About the RoleAs a Personnel Security Specialist, you will own the day-to-day personnel security operations that allow OpenAI employees to support classified government work. You will manage clearance and access requests, maintain government-system records, coordinate visits and briefings, support onboarding and offboarding, and guide employees through sensitive security requirements with discretion and care.
We're looking for a hands-on security professional who can independently manage a high-volume operational queue, keep cases and records organized, recognize when issues require escalation, and improve the processes behind the work. This role offers the opportunity to help build a modern personnel security function that supports important national security programs while delivering a thoughtful, responsive employee experience.
This role is based in San Francisco, CA, or Washington, DC. We use a hybrid work model of three days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees. Additional onsite presence and occasional travel may be required based on classified program and government customer needs.
In this role, you will:- Own the daily personnel security workload from intake through completion, including clearance verification, access nominations, visit requests, onboarding, offboarding, briefings, and reporting actions.
- Process and track personnel eligibility, classified access, indoctrinations, debriefings, customer approvals, and other program-specific security requirements.
- Maintain accurate, current, and audit-ready records in DISS, NBIS/eApp, NISS, internal tracking systems, and other applicable government or customer platforms.
- Guide employees through security forms, clearance and access requirements, required briefings, and reportable events while protecting sensitive personal information.
- Coordinate personnel security actions with government security representatives, customer security offices, program teams, and internal partners across Security, People, Recruiting, Legal, and IT.
- Prepare and manage visit authorization requests, security access requests, and related customer access packages, including CAC, NIPR, SIPR, and SAAR documentation when applicable.
- Identify discrepancies, aging cases, missing documentation, potential security concerns, and reportable information, escalating sensitive or complex issues promptly and appropriately.
- Maintain clear visibility into case ownership, status, deadlines, next steps, and government or customer dependencies.
- Develop and improve checklists, standard operating procedures, templates, metrics, and workflows that reduce backlog, manual effort, and missed handoffs.
- Support self-inspections, customer reviews, recurring reporting, and broader efforts to build a scalable, reliable personnel security program.
You might thrive in this role if you:- Have hands-on personnel security experience supporting a cleared defense contractor, Intelligence Community organization, federal customer, or comparable classified environment.
- Have directly managed clearance verification, access processing, indoctrinations, debriefings, visit requests, security briefings, and onboarding or offboarding for cleared personnel.
- Have working experience with DISS and NBIS/eApp; familiarity with NISS, SWFT, Scattered Castles, or customer-specific security systems is a plus.
- Understand the NISPOM, applicable Security Executive Agent Directives, and government or customer personnel security requirements.
- Are highly organized and can manage competing priorities, sensitive records, recurring deadlines, and a high-volume case queue without losing accuracy.
- Communicate clearly and respectfully, particularly when explaining complex requirements or supporting employees through sensitive and sometimes frustrating processes.
- Demonstrate discretion with personal information and sound judgment about when to involve security leadership, Legal, People, or government security officials.
- Look for practical ways to improve operational reliability through documentation, metrics, templates, and approved AI tools, agents, and automations, while protecting sensitive information and preserving required human review and security judgment.
- Have experience supporting SCI or SAP access, customer-specific nominations, visit authorization requests, or related access packages.
- Hold active Top Secret eligibility and current SCI access, and can obtain and maintain any customer-required polygraph or additional access approvals.
