convening stakeholders, and standing up efforts.
• Represent the Foundation in external conversations to build credibility, source opportunities, and strengthen the field.
• Write clear internal recommendations and strategy memos to support decision-making.
• Use frontier AI to support your work across these activities.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of leadership experience in nonprofits, philanthropy, or government.
• Credible experience building and scaling large social-sector initiatives.
• Experience in sourcing, assessing, and structuring grants.
• Subject matter expertise in at least one social sector domain (e.g., public health, education, poverty alleviation, economic mobility).
• Ability to reason clearly about AI capabilities, implementation constraints, organizational readiness, and risks of deploying AI in civil society contexts.
• Strongly preferred: Direct experience deploying or scaling AI-enabled approaches in a social-sector domain. Demonstrated original thinking about AI-for-good.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate technical or organizational opportunities and make strong recommendations.
• Comfort operating in a fast-moving environment with evolving priorities.
• Experience engaging credibly with external experts, institutions, and senior stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including synthesizing complex information clearly and persuasively.
• Strong strategic judgment combined with a bias toward execution.
• High degree of ownership, discretion, and accountability.
• Deep motivation to accelerate AI’s impact in civil society and contribute to the Foundation’s mission.

Pay

The annual base salary range for this role is $270,000 to $330,000 USD. Actual base salary will be determined based on job-related factors, including the candidate’s relevant experience, skills, expertise, the scope of the role, and work location. This range does not include benefits or other eligible compensation.