Ai Engineering Director in Washington

About the team The OpenAI for Government team is a dynamic, mission-driven group leveraging frontier AI to transform how governments achieve their missions. Our team works to empower public servants with secure, compliant AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Gov) and mission-aligned deployments that meet government technical requirements with strong reliability and safety. About the role Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) lead complex deployments of frontier models in production. You will embed with our most strategic government and public sector customers—where model performance matters, delivery is urgent, and ambiguity is the default. You’ll map their problems, structure delivery, and ship fast. This includes scoping, sequencing, and building full-stack solutions that create measurable value, while driving clarity across internal and external teams. You will work directly with defense, intelligence, and federal stakeholders as their technical thought partner, guiding adoption, maximizing mission impact, and ensuring successful deployments at scale. Along the way, you’ll identify reusable patterns, codify best practices, and share field signal that influences OpenAI’s roadmap. This role is based in Washington DC, Seattle or San Francisco. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week. We offer relocation assistance. Travel up to 50% is required, including on-site work with customers. In this role you will Own technical delivery across multiple government deployments, from first prototype to stable production. Deeply embed with public sector customers to design and build novel applications powered by OpenAI models. Enable successful deployments across customer environments by delivering observable systems spanning infrastructure through applications. Prototype and build full-stack systems using Python, JavaScript, or comparable stacks that deliver real mission impact. Proactively guide customers on maximizing business and operational value from

About the team OpenAI’s mission is to build safe artificial general intelligence (AGI) that benefits all of humanity. This long-term undertaking brings the world’s best scientists, engineers, and business professionals together in one organization to accomplish this. In pursuit of this mission, our OpenAI for Government team helps customers understand how to leverage and deploy our highly capable AI products across their organizations. The team comprises Sales, Solutions, Support, Marketing, and Partnerships professionals who collaborate to create valuable solutions and bring AI to as many users as possible. About the role Our OpenAI for Government team has a unique mission to help government customers understand the transformative impact that highly capable AI models can have on their agencies and missions. This role combines technical understanding, strategic vision, partnership management, and a value-driven approach tailored to state and local government customers. This Account Director will own a portfolio of strategic state and local government accounts. The ideal candidate brings deep knowledge of the state and local government landscape, established relationships with government leaders, and a track record of driving technology adoption within complex public sector organizations. You’ll lead key opportunities through the entire sales cycle, from pipeline development through close. You’ll collaborate closely with researchers, engineers, and solution strategists to help government customers advance their missions through AI. This role requires regular travel to engage customers, partners, and industry stakeholders. This role is based in Washington, DC, or San Francisco. 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'll: Manage a focused set of key accounts, developing and executing comprehensive account plans Lead state and local government customers through their AI adoption jour