Construction Manager

About the Team

OpenAI, in close collaboration with our capital partners, is embarking on a journey to build the world’s most advanced AI infrastructure ecosystem. The Physical Infrastructure team is central to this mission, setting the core infra strategy and implementing this vision. From site selection to the buildout process, this team sits at the intersection of commercial, technical, strategy, and operations, interacting with teams and executives inside and outside of OpenAI.

About the Role

We’re looking for a seasoned Construction Manager to oversee our mission-critical build efforts across multiple sites in West Texas. This role is a key on-the-ground presence—someone who brings credibility, experience, and steady leadership to fast-moving, high-impact projects. While specific skillsets can vary, we’re looking for someone senior enough to own the site relationship and collaborate closely with both technical and construction teams. You’ll report to our central construction leadership and may later shift reporting lines depending on project scope and growth.

This is a full-time, onsite role based in Abilene, Texas with occasional travel to other regional sites. We offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will:

• Serve as the senior construction presence across sites in West Texas, representing our interests with contractors, partners, and internal stakeholders.

• Manage end-to-end project execution, from pre-construction, site development and construction through commissioning and controls.

• Coordinate multiple vendors and ensure seamless communication between field and technical teams.

• Identify and reduce risks early—ensuring high-quality delivery, safety, and operational readiness.

• Drive progress across multiple active projects, flagging roadblocks and keeping things on track.

• Collaborate with internal teams to align construction timelines with broader infrastructure goals.

• Partner with cross functional teams to guide the commissioning process and drive issues to closure.

• Communicate regular updates to internal and external teams leveraging well designed KPI’s and dashboards.

• Ensure projects meet the technical and quality requirements set out in the base design and standards.

• Perform quantity take-offs and field verifications to monitor progress and inform reporting.

• Monitor and actively manage change orders, identifying solutions to avoid unnecessary changes and reduce project costs.

• Lead site safety, implementing a clear, consistent and effective safety culture across the projects.

• Be willing to wear multiple hats, learn fast and step in to support cross functional partners as needed regardless of the job title/original job description.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have 10+ years of experience managing large-scale data center or mission-critical construction projects.

• Are deeply familiar with construction management, commissioning, and site operations.

• Know how to lead on-site with authority and build trust with partners, vendors, and technical teams alike.

• Have successfully managed large programs with multiple vendors and shifting priorities.

• Communicate clearly across disciplines—from field updates to technical escalation.

• Enjoy solving complex problems on the ground and adapting in real time.

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.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable law, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act. 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.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.

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