UK Head of Strategic Engagement & Partnerships

About the Team

OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We believe that achieving our goal requires effective engagement with public policy stakeholders and the broader community impacted by AI. Accordingly, our Global Affairs team builds authentic, collaborative relationships with public officials and the broader AI policymaking community to inform and support our shared work in these domains. We ensure that insights from policymakers inform our work and - in collaboration with our colleagues and external stakeholders - support the development of regulation, industry standards, and safe and beneficial development of AI tools.

About the Role

As UK Strategic Engagement & Partnerships Lead, you will develop and deliver OpenAI’s strategic engagement in the United Kingdom, building trusted relationships across government, Parliament, industry, academia and civil society. You will turn shared priorities into partnerships and initiatives that support the responsible development and adoption of AI.

Alongside leading strategic engagement, you will take ownership of select important emerging policy issues in the UK, developing OpenAI’s approach and leading the response in collaboration with UK policy colleagues and relevant global teams.

Your work will combine political strategy, stakeholder engagement and practical delivery. You will shape engagement plans, develop partnerships and coalitions, prepare senior leaders for important meetings and represent OpenAI in public and private forums. You will track outcomes and adapt plans as opportunities and stakeholder priorities evolve.

We are looking for a senior professional with strong political judgement, substantive understanding of technology policy and a record of delivering results through relationships. You will be comfortable moving from long-term strategy to detailed execution, explaining complex issues clearly and bringing external insight into our work.

You will work closely with UK policy colleagues and the wider Global Affairs team, and partner with communications, legal, technical and commercial teams to deliver coherent engagement and credible initiatives.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have deep knowledge of UK government, Parliament and the wider stakeholder landscape, and understand how political priorities shape technology policy and adoption.

• Can get up to speed quickly on emerging policy issues, exercise sound judgement under uncertainty and lead work from initial analysis through to policy development and delivery.

• Build trusted relationships across political and institutional boundaries and engage credibly with government, parliamentarians, civil society, industry and researchers.

• Translate complex AI issues into clear, practical messages and partnership opportunities for different audiences.

• Are comfortable operating independently while collaborating closely across teams in a fast-moving environment.

• Are passionate about the promise of technology and the future of artificial intelligence but thoughtful about its potential risks.

We're looking for a blend of:

• Experience working at the intersection of technology, policy, and politics and translating complex socio-technical issues to diverse audiences.

• Substantive understanding of AI and technology policy, including the opportunities and risks relevant to UK stakeholders.

• A record of building credibility and effective relationships with senior stakeholders across the UK’s political, public-sector and wider institutional community.

• Experience designing and delivering strategic partnerships, with clear objectives, internal alignment, follow-through and demonstrable outcomes.

• Experience developing advocacy campaigns or coalitions that translate policy priorities into effective engagement and practical results.

• Excellent written and verbal communication, including experience briefing senior leaders and representing an organisation in sensitive external discussions.

• Strong strategic thinking, problem-solving, and project management skills.

• Ability to execute in fast and flexible environments through rapid cycles of analysis, decision, and action.

• Track record of effectively working with cross-functional teams and aligning a diverse range of internal and external partners.

• Sound judgment, discretion, and outstanding personal integrity.

• Genuine care and knowledge about the impact of technology on society.

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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