Commissioning and Quality Program Manager

About the Team

OpenAI, in close collaboration with our capital partners, is building the world’s most advanced AI infrastructure ecosystem. The Compute team sets core infrastructure strategy and executes at global scale—spanning site selection through full buildout, in close partnership with internal and external stakeholders.

About the Role

We’re hiring a Commissioning and Quality Program Manager to oversee quality assurance, quality control and commissioning across all phases of our global hyperscale data center program. You will oversee the delivery quality for a massive portfolio of projects across several campuses. You’ll ensure work meets or exceeds OpenAI’s design standards, performance requirements, and reliability expectations—from early construction through commissioning and turnover to operations.

You’ll own development and enforcement of QA/QC standards, inspection protocols, commissioning scope, and acceptance criteria, working closely with contractors, design teams, and commissioning partners to embed a quality-first culture.

Travel: Up to 50%

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain the portfolio-level QA/QC program for hyperscale data center construction (standards, checklists, acceptance protocols).

• Review and approve developer QA/QC and commissioning plans for alignment with project specs and industry best practices.

• Oversee site inspections across civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, and electrical scopes.

• Validate installation quality against drawings, specifications, and manufacturer requirements.

• Monitor and track punch list items, NCRs, and corrective actions with the developer and contractors, including critical Method of Procedure (MOP) work.

• Partner with the developer’s commissioning teams to ensure QA/QC documentation supports readiness for both functional and integrated testing.

• Validate functional and integrated systems testing completion in preparation for OAI acceptance.

• Maintain real-time quality tracking and reporting dashboards for program leadership.

• Train and guide site teams on quality expectations, inspections, and documentation standards.

• Drive continuous improvement by capturing lessons learned and updating standards for future sites.

Qualifications

• Have 10+ years managing quality and commissioning for mission-critical, hyperscale, or complex commercial developments.

• Have deep technical knowledge of construction means/methods and quality standards across major trades.

• Can interpret design documents, specs, and submittals to verify field compliance.

• Have experience developing and implementing quality management systems at program or portfolio scale.

• Communicate effectively with executives, contractors, and site teams—translating findings into actionable recommendations.

• Proactively identify quality risks before they impact cost or schedule.

• Thrive in fast-paced, complex environments and can drive accountability across stakeholders.

Preferred Skills

• This role is central to ensuring every system is delivered to spec, on time, and built to last—supporting OpenAI’s reliability expectations across a global hyperscale build program

• Experience delivering QA/QC and commissioning programs for hyperscale data centers (e.g., >50MW campuses) across multiple regions.
  Familiarity with industry commissioning standards and frameworks (e.g., ASHRAE, Uptime Institute, CSA, BICSI).

• Deep expertise in mission-critical MEP systems, including power (MV/LV), cooling (chilled water, DX), controls, and redundancy architectures (N, N+1, 2N).

• Experience working with JDM/ODM or developer-led delivery models, including navigating multi-party accountability structures.

• Proven track record managing third-party commissioning agents (CxA) and integrating their work into broader program QA/QC frameworks.

• Strong understanding of digital QA/QC and commissioning tools (e.g., Procore, BIM 360, PlanGrid, CxAlloy, Bluebeam, or similar platforms).

• Experience building and scaling portfolio-level quality dashboards and reporting systems for executive visibility.

• Ability to operate effectively in global environments, including managing cultural, regulatory, and contractor differences across regions.

• Background in failure analysis, root cause investigation, and reliability engineering for mission-critical infrastructure.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, or related field (advanced degree or professional certifications such as PE, PMP, CxA, LEED are a plus)

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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