Account Director, Retail

Account Director Focused On RetailOpenAI's mission is to build safe artificial general intelligence (AGI) which benefits all of humanity. This long-term undertaking brings the world's best scientists, engineers, and business professionals into one lab together to accomplish this.In pursuit of this mission, our Go To Market (GTM) team is responsible for helping customers learn how to leverage and deploy our highly capable AI products across their business. The team is made of Sales, Solutions, Support, Marketing, and Partnership professionals that work together to create valuable solutions that will help bring AI to as many users as possible.As an Account Director focused on Retail, you will own executive-level relationships with leading retail organizations, including global brands, e-commerce platforms, and consumer goods companies. You'll help these companies safely and effectively deploy OpenAI's technology to transform customer experience, optimize supply chains, enhance merchandising strategies, and personalize consumer engagement.This role blends market literacy, technical depth, business acumen, and relationship-driven enterprise sales. You will collaborate closely with researchers, engineers, and retail-focused solution strategists to design secure, compliant, and high-impact AI deployments.This role is based in San Francisco. We use a hybrid work model of three days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.In this role, you'll:Manage a focused portfolio of retail accounts, developing and executing on long-term strategic account plansLead complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles spanning merchandising, operations, marketing, and commercial functionsPartner with solutions and research engineering to design pilots that demonstrate measurable business and customer impactCollaborate with compliance, privacy, and security teams to ensure responsible deployment of AI in regulated environmentsOwn a revenue and consumption target; manage forecasts and pipeline reportingMonitor industry and regulatory trends (e. FTC, consumer protection, etc.) to guide customer and product strategyRepresent OpenAI at industry conferences and thought-leadership events (e.g., NRF, Shoptalk)Partner cross-functionally with marketing, partnerships, and communications to build the Retail go-to-market motionWe're seeking someone with experience including:14+ years selling complex enterprise software or platform-as-a-service solutions4+ years selling to retail or consumer goods customersExperience managing C-suite relationships across merchandising, IT, marketing, and commercial teamsStrong understanding of retail and consumer goods workflows (e.g., inventory management, customer analytics, e-commerce operations, marketing campaigns)Familiarity with data privacy, compliance (PCI DSS, GDPR), and security considerations in retailDemonstrated ability to design and execute complex deal and partnership strategiesYou might thrive in this role if you:Are customer-centric and can translate complex market and business needs into transformative AI solutionsAre passionate about advancing consumer experiences through the safe and ethical use of AIAre a builder who enjoys designing scalable systems and repeatable sales motions from the ground upAre a strategist who anticipates industry shifts and guides enterprise customers through themAre energized by ambiguity and motivated to create structure and clarity across complex, cross-functional engagementsOpenAI 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.At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.