About RoleWe are building a supply-chain organization capable of supporting our transition from laboratory-scale development to factory-scale operations. We are looking for an Inventory Manager to build and operate our inventory function from the ground up.
This is a highly hands-on role. In the near term, you may start with an empty room and be responsible for determining what racks, shelving, bins, labels, scanners, workflows, and systems are needed to turn it into a functional stockroom. You will receive material, organize inventory, perform counts, move parts between buildings, resolve discrepancies, and establish the processes others will eventually follow.
As we grow, you will have the opportunity to develop this foundation into a full-scale, multi-site factory inventory operation. You may hire and manage contractors or onsite inventory administrators, but this role will initially have a significant individual-contributor component and will remain accountable for day-to-day execution.
This role owns inventory and internal logistics. It does not own purchasing, production planning, or inbound and outbound supplier logistics.
This role is based in San Francisco, CA and requires in-person presence 5 days a week.In this role you will:- Build inventory operations from the ground up across various OpenAI facilities.
- Design and set up stockrooms, receiving areas, and material-storage locations, including selecting racks, shelving, bins, carts, labeling equipment, scanners, and other infrastructure.
- Personally execute core inventory activities, including receiving, labeling, putaway, picking, kitting, issuing, cycle counting, transfers, returns, and inventory adjustments.
- Establish practical receiving procedures that ensure incoming material is identified, recorded, inspected or quarantined when appropriate, and made available quickly.
- Hire, train, and manage contractors or onsite inventory administrators as volume and facility needs grow.
- Create location structures, naming conventions, barcode workflows, material-status controls, and standard work.
- Maintain accurate visibility into what inventory exists, where it is located, and whether it is available for use.
- Establish and maintain cycle-counting and physical-inventory programs, investigate discrepancies, identify root causes, and implement corrective actions.
- Own internal logistics and material movement between company facilities, including transfer processes, delivery schedules, chain of custody, transaction accuracy, and reconciliation.
- Develop appropriate controls for serialized, lot-controlled, high-value, consigned, returned, obsolete, and nonconforming material.
- Serve as the business owner for inventory tools and workflows.
- Partner with the systems team to translate operational needs into requirements, prioritize improvements, test new functionality, and drive adoption.
- Create procedures and training that allow inventory operations to be replicated consistently at new facilities.
- Identify inventory risks, shortages, excess material, unidentified material, and process breakdowns before they disrupt operations.
You might thrive in this role if you:- 4+ years of experience in inventory management, warehouse operations, materials operations, internal logistics, or a related field.
- Experience building or substantially improving an inventory operation, not only working within an established one.
- Strong working knowledge of receiving, putaway, picking, kitting, cycle counting, material transfers, inventory reconciliation, and physical inventory controls.
- Willingness to work directly in stockrooms, receiving areas, laboratories, and manufacturing spaces.
- Ability to move comfortably between strategic design and hands-on execution.
- Experience selecting and implementing physical inventory infrastructure such as racks, shelving, bins, labeling systems, barcode scanners, and material-handling equipment.
- Familiarity with ERP, WMS, MES, or inventory-management systems and the transactions required to maintain accurate inventory.
- Willingness to travel regularly among company facilities.
What success looks like:Within the first 6 months, you will have:
- Turned empty or informal storage areas into organized, functional stockrooms.
- Established consistent receiving, storage, counting, and material-transfer processes across active facilities.
- Created reliable visibility into what inventory exists, where it is located, and whether it is available for use.
- Implemented practical location controls, labeling standards, transaction procedures, and cycle counting.
- Built a reliable inter-building logistics process with clear ownership and traceability.
