Technical Program Manager, Hardware Systems
San Francisco · Full-time · Onsite · Posted Sep 28, 2026
At a glance
- Employment
- Full-time
- Workplace
- Onsite
- 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
- The Technical Program Manager for Hardware Systems will drive the development, prototyping, and integration of innovative hardware solutions for robotics and data collection.
- This role involves coordinating across mechanical, electrical, test, manufacturing, and supply chain teams to move hardware from prototype through early production.
Responsibilities
- Drive functional requirements for end effector sub-systems, sensing technologies, and peripheral integration.
- Collaborate with research teams to align system-level integration requirements, deliverables, and calibration needs.
- Work with operations to roll out data collection hardware and monitor field failures.
- Coordinate the design and integration of tactile sensing materials, mechanical structures, PCBAs, interconnects, and harnesses.
- Establish mechanisms for design reviews, documentation readiness, change control, and production readiness.
- Partner with manufacturing, test, and supply chain on prototype builds, DFM/DFA, and end-of-line test requirements.
- Drive tradeoff decisions regarding material selection, performance, reliability, cost, and schedule.
Requirements
- Experience leading complex electromechanical hardware programs from requirements through manufacturing.
- Understanding of material properties, compliance, bonding, packaging, and tolerances affecting tactile sensor performance.
- Experience integrating PCBAs, interconnects, small form factor connectors, analog signals, and EMI-sensitive hardware.
- Ability to manage fast iterations and make judgment calls to maintain program momentum.
- Experience with characterization, validation, calibration, and failure mode analysis of physical systems.
Workplace
- Role is based in San Francisco, CA.
Skills
- Tactile Sensing
- EMI-sensitive Hardware
- DFM
- DFA
