Technical Program Manager, Hardware Systems
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Sep 30, 2026. First seen by Alion on Sep 28, 2026. OpenAI scores B on the Alion truth index.
About Team
Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and advancing toward AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world environments. Working across the full model and systems stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the physical constraints of real-world systems to improve people’s lives.
About the Role
We are looking for a Member of Technical Program Staff to drive the development, prototyping, and integration of innovative hardware solutions used for data collection as well as robotic systems. You will work closely with mechanical, electrical, test, manufacturing, and supply chain teams to set functional requirements, coordinate hardware iterations, and move solutions from prototype through early production.
This role is based in San Francisco, CA and requires in-person presence 4 days a week.
In this role you will:
Drive functional requirements for various end effector sub-systems, sensing technologies, integration of various peripherals into one system to drive data collection for model development, related milestones, and validation criteria.
Collaborate with research teams, align system-level integration requirements, deliverables, calibration needs, configurations to test, etc.
Work closely with the operations team in getting the data collection hardware rolled out, monitor the field failures as those pop-up and make sure the right stakeholders are involved in resolution.
Coordinate the design and integration of tactile sensing materials, mechanical structures, PCBAs, interconnects, harnesses, and signal paths into robotic systems.
Establish effective mechanisms for design reviews, drawing and documentation readiness, change control, design releases, decision tracking, characterization and validation readiness, and production readiness.
Partner with manufacturing, test, and supply chain on prototype builds, assembly constraints, DFM/DFA, end-of-line test requirements, equipment lead times, handoffs, and the transition to manufacturable assemblies.
Drive tradeoff decisions with the right stakeholders across material selection, mechanical performance, functionality, reliability, scaling, cost, quality, schedule, and lead time for both robot and data collection hardware by collaborating cross-functionally and quantifying impact to the program.
You might thrive in this role if you:
Understand material properties, compliance, bonding, packaging, tolerances, and integration constraints that affect tactile sensor performance in robotic systems.
Have experience integrating PCBAs, interconnects, small form factor connectors, analog signals, and EMI-sensitive hardware into compact mechanical assemblies.
Enjoy occasional hands-on work as well planning for building, testing, and debugging physical systems, including characterization and validation setups, calibration, durability, signal quality, and failure modes.
Have led complex electromechanical hardware programs from evolving requirements through prototype builds and manufacturing.
Understand the deliverables for data collection hardware, manage expectations and fast iterations, have had to make judgment calls without having to wait for a decision to emerge from large meetings to keep things moving.
What success looks like:
Functional requirements, mechanical interfaces, performance targets, characterization plans, validation plans, and reliability goals are aligned across engineering teams.
Fit, alignment, bonding, wear, signal integrity, EMI, calibration, durability, functionality, reliability, and scaling risks are surfaced early and driven to closure.
Design reviews, drawings, documentation, change control, characterization and validation setups, and production-release mechanisms are operating effectively.
Prototype builds transition toward manufacturable assemblies with DFM/DFA, end-of-line test requirements, equipment lead times, and cross-functional tradeoffs quantified and resolved.
Supply chain risks are well accounted for, manufacturing process or design improvements are well rationalized with as clear scope as possible for a given phase, hardware and firmware teams are aligned on priorities across multiple systems.
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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