Product Lifecycle Manager

About the Team

The Consumer Product Operations team is responsible for enabling the successful development, launch, and sustainment of next-generation AI-powered consumer hardware products. We work cross-functionally across Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Systems to build scalable operational infrastructure that supports rapid innovation and world-class execution.

About the Role

As an Operations Product Specialist / Product Lifecycle Manager (PLM), you will own the operational lifecycle of products from early development through ramp, sustainment, and end-of-life. This role is accountable for product data integrity, part- and BOM-level governance, and readiness across systems, materials, and builds. You will ensure the right product configurations are released, built, and supported at every stage of the product lifecycle.

We’re looking for someone who thrives in highly cross-functional environments, enjoys operating in the details, and can build scalable operational processes in fast-moving hardware organizations. This is a hands-on role sitting at the intersection of Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Systems.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 4 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will:

Product lifecycle ownership

• Own product lifecycle definitions and transitions across development, pilot, ramp, sustainment, and end-of-life phases.

• Ensure product configurations, BOMs, and documentation are accurate and released at each lifecycle stage.

• Drive lifecycle readiness reviews tied to build and launch milestones.

Part, BOM & revision control

• Own part-level and BOM-level revision control across PLM, ERP, and downstream systems.

• Manage engineering change processes (ECOs), ensuring changes are properly reviewed, approved, released, and communicated.

• Ensure correct revisions are procured, kitted, and built at each phase.

• Resolve revision mismatches, late changes, and build-impacting escapes.

Material drive & build readiness

• Lead material readiness for builds in partnership with Supply Chain and Manufacturing.

• Ensure BOM completeness, sourcing readiness, and material availability ahead of operations and ramp builds.

Systems & data governance

• Own PLM data quality and governance standards across parts, BOMs, configurations, and lifecycle states.

• Partner with systems teams to define and improve PLM, ERP, and integration workflows.

• Ensure product data supports operational execution, reporting, and scalability.

• Drive adoption of standard workflows and reduce manual workarounds.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have deep experience with PLM systems, BOMs, ECOs, and revision control.

• Have hands-on experience supporting operations and factory builds.

• Possess strong operational judgment and exceptional attention to detail.

• Are comfortable operating in ambiguity and early-stage environments.

• Are a clear communicator who can drive alignment across technical and operational teams.

• Enjoy building scalable systems and processes that support fast-moving hardware development.

• Have experience working cross-functionally with Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Systems teams.

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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