OpenAI

Lead, Revenue Accounting, Technical

OpenAI$150K — $180K *
Finance & Insurance
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years in technical revenue accounting, revenue recognition, or advisory roles with ASC 606 expertise.
  • Extensive experience collaborating with Deal Desk, Legal, and GTM teams on B2B contracts.
  • Strong knowledge of performance obligations and variable consideration analysis.
  • Proven ability to translate technical accounting into practical commercial terms.
  • Record of building efficient deal intake and governance processes.
  • Strong executive communication skills to simplify complex accounting concepts for non-accountants.
  • CPA preferred, with experience in both Big 4 and technology sectors valued.

Responsibilities

  • Lead revenue recognition advisory for B2B transactions with the Deal Desk organization.
  • Collaborate with stakeholders to evaluate terms before contract commitments.
  • Own deal intake and triage, determining standard versus non-standard arrangements.
  • Resolve revenue recognition issues across various contract components.
  • Approve transactions aligned with established policies and prepare escalation packages for novel cases.
  • Translate technical conclusions into actionable contract guardrails and training materials.
  • Establish performance metrics and communication processes to enhance deal velocity.

Benefits

  • Hybrid work model requiring 3 days in-office.
  • Relocation assistance for new employees.
Full Job Description
About the Role

We're looking for a Senior Manager of Technical Revenue Enablement to lead Revenue Recognition deal advisory for OpenAI's general B2B commercial activity.

Reporting to the Head of Technical Revenue, you will serve as the primary Revenue Recognition counterpart to OpenAI's Deal Desk organization, partnering with Legal, GTM, Product, Pricing, and Strategic Finance throughout the presignature deal lifecycle. You will own intake and triage, advise on non-standard terms, approve arrangements supported by established policy and precedent, and route novel or strategic matters to the appropriate technical owner.

You will build a scalable deal-advisory model by translating ASC 606 into practical contract guardrails, approved language, decision trees, review thresholds, and clear service levels.

This role requires deep technical accounting judgment, commercial fluency, strong stakeholder influence, and the ability to make timely, risk-based decisions in a fast-moving environment.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. 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:
  • Lead the Revenue Recognition deal-advisory function for general B2B transactions, serving as the primary finance counterpart to OpenAI's GTM Deal Desk organization.
  • Partner early with GTM Deal Desk, Legal, GTM, Product, and Strategic Finance to evaluate proposed economics and terms before commitments are made or contracts are signed.
  • Own deal intake and triage, distinguish standard, non-standard, novel, and strategic arrangements, and route matters to the appropriate technical owner based on policy, materiality, and risk.
  • Review and resolve revenue recognition issues involving performance obligations, variable consideration, commitments, credits, concessions, contract modifications, options, incentives, implied promises, acceptance provisions, and consideration payable to a customer.
  • Approve transactions covered by established policy and precedent, and develop clear, recommendation-led escalation packages for novel or material judgments.
  • Translate technical conclusions into practical commercial guardrails, approved contract language, fallback positions, decision trees, and training for GTM Deal Desk, Legal, and GTM.
  • Partner with contract-review operations to establish review service levels, prioritization standards, stakeholder communications, performance metrics, and feedback loops that support deal velocity without compromising revenue integrity.
  • Prepare audit-ready conclusions and standardized accounting handoffs for Revenue Accounting Operations, including performance obligations, transaction price, allocation, revenue pattern, monitoring requirements, and billing-versus-revenue differences.


You might thrive in this role if you have:
  • 10+ years of technical revenue accounting, revenue recognition, or related advisory experience, with deep ASC 606 expertise and experience leading complex workstreams.
  • Significant experience partnering with commercial Deal Desk, Legal, Sales or GTM teams on high-volume B2B contracts and non-standard commercial terms.
  • Strong command of performance-obligation analysis, variable consideration, consideration payable to a customer, contract modifications, material rights, principal-versus-agent analysis, and gross-versus-net presentation.
  • A track record of translating technical accounting requirements into practical contract language, commercial guardrails, and workable alternatives.
  • Strong risk-based judgment and the ability to distinguish routine matters, precedent-supported exceptions, novel policy questions, and strategic transactions.
  • Experience building or improving deal intake, triage, approval, escalation, service-level, and governance processes.
  • Demonstrated ability to balance deal velocity with accounting integrity, audit readiness, and clear decision rights.
  • Strong commercial judgment and executive communication skills, with the ability to explain complex accounting issues and practical trade-offs to senior non-accounting stakeholders.
  • Demonstrated success influencing cross-functional stakeholders without direct authority in ambiguous, rapidly changing environments.
  • CPA strongly preferred; a mix of Big 4 (or accounting advisory) and technology industry experience in high-growth environments is highly valued.

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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