Senior Counsel, Litigation & Regulatory

OpenAI's Legal team plays a crucial role in furthering OpenAI's mission by tackling innovative, fundamental legal issues in AI. If you're passionate about doing significant and unique work as a technology lawyer, this team is for you. The team comprises legal professionals from diverse fields, including technology, privacy, IP, corporate, cybersecurity, employment, tax, regulatory, and litigation.

We’re growing our Litigation and Regulatory team and seek an experienced counsel to lead high-stakes regulatory investigations, enforcement matters, and related litigation involving AI. You will own matters from initial inquiry through resolution, develop practical strategies for novel and technically complex issues, and translate an evolving factual record into clear advice. The role works closely with Legal, Product, Research, Safety, Security, Communications, Global Affairs, and executive stakeholders. This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees. In this role, you will: Lead regulatory inquiries, investigations, and enforcement matters in the United States and internationally, including matters involving federal agencies, state attorneys general, and international regulatory bodies. Develop strategy for contested enforcement proceedings and related litigation, including challenges to investigative demands and coordination across parallel matters. Partner with litigation and subject-matter counsel on related civil disputes, including privacy, consumer protection, class actions, cybersecurity, competition, copyright, trademark, and other IP issues. Manage subpoenas, civil investigative demands, requests for information from regulators and related entities, and discovery. Prepare employees and executives for interviews, testimony, depositions, trial, and other appearances before regulators. Negotiate resolutions to demands, complaints, and enforcement matters, and assess the practical implications of proposed remedies and commitments. Select and manage outside counsel, set strategy and budgets, and maintain clear accountability for quality, timing, and outcomes. Develop proactive and, where appropriate, affirmative legal strategies to address regulatory risk and protect the company’s ability to develop and deploy AI responsibly. Partner with Global Affairs and Communications on regulator engagement and sensitive external communications, keeping legal strategy and factual representations aligned. Assess emerging legal and regulatory developments affecting AI and provide clear, actionable advice to leadership about risks, options, and recommended next steps. You might thrive in this role if you: Have 10+ years of regulatory investigations and/or litigation experience, including substantial experience at technology companies and law firms. Have personally set strategy and led complex matters from initial inquiry through resolution, including direct engagement with regulators and opposing counsel. Communicate complex legal and technical issues clearly, distinguish established facts from uncertainty, and make practical recommendations under pressure. Work effectively with cross-functional teams, legal operations, outside counsel, and senior stakeholders while managing multiple urgent matters. Bring intellectual curiosity, sound judgment, a strong sense of ownership, and a willingness to challenge assumptions respectfully and learn from feedback. Have a JD and a license or qualification to practice in California. 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