NeoCloud & Colo Due Diligence Lead

📋 Job Overview

OpenAI is evaluating multiple infrastructure pathways, including powered land, colo/BTS, and NeoCloud opportunities. The Site Readiness & Development team provides the diligence layer needed to compare opportunities, identify risk, and support credible deployment decisions across those pathways.

🏢 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.

🎯 The Role

The NeoCloud & Colo Due Diligence Lead will evaluate third-party infrastructure opportunities where OpenAI is considering deployment through NeoCloud, colo, or BTS structures. This role will focus on facility and deployment readiness, including MEP readiness, rack strategy, developer capability, facility design, power deliverability, schedule credibility, and operating assumptions.

✅ Key Responsibilities

• Lead diligence on NeoCloud, colo, and BTS opportunities across technical and operational readiness dimensions.
• Assess each opportunity against OpenAI facility, rack, power, network, reliability, and operational standards to determine deployment fit.
• Validate MEP readiness, rack deployment strategy, facility design assumptions, power deliverability, and schedule credibility.
• Identify material deficiencies and work with developers/operators to define remediation plans, owners, timing, and residual risk.
• Review reliability, availability, maintainability, commissioning/validation readiness, and AHJ/code compliance where relevant.
• Evaluate structured cabling, network deployment, high-density rack support, and other technical interfaces required for OpenAI deployment where in scope.
• Assess developer/operator capability, execution maturity, and operational risk.
• Produce diligence findings, gap analyses, and go / no-go recommendations for the relevant commercial and deployment owners.
• Coordinate cross-functional diligence with engineering, operations, procurement, legal, finance, and other stakeholders as needed.
• Build repeatable evaluation frameworks for third-party infrastructure opportunities.

📌 Required Qualifications

• 8+ years in data center development, mission-critical facilities, MEP engineering, colocation operations, commissioning, or similar roles.
• Strong understanding of data center mechanical, electrical, network, and deployment-readiness requirements.
• Experience evaluating third-party developers, operators, or colocation providers.
• Ability to translate technical findings into commercial, schedule, and execution risk.
• Strong cross-functional communication and executive-summary skills.

🎁 Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts
Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit)
401(k) retirement plan with employer match
Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)
Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees
13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time (1 hour per 30 hours worked, or more, as required by applicable state or local law)
Mental health and wellness support
Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
Annual learning and development stipend to fuel your professional growth
Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible
Relocation support for eligible employees
Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided.