OpenAI

Deputy General Counsel, Commercial (Marketing)

OpenAI$210K — $250K *
Legal & Accounting
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 15+ years of legal experience in-house and at technology or advertising law firms.
  • Expertise in drafting and negotiating complex marketing and entertainment agreements.
  • Strong understanding of advertising and consumer-protection laws and intellectual property rights.
  • Proven track record supporting high-visibility marketing campaigns and product launches.
  • Ability to independently manage complex legal workstreams in dynamic environments.
  • Experience developing scalable legal templates and workflows for common tasks.
  • Exceptional communication skills to build cross-functional relationships.

Responsibilities

  • Serve as the primary legal partner for OpenAI's Marketing efforts, supporting from concept to launch.
  • Draft and negotiate diverse marketing and entertainment agreements to support various projects.
  • Structure rights clearances for campaigns, including talent releases and media permissions.
  • Provide timely legal guidance on campaign execution and public disclosures.
  • Support negotiations for high-profile partnerships and keep projects moving despite challenges.
  • Oversee the intake and approval process for legal matters, collaborating with various teams.
  • Create and maintain legal templates and training resources to streamline operations.

Benefits

  • Hybrid work model with three days in the office.
  • Relocation support for new employees.
Full Job Description
About the Role

We are seeking an experienced attorney to serve as the commercial legal lead for Marketing. Based in San Francisco, you will be a primary legal partner to OpenAI's rapidly growing global Marketing organization, supporting high-impact campaigns, creative production, talent and creator relationships, sponsorships, events, and the agreements and rights that make that work possible.

You will work closely with Marketing, Communications, Partnerships, Procurement, Finance, Product, and colleagues across Legal, including Product, Privacy, Regulatory, and IP/Brand, to deliver practical advice at the pace of the business.

This is a unique opportunity to help shape OpenAI's Marketing efforts, negotiate sophisticated transactions, and build scalable legal frameworks for responsible global growth.

We operate on a hybrid work model of three days per week in the office and offer relocation support for new employees.

In this role, you will:
  • Serve as the commercial legal lead for Marketing, partnering closely with Brand, Creative, Product Marketing, Design, Film and Photo, Performance Marketing, Partner Marketing, Communications, and regional teams from concept through launch.
  • Draft and negotiate a wide range of marketing and entertainment agreements, including agency, production, talent and creator, sponsorship, event, media, content-licensing, marketing-technology, and vendor agreements.
  • Structure and clear the rights needed for campaigns and content, including talent and appearance releases, publicity and likeness rights, user-generated content, copyright and trademark permissions, music, artwork, locations, footage, and multi-channel media use.
  • Provide fast, practical counseling on campaign execution, public claims and disclosures, endorsements, promotions and offers, social and paid media, coordinating with specialist counsel where appropriate.
  • Support high-profile talent, creator, partner, sponsorship, event, and launch matters; identify true blockers early, calibrate risk, and propose workable alternatives that keep projects moving.
  • Manage matters through intake, vendor onboarding, review, approval, signature, and launch, collaborating with Marketing Operations, Procurement, Finance, Business Affairs, Legal Operations, and external counterparties.
  • Develop and maintain scalable templates, playbooks, training, and workflows that enable self-service for routine work and focus legal review on novel issues, redlines, and exceptions.
  • Stay current on evolving advertising, consumer-protection, endorsement, privacy, platform, and AI-transparency requirements and translate them into clear guidance for global teams.


You might thrive in this role if you:
  • Have 15+ years of relevant legal experience across in-house and technology, media, entertainment, or advertising-focused law firm roles.
  • Bring deep experience drafting and negotiating complex marketing, advertising, entertainment, production, sponsorship, talent, creator, content-licensing, and technology transactions.
  • Understand advertising and consumer-protection law, endorsements and promotions, IP and content rights, publicity and privacy issues, and the practical requirements of digital, social, paid, broadcast, and out-of-home media.
  • Have led legal support for fast-moving, high-visibility campaigns and launches, and make sound, practical decisions with incomplete information and compressed timelines.
  • Are comfortable independently leading a complex legal workstream-entrepreneurial, proactive, and able to create structure in a fast-changing environment.
  • Can turn recurring legal issues into clear templates, guardrails, and processes that scale.
  • Communicate with clarity and business judgment, build trusted cross-functional relationships, and adapt your style to diverse audiences.
  • Bring a strong sense of ownership, intellectual curiosity, sound judgment, and enthusiasm for technology and the novel legal issues created by AI.


We operate on a hybrid work model of three days per week in the office and offer relocation support for new employees.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research laboratory consisting of the for-profit corporation OpenAI LP and its parent company, the non-profit OpenAI Inc. The company was founded in 2015 by a group of technology leaders, including Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, and John Schulman. OpenAI's mission is to develop and promote friendly AI for the betterment of humanity. The company has developed a number of cutting-edge AI technologies, including GPT-3, a language processing system that can generate human-like text. OpenAI has received funding from a number of high-profile investors, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
Learn more about OpenAI
Size
100 employees
Industry
Founded
2015

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