Human Rights & Responsible Deployment Lead (National Security)

About the Team

OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. Achieving this goal requires not only building cutting-edge technology, but ensuring it is deployed responsibly in real-world contexts—including the most sensitive national security environments.

OpenAI for Government partners with U.S. and allied government institutions to support the responsible adoption of AI across defense, intelligence, and civilian agencies. We work at the intersection of technology, policy, and operations to ensure that our tools are deployed in ways that are effective, aligned with democratic values, and grounded in real-world consequences.

About the Role

As OpenAI’s Human Rights & Responsible Deployment Lead (National Security), you will play a critical role in ensuring that OpenAI’s technologies are deployed in ways that respect human rights while enabling responsible national security use.

This role sits at the center of OpenAI’s most complex and high-stakes decisions. You will help translate human rights principles into operational frameworks that guide how we evaluate, approve, and monitor sensitive uses of AI.

You will collaborate closely with teams across OpenAI for Government, Global Affairs, research, policy, and product, and engage extensively with external stakeholders including human rights organizations, policymakers, and expert communities.

Key Responsibilities

Governance, Risk Assessment, and Decision-Making

• Operationalize OpenAI for Government’s significant role in the policy and governance process for evaluating high-risk national security use cases, including defense and intelligence applications.

• Develop clear criteria and frameworks to guide decision-making, ensuring consistency and reducing reliance on ad hoc or case-by-case judgments.

• Partner with internal teams to assess risks associated with proposed deployments and identify appropriate mitigation strategies.

• Support leadership in making informed decisions that balance mission impact, safety, and human rights considerations.

Human Rights Integration into AI Development

• Collaborate with research and product teams to integrate human rights considerations into model design, evaluation, and deployment.

• Help identify and characterize patterns of human rights risk—including those beyond traditional areas such as surveillance and privacy.

• Support development of systems and safeguards that enable models to recognize and appropriately respond to high-risk or rights-sensitive use cases.

• Contribute to efforts exploring how AI can be used to reduce harm, including applications that improve civilian protection in conflict.

Red Teaming and Expert Engagement

• Expand OpenAI’s red teaming efforts to include robust human rights expertise.

• Convene external experts across domains such as armed conflict, civilian protection, transnational repression, and vulnerable populations.

• Use these inputs to stress test both model capabilities and real-world deployment scenarios.

Engagement with External Stakeholders (in partnership with Global Affairs)

• Build and maintain relationships with human rights organizations, multilateral institutions, and expert communities.

• Represent OpenAI in external engagements related to human rights and responsible AI deployment.

• Facilitate dialogue with stakeholders to understand concerns and expectations and incorporate those insights into OpenAI’s work.

Internal Enablement and Leadership Support

• Serve as a resource to leadership and cross-functional teams on human rights considerations in high-stakes contexts.

• Support development of internal materials, training, and guidance to build company-wide fluency on human rights issues.

• Provide input on key external communications, publications, and policy positions to ensure alignment with human rights principles.

Post-Deployment Monitoring and Incident Response

• Help establish frameworks for monitoring the real-world human rights impacts of deployed systems.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to respond to and investigate incidents or concerns.

• Ensure lessons learned are incorporated into future governance, product, and policy decisions.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in human rights, national security, conflict, or related policy fields.

• Deep expertise in human rights standards and how they apply in complex