Payroll Initiatives Lead

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company building toward artificial general intelligence while prioritizing safety and broad human benefit. The organization operates at extraordinary pace and scale, pushing the boundaries of what AI systems can do while embedding safety and ethics throughout. Their Finance team ensures the company has the operational infrastructure to pursue its mission effectively.

OpenAI's Payroll team keeps the organization running smoothly during rapid growth. You'll join as Payroll Initiatives Lead, treating payroll as the mission-critical infrastructure it truly is at OpenAI. Your focus: scaling payroll operations beyond routine processing to handle high-stakes strategic work, global complexity, and relentless growth.

Your day-to-day involves

• Owning payroll integration strategy for M&A transactions globally. You'll plan, execute, and stabilize payroll during company acquisitions from deal close through full integration.

• Working directly with acquired companies to process final payrolls on time and accurately, handling equity settlements, variable comp, severance, and deal-specific payments.

• Migrating acquired employees into OpenAI's payroll systems, processes, and controls while ensuring uninterrupted pay and compliance.

• Managing legacy system shutdowns and overseeing year-end payroll close and reporting across all jurisdictions where OpenAI operates.

• Expanding global payment capabilities to support multiple countries, currencies, and payment types reliably.

• Leading payroll system integrations with vendors like Workday, ensuring clean data flows upstream and downstream.

• Collaborating with Payroll, Finance, Tax, Legal, People, and Equity teams on cross-functional initiatives.

• Spotting operational risks, strengthening controls, and automating manual work so payroll scales with the company.

To succeed here, you'll have 8+ years building payroll operations in growth-focused environments. You know global payroll regulations and best practices inside out. M&A payroll experience is essential. You've worked hands-on with Workday Payroll or comparable large-scale HCM systems. You own your work independently, hit deadlines under pressure, and solve complex problems with precision. You communicate clearly with stakeholders across business, finance, tax, and legal functions. A Bachelor's in Finance, Accounting, HR, or related field helps; CPP certification is a bonus.

The role is based in San Francisco with hybrid flexibility (3 days onsite weekly). OpenAI provides relocation support for candidates relocating to the Bay Area.