Counsel, AI Safety & Cyber Incident Response

Location: Washington, D.C. or San Francisco, CA; hybrid work with 3 days in the office per week. Relocation assistance is available to new employees.

Salary: $252K–$280K plus equity.

Company

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company developing and deploying general-purpose AI with a focus on safety and broad human benefit.

What you will do

• Lead legal responses to assigned cybersecurity and AI safety incidents, coordinating fact development, legal analysis, escalation, and follow-through.
• Work with investigators to assess incident scope, attack paths, root causes, affected systems and data, evidence gaps, and third-party impacts.
• Manage outside counsel and service-provider engagements and serve as the Legal point of contact for cross-functional response teams.
• Advise on notification, reporting, customer and user communications, third-party outreach, and information sharing with industry and government partners.
• Prepare incident updates and decision materials that distinguish facts, uncertainties, options, and recommended actions.
• Develop escalation criteria, response playbooks, exercises, handoff processes, post-incident reviews, and corrective-action tracking for cybersecurity and AI safety incidents.

Requirements

• JD and a license or qualification to practice law in the relevant jurisdiction.
• 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Experience managing cybersecurity or privacy incident responses, or comparable complex technology investigations, at a technology company, law firm, or government agency.
• Experience working with technical teams, other counsel, and communications partners.
• Ability to translate technical findings into practical legal advice and working understanding of technical information.
• Sound judgment under time pressure, clear communication of uncertainty, and ability to determine when to act, seek specialist advice, or escalate.
• Clear, concise writing; ability to align cross-functional teams through changing facts and competing priorities.
• Strong ownership and follow-through with a collaborative approach across different areas of expertise.
• Availability for time-sensitive incident response, including occasional work outside normal business hours.

Nice to have

• Strong interest in the novel challenges of AI safety and willingness to develop new approaches.
• Direct AI incident experience; transferable incident response skills are also welcome.

Culture & Benefits

• Work closely with Security, Safety, Product, Engineering, Privacy, Regulatory, and Legal teams.
• Hybrid work model with three office days per week.
• Relocation assistance for new employees.
• Equity included in the compensation package.
• Reasonable accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities.