The posting
About the Team
OpenAI Finance is responsible for ensuring the organization is set up for success in pursuit of its mission. The Compute & Infrastructure team shares financial insights and partners with internal and external business stakeholders to manage the accounting and financial reporting for OpenAI’s rapidly evolving infrastructure investments.
The team supports a broad and increasingly complex portfolio of compute and infrastructure arrangements, including cloud computing, data centers, servers, equipment, rack financing, colocation arrangements, and other AI infrastructure deployments. We are responsible for ensuring financial accuracy, operational scalability, and informed decision-making as OpenAI continues to invest in advanced technologies and expand its infrastructure footprint.
About the Role
We are looking for an experienced and technically skilled accounting professional to manage the accounting and financial reporting for OpenAI’s compute and infrastructure lease-related activities. In this role, you will own complex lease accounting matters across data centers, servers, equipment, and other infrastructure arrangements, while helping operationalize new programs as the organization continues to scale.
You will evaluate unique and highly structured transactions, assess their accounting implications, and translate technical conclusions into clear recommendations for leadership. You will also work cross-functionally to design the processes, systems, controls, and data solutions required to support accurate and scalable accounting operations.
This role requires a strong command of US GAAP, particularly lease accounting and consolidation, as well as the ability to operate effectively and fluidly in an evolving environment where new infrastructure programs may not yet have established processes or system solutions. The ideal candidate is both a technical accounting expert and a hands-on builder who can turn complex arrangements into sustainable operating models.
You will partner closely with Finance, Technical Accounting, Legal, Tax, Procurement, Engineering, Infrastructure, and other key stakeholders. You will also work with external counterparties and service providers to ensure the accounting treatment, operational processes, and reporting outputs are accurate, well-documented, and scalable.
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:
- Own the end-to-end accounting for compute and infrastructure lease-related activities, including data centers, servers, equipment, colocation arrangements, and other infrastructure deployments.
- Evaluate new and evolving infrastructure arrangements to determine the appropriate accounting treatment under US GAAP, including lease identification, classification, measurement, commencement, modification, impairment, and presentation considerations.
- Partner with Technical Accounting and other cross-functional stakeholders to assess complex or non-standard transactions, document accounting conclusions, and present the financial reporting implications to senior leadership.
- Lead the accounting operationalization of new compute and infrastructure programs by developing scalable processes, controls, systems, data requirements, and reporting solutions from the ground up.
- Design and implement system solutions to support lease accounting, fixed asset tracking, subledger requirements, data integration, and management reporting.
- Own month-end and quarter-end close activities for the lease portfolio, including journal entries, reconciliations, flux analysis, rollforwards, balance sheet substantiation, and reporting packages.
- Ensure the completeness and accuracy of lease-related accounting records by developing robust contract intake, asset tracking, and reconciliation processes.
- Manage the accounting and reporting requirements for unique legal entities and special-purpose structures associated with infrastructure investments, including consolidation assessments, intercompany activity, and entity-level reporting.
- Monitor changes in contractual arrangements and operational facts to identify lease modifications, reassessments, impairments, consolidation changes, and other accounting impacts.
- Build and maintain strong internal controls over lease accounting, infrastructure data, entity reporting, journal entries, reconciliations, and management review processes.
- Support internal and external audit requests, including preparation of accounting documentation, control evidence, reconciliation support, and responses to technical questions.
You might thrive in this role if you have:
- 10+ years of progressive experience in accounting, audit, advisory, or a related finance function, with meaningful experience managing complex transactions from initial assessment through operational execution.
- Strong technical knowledge of US GAAP, particularly ASC 842, ASC 810, ASC 360, fixed asset accounting, construction-in-progress accounting, and related financial reporting requirements.
- Experience assessing complex lease arrangements, embedded leases, equipment financing, data center arrangements, build-to-suit structures, or other infrastructure-related transactions.
- Experience with consolidation accounting, including variable interest entity assessments, special-purpose entities, intercompany accounting, and noncontrolling interests.
- Demonstrated ability to translate complex contractual terms and accounting conclusions into scalable operational processes, system requirements, and control frameworks.
- Experience working with large-scale lease accounting systems, fixed asset systems, and ERP tools such as NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, or similar platforms.
- Strong systems-thinking capabilities and a track record of partnering with data, engineering, or IT teams to design automated accounting solutions.
- A builder mindset and a willingness to operate hands-on in ambiguous environments, creating structure where processes, systems, or ownership models are still evolving.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present complex accounting matters clearly and concisely to senior leadership and cross-functional partners.
- Exemplary interpersonal skills and the ability to partner effectively with stakeholders across Finance, Legal, Tax, Procurement, Engineering, Infrastructure, and external organizations.
- Genuine passion for technology and artificial intelligence, aligned with OpenAI’s mission.
- CPA or CA required.
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 https://cdn.openai.com/policies/eeo-policy-statement.pdf.
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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