SMS Prototype Handling Specialist
About the Team
Security is at the foundation of OpenAI’s mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. Our Security team protects OpenAI’s technology, people, and products. We are technical in what we build but operational in how we do our work, and we are committed to supporting all products and research at OpenAI.
As part of this, our Secure Manufacturing & Stealth (SMS) team is a dedicated function that partners closely with supply chain and operations teams to protect OpenAI’s most sensitive projects. We design and enforce safeguards that ensure our innovations remain confidential until launch, while enabling our engineers and partners to move quickly and effectively. Our team’s tenets include: prioritizing for impact, preparing for future transformative technologies, building trust with cross-functional partners, and fostering a robust culture of security and confidentiality.
About the Role
We are seeking a Senior SMS Prototype Handling Specialist to lead OpenAI’s efforts around handling sensitive product prototypes and secure logistics. You will design and drive programs that safeguard our most advanced projects by making sure all prototypes are constantly accounted for and are securely transported worldwide.
This role reports to the Senior Secure Manufacturing and Stealth Specialist and operates as a staff-level individual contributor, owning the design, execution, and continuous improvement of prototype handling operations. While this role does not manage people, it exercises significant cross-functional influence, sets operational standards, and is trusted to independently resolve complex, high-risk situations involving OpenAI’s most sensitive hardware.
You will be the single accountable owner for the integrity of OpenAI’s prototype inventory and logistics systems, ensuring that all prototypes are continuously accounted for across locations, teams, and borders. This role requires deep judgment, high trust, and the ability to operate effectively amid ambiguity, urgency, and evolving security requirements.
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 position requires travel up to ~25% to international vendor and partner locations.
In this role, you will:
Maintain continuous, auditable accountability for all assigned OpenAI hardware prototypes.
Operate and administer a secure prototype library, including inventory systems, physical storage, and check-in / check-out workflows.
Execute access control processes to ensure prototypes are issued only to approved OpenAI personnel with appropriate authorization.
Coordinate secure domestic and international logistics for prototypes, including shipment planning, hand-carry transport, customs coordination, and chain-of-custody documentation.
Support engineering teams through prototype build, testing, iteration, and return cycles.
Perform routine and ad-hoc inventory audits, reconciliations, and discrepancy investigations.
Maintain accurate records, logs, and reporting on prototype status, location, and access history.
Identify operational risks, gaps, or anomalies and escalate clearly and promptly to the Senior Secure Manufacturing and Stealth Specialist.
Support incident response activities related to lost, damaged, or compromised devices.
Execute established security procedures consistently while contributing practical feedback to improve operational processes.
You might thrive in this role if you:
Have 5–8 years of experience in secure logistics, hardware operations, prototype management, physical asset control, or supply chain operations.
Have hands-on experience managing sensitive or high-value hardware across multiple teams or locations.
Are comfortable being personally accountable for inventory accuracy and chain-of-custody integrity.
Demonstrate sound judgment, discretion, and reliability when handling confidential materials.
Are experienced with asset tracking systems, audit processes, and operational documentation.
Can work independently on well-defined problems while collaborating effectively with engineers, security partners, and operations teams.
Are comfortable traveling internationally and operating in high-trust, high-sensitivity environments.
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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