Research Lead, Policy Communications

About the Position

Research Lead, Policy Communications

San Francisco

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About the Team

The Product Policy team at OpenAI develops and implements policies that shape how our technology is built and used. We work with teams across the company to turn complex questions about AI’s benefits and risks into practical guidance for responsible research, product development, and deployment.

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About the Role

As Research Lead, Policy Communications, you will build and lead a rigorous research program that helps OpenAI understand how people engage with complex AI policy issues. You will design qualitative and quantitative studies, develop durable research practices, and translate findings into clear recommendations for Policy, Communications, Product, and other partners. Your work will help teams communicate complex topics accurately, responsibly, and in ways that are useful to a broad range of audiences.

This role can be based in San Francisco or Remote. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

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Responsibilities

• Build and manage a mixed-methods research program from initial questions through study design, fieldwork, analysis, reporting, and documentation. Establish high standards for quality, consistency, and responsible research practice.
• Design rigorous quantitative research, including surveys and longitudinal studies. Oversee questionnaire design, sampling, weighting, vendor quality, analysis, and clear communication of uncertainty and limitations.
• Lead qualitative research, including interviews and focus groups, to understand how people interpret complex policy topics. Use these insights to improve the clarity, accuracy, and usefulness of policy communications.
• Turn findings into executive-ready reports with practical recommendations for Policy, Communications, Product, Marketing, Data Science, Legal, Privacy, and other partners. Build reusable research tools, benchmarks, and knowledge that strengthen decision-making over time.

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Requirements

• Core Skills:

  • Research
  • Quantitative research
  • Qualitative research
  • Survey design
  • Statistical analysis
  • Policy communications

• Secondary Skills:

  • Strategic judgment
  • Public-opinion research
  • Communications research
  • Market research
  • Behavioral research
  • Research ethics

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We Offer

• Opportunity to work in a cutting-edge AI research and deployment company.
• Hybrid work model with 3 days in the office per week.
• Relocation assistance for new employees.
• Competitive compensation and benefits package.

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About the Company

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.

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