Design Lead

About the team:

OpenAI didn’t begin as a traditional company. It began as an idea: that artificial intelligence could be developed in a way that benefits everyone. As a creative team, our role is to help make sure the work behind that idea is understood, as it leaves the lab and meets the world.
This company works at the frontier of intelligence. Like any frontier, it’s unfinished, constantly shifting, and still being explored. Our job is to stay close to that uncertainty and help shape how this story gets told, in a way that feels grounded and human. We do this through campaigns, launches, films, brand systems, and work that doesn’t fit neatly into any of those categories yet. This team is for people who want to help shape something from the beginning.

About the role:

We’re looking for a Design Lead to join our growing in-house creative team. In this role, you’ll help define and elevate the visual and design language of OpenAI’s biggest creative work — from brand campaigns and product launches to cultural moments, stories and multimedia experiences. You’ll partner closely with design, product, copy, motion, and comms to shape work that is clear, compelling, human-centered, and beautiful.

This is a senior creative leadership role for someone who can set vision, establish design systems and creative direction, and guide work from early concept through execution. You’ll operate with a high degree of autonomy, act as a trusted creative partner to Product, Research and Marketing, and raise the bar on craft, coherence, and ambition across marketing initiatives.

In this role you will:

• Lead and shape design direction and execution across brand campaigns, product launches, social and high-impact creative work streams.

• Translate complex ideas, product capabilities, and cultural contexts into visually engaging, intuitive design solutions.

• Own conceptual development through to high-fidelity execution — including visual systems, interaction patterns, layouts, and design frameworks.

• Partner deeply with copywriters, motion designers, product designers, and cross-functional partners to ensure cohesive, high-quality work.

• Set and uphold design standards across deliverables, fostering consistency and craft excellence.

• Mentor and collaborate with other designers, providing thoughtful feedback and helping grow design capabilities across the team.

• Drive and evolve best practices for design process, tooling, and collaboration within the Creative Studio.

• Oversee and support the work of other designers, providing direction, feedback, and creative guidance to ensure high-quality, cohesive output.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Bring 10+ years of professional design experience with a strong track record of leading design projects end-to-end (agency, in-house, or studio environments).

• Have a portfolio that demonstrates excellence in visual/interaction design, systems thinking, and conceptual strength.

• Are comfortable shaping design work at both strategic and execution levels — from early concept frameworks to detailed production.

• Communicate design rationale clearly to peers and cross-functional partners.

• Enjoy iterative collaboration and can navigate ambiguity with creativity and confidence.

• Are passionate about design as a core contributor to how OpenAI’s work is experienced and understood.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. 

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.

Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco