National Security Lead, State and Local Government, Global Affairs

About the Team

OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We believe that achieving our goal requires effective engagement with public policy stakeholders and the broader community impacted by AI. Accordingly, our Global Affairs team builds authentic, collaborative relationships with public officials and the broader AI policymaking community to inform and support our shared work in these domains. We ensure that insights from policymakers inform our work and – in collaboration with our colleagues and external stakeholders – seek to shape policy so that it aligns with and supports our mission.

About the Role

This is a senior individual contributor policy role leading OpenAI's engagement with state and major metropolitan homeland security, emergency management, cybersecurity, election security, law enforcement and public safety leaders. Reporting to OpenAI's Head of Global National Security Policy and working closely with the State and Local Government team, you will serve as OpenAI's primary policy representative on homeland security and AI issues at the state and municipal level, including in major metropolitan areas. You will position OpenAI as a trusted, nonpartisan partner on both the risks and beneficial uses of advanced AI, including cyber defense, critical infrastructure resilience, election security, disaster response, biosecurity, and public safety.

Key responsibilities include:

• Build and sustain substantive relationships with state and major metropolitan homeland security advisors, emergency management directors, CISOs, election security officials, law enforcement and public safety leaders, and other relevant stakeholders.

• Develop and execute a strategy for policy engagement on state and local risks from advanced AI, including AI-enabled cyber attacks, threats to critical infrastructure, election-related deception or interference, criminal misuse, and biological threats.

• Represent OpenAI in engagements with governors' and mayors' offices, state and municipal agencies, relevant associations, and policy organizations on AI-related security and resilience issues.

• Identify opportunities for beneficial state and local uses of AI, including improved cyber defense, disaster preparedness and response, threat analysis, and resilient public services.

• Draft crisp policy briefs, strategy memos, stakeholder materials, and responses to inquiries on the national security and public safety implications of advanced AI.

• Coordinate closely with OpenAI's State and Local Government team and relevant internal partners, including policy, partnerships, legal, security, preparedness, communications, and public sector teams.

• Track state and local policy developments, operational priorities, and emerging concerns affecting the responsible deployment and governance of AI in homeland security and public safety contexts.

This role will require regular travel throughout the United States to engage with state officials, major metropolitan leaders, and relevant stakeholder communities.

You should thrive in this role if you:

• Have deep knowledge of the U.S. homeland security, emergency management, cybersecurity, or critical infrastructure ecosystem, especially at the state and local level.

• Are a trusted relationship builder who can engage credibly with senior public officials in a nonpartisan, policy-focused capacity.

• Can translate complex AI capabilities and risks into practical policy and operational relevance for state and local leaders.

• Are comfortable operating independently while collaborating closely across teams in a fast-moving environment.

• Bring strong judgment, discretion, and a clear commitment to the responsible use of technology in service of public safety and democratic resilience.

We're looking for a blend of:

• 10+ years of relevant experience in homeland security, emergency management, cybersecurity, critical infrastructure protection, election security, public safety, or closely related policy fields.

• Experience at DHS or in a senior state or major metropolitan homeland security, cyber, emergency management, or resilience role strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated credibility with state and local government leaders and relevant professional associations or public safety networks.

• Familiarity with AI-related security challenges, including cyber threats, election security, critical infrastructure, biosecurity, or criminal misuse.

• Excellent communication, policy writing, and stakeholder engagement skills.

• Strong strategic instincts and the ability to deliver results in a rapidly evolving environment.

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 Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

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