ABOUT OPENAI FOUNDATION
AI is already changing how people work, learn, and access care. It has the potential to unlock extraordinary benefits - faster medical breakthroughs, accelerated scientific discovery, more personalized services in healthcare and education, new tools for creativity and invention, higher productivity and economic growth, improved public services like transportation systems, and so much more.
But building powerful systems to benefit humanity is only a part of the work of our mission. Advanced AI models will also present new challenges that are already surfacing, and we need to be prepared to identify these challenges and develop solutions to address them.
These are the two dimensions of what we’re building the Foundation to do. We aim to enable the use of AI to find solutions to humanity’s hardest problems, transform what people are capable of, and deliver real benefits in people’s lives - while working hard with partners to be ready for new challenges, and to help make society resilient, as AI advances.
This work is just beginning. Over the next year, as we quickly ramp up, the Foundation expects to invest at least $1 billion across life sciences and curing diseases, jobs and economic impact, AI resilience, and community programs. This includes early investments toward our previously announced $25 billion commitment to curing diseases and AI resilience.
ABOUT THE TEAM
Our bioresilience work aims to close gaps in disease detection and response around the world. We combine scientific expertise, data, AI and funding to help people recognize dangerous outbreaks earlier and act on them.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We are looking for a Director of Bio Partnerships to own the Foundation's partnerships across bioresilience. You will secure useful data and build agreements that support detection and response, from substantive discussion through negotiation, approval and delivery. Closing pandemic preparedness gaps is urgent, and we need someone who acts with that urgency.
Your portfolio will span health-data providers, wastewater and sequencing operators, laboratory and instrument companies, and partners working on diagnostics, medical countermeasures and response capabilities. Some partnerships give us access to existing data; others fund the creation of new data or response capabilities.
You will report to our Head of Bioresilience, Dan Wattendorf, and take ownership of priority partnerships already in development. Your immediate focus is to move these through negotiation, approval and delivery. You will have support from scientific, medical and data experts and work closely with our data scientists, health-community colleagues, Legal, Finance, Grant Operations and related product and engineering experts.
This is a hands-on role. You will personally lead negotiations, prepare recommendations and keep agreements moving, drawing on scientific, legal and financial specialists as needed.
This role is based in San Francisco. We expect you to work at the office at least fifty percent of the time, and more in your first months. Other than that, remote work is possible.
IN THIS ROLE, YOU WILL
- Lead the bioresilience partnerships portfolio. Take ownership of priority opportunities and set priorities with the team across detection, data availability and response. The portfolio may include health records, laboratory data, wastewater, blood measurements and genomic data. Keep decisions, dependencies and next steps moving.
- Negotiate and close agreements. Lead discussions on scope, pricing, access, permitted uses, delivery and support. Work with Legal to bring deals through the Foundation's approvals to signed agreements. Coordinate with OpenAI teams through approved processes to clarify existing rights and avoid duplicate purchases or conflicting negotiations.
- Build response partnerships. Work with Dan and technical specialists on agreements that help develop, make available or deploy diagnostics, protective equipment and medical countermeasures as program priorities evolve.
- Lead partner diligence. Evaluate partner proposals for scientific value, organizational capability, cost and potential public-health benefit with relevant experts, including in-house teammates. Compare alternatives, identify what needs testing and recommend what to fund, change or decline.
- Make data handovers work. Agree requirements and acceptance criteria with data scientists and technical leads before closing a deal. Coordinate rights, documentation, delivery and support so the Foundation’s technical collaborators and, where appropriate, OpenAI teams through approved processes can receive and use the data smoothly. You own the agreement and partner follow-through; technical colleagues own validation and integration.
- Own partner follow-through. Track delivery, data access and milestones after signing. Review progress and results with technical colleagues, resolve problems and escalate when work or terms need to change. Coordinate financial and grant reporting with the relevant teams.
- Develop the partnership function. Build practical processes and templates with Legal and Finance that enable timely agreements consistent with the Foundation's charitable mission.
- Keep leadership informed. Maintain a clear view of opportunities, negotiations, commitments and delivery. Prepare concise recommendations and progress reports for Foundation leadership and governing bodies, including costs, risks, blockers and decisions needed.
YOU MIGHT THRIVE IN THIS ROLE IF YOU
- Care deeply about pandemic preparedness and the Foundation's mission, and want a hands-on role protecting people from biological threats. Bring urgency, discretion and sound judgment to the work.
- Have at least 10 years of relevant partnership or business development experience, preferably 15+. Have personally led, negotiated and closed multiple complex agreements with major multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences or health-data companies. Can explain the commercial terms, concessions and outcomes you were responsible for.
- Bring enough medical, biological or health-data knowledge to lead substantive partner discussions independently, clarify scientific goals and data needs, assess claims and know when specialist input is needed.
- Combine commercial judgment with the ability to coordinate scientists, lawyers, finance teams and technical teams through difficult decisions.
- Can adapt commercial deal structures to a charitable purpose. Work constructively with Legal and Finance to find terms that deliver public benefit, offer good value and meet the Foundation's requirements.
- Have led agreements from initial opportunity through internal approvals, signature and delivery without a large support team. Handle the detailed follow-up, resolve blockers and keep colleagues informed until the work is delivered.
- Write clear recommendations and explain technical, commercial and operational trade-offs to senior decision-makers.
- Use AI effectively in your everyday work, including research, negotiation preparation, drafting and progress tracking. Can demonstrate your current workflows, explain what AI improves and show how you verify important facts and make your own decisions.
IT WOULD BE GREAT IF YOU ALSO BRING
- Experience assessing what data is worth for AI projects, including training and evaluating models, and using that judgment to negotiate price and usage rights.
- Experience managing partnerships after signing, including joint steering committees, disputes, renewals or changes in scope, with measurable scientific, operational or commercial results.
- Experience identifying the right partners and building a focused pipeline around an organization's strengths.
- Experience with charitable funding, regulated health data, or partnerships that connect biomedical work with software and AI. Depth in one relevant domain and the ability to learn across others matter more than expertise in every area.
- Relevant postgraduate training in biology, medicine or a related biomedical field. This is helpful but not required; demonstrated scientific fluency matters more than a particular degree.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
Within your first 90 days, take ownership of priority relationships and advance priority opportunities to clear decision points and, where timelines permit, approved and signed agreements. Dan can hand you a promising opportunity and trust you to take it through a clear, efficient process. Data reaches the technical team in a usable form, with clear rights, documentation and partner support. Leadership understands progress, blockers and decisions needed. You also recognize when a deal should change or stop.
COMPENSATION
The annual base salary range for this role is $320,000 to $370,000 USD.
This range reflects our good-faith estimate of the base salary we reasonably expect to pay for this position upon hire. Actual base salary will be determined based on job-related factors, including the candidate’s relevant experience, skills, expertise, the scope of the role, and work location, as applicable.
This salary range does not include benefits or any other compensation for which the role may be eligible.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.