Senior Director, Employee Relations & Investigations

About the Team OpenAI’s People team aims to hire, engage, and retain world-class talent who will ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. Within People, our HR team supports a complex, fast-growing employee group of scientists, engineers, and business professionals. The team brings together expertise across business partnership, employee experience, people operations, compensation and benefits, inclusion, learning and development, and employee relations. About the Role We are seeking a senior Employee Relations leader to build and lead a high-trust, high-rigor Employee Relations and Investigations function. This role will oversee both the company’s employee relations strategy and its investigation practice, helping OpenAI navigate its most complex, sensitive, and consequential workplace matters with consistency, fairness, sound judgment, and care. You will lead a team of ER and investigations professionals, set the operating model and standards for the function, and serve as a close advisor to senior leaders, HR Business Partners, Legal, Compliance, and other cross-functional partners. The role requires someone who can move fluidly from executive-level counsel and risk assessment to building scalable systems, developing talent, and improving the employee experience across a rapidly evolving global organization. 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. Key Responsibilities: Set and execute the strategy for Employee Relations and Investigations, including the team’s mandate, service model, escalation paths, governance, operating rhythms, and measures of success. Lead, develop, and scale a team of experienced ER and investigations professionals; establish clear quality standards, decision frameworks, and coaching practices that produce consistent, defensible outcomes. Oversee the intake, triage, investigation, and resolution of the company’s highest-risk and most sensitive workplace matters, including allegations of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, misconduct, conflicts of interest, workplace violence, and other policy violations. Personally advise on or lead matters involving senior leaders, significant reputational or legal risk, cross-functional complexity, or novel questions; ensure investigation strategy matches the risk, sensitivity, confidentiality, and facts of each case. Establish rigorous, fair, and trauma-informed investigation practices, including evidence review, interviewing, credibility assessments, documentation, findings, recommendations, and appropriate follow-through. Own the broader ER framework across performance management, workplace conflict, disciplinary action, accommodations and leave-related escalations, employee concerns, separations, and other critical moments in the employment relationship. Serve as a trusted advisor to executives, people leaders, and HR Business Partners, helping them make principled, timely, and well-calibrated decisions under ambiguity. Partner closely with Employment Legal, Compliance, Security, People Operations, and HR leadership to assess risk, manage claims or regulatory matters, and ensure practices reflect applicable laws and OpenAI’s policies and values. Build scalable policies, playbooks, case-management practices, and decision tools that improve consistency and transparency while preserving the judgment required for complex situations. Use case data, employee signals, and trend analysis to identify systemic issues, surface emerging risk, and recommend proactive interventions to leadership. Develop and deliver practical training for leaders, managers, HR partners, and employees on respectful workplace expectations, investigations, performance management, conflict resolution, and manager accountability. Represent the ER and Investigations perspective in major people programs, organizational changes, and culture initiatives so that employee experience, fairness, and risk are considered early. You might thrive in this role if you have: 15+ years of progressive experience in Employee Relations, workplace investigations, employment law, HR leadership, or a closely related field, with significant experience leading complex, high-risk matters. Demonstrated experience leading and developing a senior ER and/or investigations team in a fast-paced, high-growth, globally distributed, or highly matrixed environment. Deep expertise in end-to-end workplace investigations, including executive-level and highly sensitive matters, and the judgment to distinguish when to investigate, when to advise, and when to escalate. Strong knowledge of U.S. employment law and employee relations practices, including EEO, ADA, FMLA, FLSA, retaliation, harassment, discrimination, performance management, and disciplinary processes; global ER experience is a strong plus. A track record of building or evolving an ER operating model, including po