As OpenAI lessens its reliance on Microsoft, the AI startup is looking to add workers with data center experience to its ranks.
Of the roughly 300 job listings on OpenAI’s website at the time of publication, Business Insider counted more than 20 that appeared directly related to data center development. Many of the open jobs involve building out the digital infrastructure that supports OpenAI’s technology as the company uses more computing power.
The infrastructure hiring push comes as the company starts to operate more independently of Microsoft, which had until recently served as OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted Sunday on X about the company’s hiring push.
“If you are interested in infrastructure and very large-scale computing systems, the scale of what’s happening at OpenAI right now is insane and we have very hard/interesting challenges. Please consider joining us! We could desperately use your help,” Altman wrote.
The open roles cover various functions in departments across the company, from strategic finance to hardware, security, and scaling. One of the job descriptions mentions Stargate, OpenAI’s data center venture with Oracle and SoftBank, among others, that plans to spend up to $500 billion on building AI infrastructure. Most of the data center-related roles are in San Francisco, though there are some openings in Seattle and New York. Only two of the jobs are remote-friendly.
When asked for comment on this story, Liz Bourgeois, the head of OpenAI’s policy communications, directed BI to Altman’s post.
“In particular, if you have thought about how to squeeze max performance out of a system, we’d love to talk to you,” Altman said on X.
In October, Microsoft disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it had invested $13 billion in OpenAI. As of its last funding round from investors, including SoftBank, the startup was valued at $300 billion.
OpenAI has been using those funds to start securing graphics processing unit capacity to power its artificial intelligence models directly from third parties and bringing in talent with data center design, construction, and capacity planning experience, the TD Cowen analyst Michael Elias wrote in March in a research note.
OpenAI’s data center hires
Some of the jobs OpenAI is hiring for deal directly with building physical data centers. The Stargate team, for instance, is looking for a site selection and enablement leader to oversee the process of determining where to build facilities, negotiating power and land deals, and navigating state and local government hurdles.
The company is also hiring for a data center design engineer with experience in power and mechanical systems and a data center lead for physical operations and logistics to oversee on-site security and operations.
Between November and March, OpenAI hired at least three data center leaders, including a director of infrastructure, an infrastructure construction lead, and a strategy and operations leader. The new employees came from Meta, Equinix, and SandboxAQ, an AI and quantum computing startup that spun out of Alphabet.
Earlier this year, Lane Dilg, who was an advisor in then-President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy and had been working in global affairs for OpenAI since 2023, transitioned to a role overseeing infrastructure policy and partnerships, according to LinkedIn.
Elias said the hires pointed “to the potential for OpenAI to begin self-building data centers in the medium to long term.”
Meanwhile, Microsoft has begun to scale back its data center capacity investments, pausing construction projects and pulling out of leases with third parties.
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