Program Officer, Catalytic Deployment

About OpenAI Foundation

The OpenAI Foundation is a newly established philanthropic organization dedicated to ensuring that artificial intelligence benefits humanity broadly. Launched as a separate entity from OpenAI, the Foundation operates with a mission to unlock AI’s potential to solve humanity’s most pressing challenges while preparing society for the opportunities and risks that advanced AI systems present. The Foundation recognizes that AI is already transforming how people work, learn, and access care, with applications ranging from accelerating medical breakthroughs and scientific discovery to enhancing personalized services in healthcare and education, enabling new tools for creativity and invention, and improving public services like transportation systems. The Foundation commits significant resources to this mission, with plans to invest at least $1 billion over the coming year across critical focus areas including life sciences and curing diseases, jobs and economic impact, AI resilience, and community programs. This commitment includes early investments toward a previously announced $25 billion pledge dedicated to curing diseases and building AI resilience. The Foundation operates with the dual understanding that while AI presents extraordinary opportunities for benefiting humanity, it also introduces new challenges that require thoughtful preparation, partnership, and solutions to ensure society remains resilient as these technologies advance. The Civil Society and Philanthropy team within the OpenAI Foundation represents a focused initiative to deploy advanced AI in service of global challenges affecting people and communities. This team partners with nonprofit and civil society organizations, as well as governments worldwide, to ensure AI meaningfully supports their essential work. By combining philanthropic investment, technical expertise, and convening power, the Foundation works alongside trusted partners to identify opportunities where AI can strengthen operations, expand reach, and deliver tangible community benefits. The team operates across three primary areas: deploying AI in essential services to improve access and outcomes, equipping civil society organizations with tools and expertise for responsible AI adoption, and building shared infrastructure that allows successful tools and lessons to benefit the entire social sector.

About this Role

The Program Officer, Catalytic Deployment role is a strategic position within the OpenAI Foundation’s Civil Society and Philanthropy division. This role is integral to the Catalytic Deployments team, combining philanthropic investment, strategic planning, institution-building, and operational execution. Program Officers serve as key collaborators with the Head of Catalytic Deployments, contributing to the definition of overall team priorities and the execution of major portfolio initiatives. The position requires individuals with substantial experience in social sector domains and the ability to operate with meaningful autonomy and strong judgment. This role involves sourcing, evaluating, and recommending grants and other funding opportunities that align with the Foundation’s mission to accelerate AI’s positive impact in civil society. Program Officers conduct thorough due diligence on organizations, projects, and leaders to assess execution capability and potential for scaling AI-enabled approaches. The position involves supporting a growing portfolio of grants with careful prioritization and high-quality follow-through, while simultaneously engaging deeply with the external ecosystem including researchers, nonprofits, academic centers, public-interest organizations, data platforms, funders, and potential grantee organizations. Program Officers in this role are responsible for identifying gaps in the current ecosystem and developing strategic ideas for how the Foundation can support new efforts, partnerships, or field-building initiatives. This includes developing and launching new initiatives from conception through implementation, helping to shape concepts, convene stakeholders, and establish new efforts where needed. Program Officers represent the Foundation in external conversations, building credibility, sourcing opportunities, and strengthening the broader field while also producing clear internal recommendations and strategy memos to support Foundation decision-making. The position is based in San Francisco, CA and operates under a hybrid work model requiring three days per week in the office. Some travel to locations within the United States and to other countries will be required as part of the role’s responsibilities.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the strategy, prioritization, and the Foundation’s overall approach to Catalytic Deployments; over time, own specific areas within Catalytic Deployments
• Source, evaluate, and recommend grants and other funding opportunities
• Conduct diligence on organizations, projects, and leaders, including assessment of execution capability and potential for scaling the benefit of AI-enabled approaches
• Support a growing portfolio of grants, ensuring strong judgment, clear prioritization, and high-quality follow-through
• Engage deeply with the external ecosystem, including researchers, nonprofits, academic centers, public-interest organizations, data platforms, funders, and other potential grantee organizations
• Identify gaps in the current ecosystem and develop ideas for how the Foundation can support new efforts, partnerships, or field-building initiatives
• Develop and launch new initiatives from zero-to-one, including helping shape concepts, convene stakeholders, and stand up new efforts where needed
• Represent the Foundation in external conversations, helping to build credibility, source opportunities, and strengthen the broader field
• Write clear internal recommendations and strategy memos to support decision-making

Requirements

• Minimum 5+ years of leadership experience in nonprofits, philanthropy, or government
• Subject matter expertise in at least one social sector domain, such as public health, education, poverty alleviation, and economic mobility
• Ability to reason clearly about AI capabilities, implementation constraints, organizational readiness and the risks of deploying AI systems in civil society contexts
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate technical or organizational opportunities and make strong recommendations
• Comfort operating in a fast-moving environment where priorities may evolve over time
• Experience engaging credibly with external experts, institutions, and senior stakeholders
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information clearly and persuasively
• Strong strategic judgment combined with a bias toward execution
• High degree of ownership, discretion, and accountability
• Deep motivation to accelerate AI’s impact in civil society and contribute to the Foundation’s mission
• Strongly preferred: Direct experience deploying or scaling AI-enabled approaches in at least one social-sector domain
• Strongly preferred: Demonstrated out-of-the-box and original thinking about AI-for-good

Benefits

• Comprehensive health insurance coverage
• Participation in a mission-driven organization focused on AI’s positive impact on society
• Opportunity to work on global challenges affecting people and communities
• Access to technical expertise and resources from the OpenAI Foundation
• Collaborative work environment with researchers, nonprofit leaders, and government officials
• Hybrid work model with flexibility (3 days per week in office)
• Professional development opportunities within a rapidly growing foundation
• Competitive base salary range of $220,000 to $300,000 USD