Senior Manager, Internal Controls

About the Finance Risk Management Team at OpenAI

The Finance Risk Management (FRM) team at OpenAI is responsible for identifying, evaluating, and managing finance-related risks across our organization—both in the U.S. and internationally. Our scope includes establishing and maintaining an Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICOFR) framework, overseeing third-party vendor risk, managing the risk transfer programs, and addressing emerging risk areas that may impact our financial processes. Working closely with cross-functional teams, FRM drives the development of control activities, policies, procedures, and tools that support transparent, accurate, and efficient financial operations.

Join Our Mission
We are looking for an experienced Senior Manager, Internal Controls to establish and maintain a robust financial reporting controls framework for OpenAI’s business processes. As a counterpart to our IT Risk Senior Manager, you will focus on evaluating end-to-end business and operational workflows, designing effective process-level and entity-level controls, and collaborating with stakeholders to ensure seamless integration into our overall risk management strategy. You will be a self-starter who thrives in a dynamic, high-tech environment and has a passion for building and enhancing control frameworks that align with our rapid growth and global reach.

Reporting directly to the Head of FRM, you will play a pivotal role in supporting OpenAI’s mission and strategic objectives by ensuring that our financial operations are both well-controlled and scalable. Rather than merely maintaining the status quo, you’ll help design and implement best-in-class controls to meet the evolving challenges of our industry.

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

In this role you will:

Own Business Process Financial Risk Management

• Lead Risk Assessments: Drive comprehensive risk assessments across key financial and operational processes, including revenue, procure-to-pay (PTP), payroll, accounting, and infrastructure to identify control gaps and emerging risks. Translate these findings into scalable mitigation strategies aligned with OpenAI’s rapid growth and risk posture.

• Design and Implement Control Activities: Develop and operationalize a robust internal controls framework for financial reporting, grounded in the COSO model. Design preventive and detective controls that ensure data integrity and reporting accuracy, with a focus on scalability and audit readiness.

• Execute the Controls Program Through Co-Sourced Providers: Oversee the day-to-day execution of the controls program by managing co-sourced partners and vendors. Ensure alignment with internal standards, timelines, and quality expectations, while maintaining strong coordination with internal stakeholders and auditors.

Monitor and Improve Processes

• Integrated Monitoring Framework: Oversee the health, execution, and ongoing refinement of all non-IT internal controls, providing visibility into control performance. Rapidly identify gaps and recommend targeted remediations to establish a high-quality control environment.

• Regulatory Compliance and Standards Adherence: Align control activities with prevailing regulatory requirements and recognized industry frameworks for internal controls, ensuring readiness for public-company standards or similar large-scale compliance obligations.

• Controls Readiness: Coordinate with cross-functional teams to redesign or enhance systems and processes to achieve compliance and improve overall control effectiveness. Drive projects focused on addressing control gaps and proactively preparing for future control requirements.

Lead and Influence

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Collaborate with Finance, Operations, Compliance, and other stakeholders to build consensus on control objectives, adapting processes and policies to meet organizational needs at hyper scale.

• External Audit Liaison: Serve as the main point of contact for financial external auditors, ensuring efficient handling of audit inquiries and proactive resolution of any findings.

• Evaluate and Map Business Process Flows: Conduct detailed mapping and analysis of end-to-end business processes, identifying and addressing financial reporting risks in a rapidly evolving environment.

• Educate Stakeholders: Provide clear guidance on internal controls and financial risk concepts to diverse audiences, fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement around risk management.

You might thrive in this role if you have:

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related field, with 8+ years of relevant experience in risk management, internal controls, or a related function.

• Professional Certifications: CPA, CIA, or similar accreditation preferred, demonstrating a deep understanding of the COSO framework and its application in dynamic, high-growth environments.

• Experience Throughout the Controls Lifecycle: Proven track record of designing, implementing, and monitoring financial and operational controls.

• Strong Leadership and Communication Skills: Adept at leading cross-functional teams and managing complex projects with multiple stakeholders. Excellent written and verbal communication abilities are essential.

• Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills: Skilled at analyzing processes, identifying risks, and devising effective, scalable controls. Experience driving process improvements that enhance efficiency and reliability is highly valued.

• Technology Proficiency: Exposure to modern ERP systems and control/risk management tools (e.g., Workiva, AuditBoard) is advantageous.

• Controls Readiness / Controls Implementation Experience: Demonstrated background in preparing for and executing financial controls programs (or similar compliance initiatives) in a fast-paced, innovative setting.

If you’re excited about establishing and maintaining a robust controls environment within a cutting-edge organization, we want to hear from you. Join OpenAI to help shape the future of finance risk management as we grow and scale

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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