Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering (AI)

Location: Munich, Germany; hybrid work with 3 days in the office per week; travel required up to 25%

Company

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company developing and safely deploying general-purpose artificial intelligence.

What you will do

• Lead and grow a Forward Deployed Engineering team delivering production systems with frontier models.
• Own end-to-end technical and business delivery outcomes across high-stakes customer deployments.
• Partner with Product, Research, Sales, and Go-to-Market to connect fieldwork with roadmap priorities and safe deployment at scale.
• Turn successful delivery patterns into tools, playbooks, and roadmap inputs for OpenAI and the developer community.
• Set performance standards, provide direct feedback, and define scalable staffing and support models for field teams.
• Identify early signals in product behavior, customer environments, and delivery practices, applying sound judgment under pressure.

Requirements

• 8+ years of engineering or technical delivery experience, including 2+ years managing high-performing FDE or customer-facing engineers.
• Experience leading high-pressure technical projects from prototype to production.
• Ability to write and review production-grade code across frontend and backend using JavaScript or Python.
• Ability to simplify complex work and make fast, sound decisions under pressure.
• Experience elevating team performance through clarity rather than process.
• Ability to operate with urgency in ambiguous or evolving environments.
• Ability to translate field experience into actionable feedback for Product and Research.
• Ability to build trust by modeling calm, focus, and judgment in high-pressure situations.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work model with 3 office days per week in Munich.
• Relocation assistance is available to new employees.
• Travel is required up to 25%.
• Equal opportunity employer committed to inclusive hiring and reasonable accommodations.
• Background checks are administered in accordance with applicable law.