OpenAI

Product Lifecycle Manager

OpenAI$120K — $150K *
Consumer Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of experience with Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems.
  • Deep knowledge of Bill of Materials (BOMs) and Engineering Change Orders (ECOs).
  • Hands-on experience in operations and factory build processes.
  • Exceptional attention to detail and strong operational judgment.
  • Ability to thrive in ambiguous and early-stage environments.

Responsibilities

  • Own product lifecycle definitions from development to end-of-life.
  • Ensure accurate product configurations and documentation at each lifecycle stage.
  • Lead lifecycle readiness reviews tied to build and launch milestones.
  • Manage part-level and BOM revision control across systems.
  • Oversee engineering change processes and ensure proper communication of changes.
  • Ensure BOM completeness and material availability for builds.
  • Drive data quality and governance standards for PLM-related data.

Benefits

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

As an Operations Product Specialist / Product Lifecycle Manager (PLM), you will own the operational lifecycle of products from early development through ramp, sustainment, and end-of-life. This role is accountable for product data integrity, part- and BOM-level governance, and readiness across systems, materials, and builds. You will ensure the right product configurations are released, built, and supported at every stage of the product lifecycle.

We're looking for someone who thrives in highly cross-functional environments, enjoys operating in the details, and can build scalable operational processes in fast-moving hardware organizations. This is a hands-on role sitting at the intersection of Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Systems.

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:
Product lifecycle ownership
  • Own product lifecycle definitions and transitions across development, pilot, ramp, sustainment, and end-of-life phases.
  • Ensure product configurations, BOMs, and documentation are accurate and released at each lifecycle stage.
  • Drive lifecycle readiness reviews tied to build and launch milestones.
Part, BOM & revision control
  • Own part-level and BOM-level revision control across PLM, ERP, and downstream systems.
  • Manage engineering change processes (ECOs), ensuring changes are properly reviewed, approved, released, and communicated.
  • Ensure correct revisions are procured, kitted, and built at each phase.
  • Resolve revision mismatches, late changes, and build-impacting escapes.
Material drive & build readiness
  • Lead material readiness for builds in partnership with Supply Chain and Manufacturing.
  • Ensure BOM completeness, sourcing readiness, and material availability ahead of operations and ramp builds.
Systems & data governance
  • Own PLM data quality and governance standards across parts, BOMs, configurations, and lifecycle states.
  • Partner with systems teams to define and improve PLM, ERP, and integration workflows.
  • Ensure product data supports operational execution, reporting, and scalability.
  • Drive adoption of standard workflows and reduce manual workarounds.


You might thrive in this role if you:
  • Have deep experience with PLM systems, BOMs, ECOs, and revision control.
  • Have hands-on experience supporting operations and factory builds.
  • Possess strong operational judgment and exceptional attention to detail.
  • Are comfortable operating in ambiguity and early-stage environments.
  • Are a clear communicator who can drive alignment across technical and operational teams.
  • Enjoy building scalable systems and processes that support fast-moving hardware development.
  • Have experience working cross-functionally with Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Systems teams.

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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