Manager, Forward Deployed Engineer – Life Sciences
OpenAI
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Hybrid
Location: San Francisco • California • United States
Visit company websiteExplore more
Salary
💰 $252,000 - $335,000 per year
About the role
- Lead and grow a team of FDEs delivering production AI systems across regulated life sciences environments
- Be accountable for your team’s end-to-end delivery outcomes, balancing scope, speed, robustness, and risk in high-stakes deployments
- Coach and develop engineers through direct feedback, high technical standards, and clear expectations for execution and ownership
- Operate as a player-coach, directly contributing to production systems while leading, coaching, and setting technical direction
- Guide teams through ambiguous, multi-workstream engagements spanning data, workflows, infrastructure, security, and scientific stakeholders
- Run evaluation loops that measure model and system quality against workflow-specific scientific benchmarks, then convert results into crisp roadmap input
Requirements
- Bring 8+ years of engineering or technical delivery experience, including 2+ years managing high-performing customer-facing or systems-oriented engineering teams
- Have led complex, high-pressure technical programs from prototype through sustained production use in regulated environments
- Have experience working in or adjacent to life sciences R&D, clinical research, scientific software, or regulated scientific data environments
- Write and review production-grade code and can guide architectural decisions across backend, data, and ML-adjacent systems
- Translate scientific and technical tradeoffs into clear delivery plans, risk posture, and measurable outcomes across scientific, clinical, technical, and executive audiences
- Elevate team performance through clarity, judgment, and technical credibility
- Turn field experience into precise, actionable feedback for Product, Research, and GTM teams.
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.
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard Skills & Tools
production AI systemsengineering deliveryproduction-grade codebackend systemsdata systemsML-adjacent systemsarchitectural decisionsmodel quality evaluationscientific benchmarkstechnical programs
Soft Skills
coachingteam leadershiptechnical directionclarityjudgmenttechnical credibilitycommunicationexecution ownershipfeedbackperformance elevation