Strategic Sourcing Lead, Professional Services – Human Data
San Francisco · 8+ years experience · Full-time · Hybrid · Posted Sep 29, 2026
At a glance
- Experience
- 8+ years experience
- Employment
- Full-time
- Workplace
- Hybrid
- Location
- San Francisco
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 https://cdn.openai.com/policies/eeo-policy-statement.pdf.
- 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.
- To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form https://form.asana.com/?d=57018692298241&k=5MqR40fZd7jlxVUh5J-UeA. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.
- We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link https://form.asana.com/?k=bQ7w9h3iexRlicUdWRiwvg&d=57018692298241.
About the role
- We are seeking a Strategic Sourcing Lead to own and execute OpenAI’s category strategy for Professional Services.
- This is an experienced individual-contributor role for a high-velocity, hands-on sourcing operator who can set category priorities, own complex work end to end, and build scalable category mechanisms in a rapidly growing organization.
Responsibilities
- Own and continuously evolve the Professional Services category strategy and execution roadmap, setting priorities based on business needs, operating goals, market insight, and risk considerations.
- Own multiple complex sourcing workstreams end to end, balancing high-value strategic negotiations with a high-throughput portfolio of services engagements.
- Build trusted partnerships with senior stakeholders, clarify tradeoffs, and challenge or redirect proposed services models when a different approach will improve value, delivery, or risk.
- Lead complex negotiations and design fit-for-purpose commercial structures, including master services agreements, statements of work, milestone- and outcome-based pricing, rate cards, acceptance criteria, change controls, audit rights, and termination protections.
- Build and improve scalable category mechanisms, including intake and tiering, category plans, preferred-partner models, supplier segmentation, negotiation playbooks, approval pathways, and clear escalation mechanisms.
- Strengthen the supplier ecosystem through competitive sourcing, consolidation where appropriate, performance governance, business reviews, and active value-realization plans.
- Partner with Finance and Accounting to improve spend visibility, forecasting, approval discipline, invoice-to-contract alignment, and commercial structures that support appropriate accounting treatment and auditability.
- Partner with Legal, People, and Extended Workforce to distinguish professional services from contingent labor, translate guidance into practical guardrails, and reduce co-employment, scope, intellectual-property, and delivery risk.
- Produce clear, executive-ready reporting across pipeline health, savings and cost avoidance, cycle time, supplier performance, renewal exposure, risk, forecast accuracy, and realized business value.
- Use AI to redesign sourcing workflows—including intake, market and supplier analysis, negotiation preparation, contract and spend analysis, documentation, reporting, and decision support.
Requirements
- Have 8+ years of progressive experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, or category management, with significant depth in Professional Services.
- Have owned Professional Services category strategy and sourcing end to end—from intake and competitive sourcing through contracting, governance, renewals, and long-term supplier strategy.
- Have led complex, high-stakes services negotiations and can balance cost, speed, flexibility, quality, risk, and long-term partnership value.
- Understand the commercial and operating dynamics of consulting, advisory, managed services, and project-based work, including the boundaries between professional services, contingent labor, and full-time hiring.
- Have helped build or improve category operating mechanisms—such as intake, tiering, preferred-partner models, playbooks, reporting, or supplier governance.
- Have demonstrated experience using AI to redesign sourcing workflows and can show how it improved speed, insight, decision quality, or stakeholder experience while preserving appropriate human review and controls.
- Influence senior stakeholders through trust, structured thinking, sound judgment, and clear communication of tradeoffs.
- Bring strong financial and analytical fluency, and can turn imperfect spend, supplier, and performance data into clear decisions and measurable business outcomes.
- Operate effectively through ambiguity, rapid change, and limited structure.
- Are a scrappy, hands-on operator who combines ownership, accountability, humility, and team-first collaboration.
Benefits
- Relocation assistance
Workplace
- Hybrid work model of three days in the office per week
Skills
- AI
- Strategic Sourcing
- Procurement
- Category Management
- Spend Analysis
- Supplier Governance
- Forecasting
