OpenAI

Counsel, Product (Research)

OpenAI
hybrid senior full-time $248K – $275K • Offers Equity San Francisco
Apply →

First indexed 6 Mar 2026

Description

Location

San Francisco

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Hybrid

Department

Legal

Compensation

  • $248K – $275K • Offers Equity

The base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. If the role is non-exempt, overtime pay will be provided consistent with applicable laws. In addition to the salary range listed above, total compensation also includes generous equity, performance-related bonus(es) for eligible employees, and the following benefits.

  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts
  • Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit)
  • 401(k) retirement plan with employer match
  • Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)
  • Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees
  • 13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time (1 hour per 30 hours worked, or more, as required by applicable state or local law)
  • Mental health and wellness support
  • Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
  • Annual learning and development stipend to fuel your professional growth
  • Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible
  • Relocation support for eligible employees
  • Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided.

More details about our benefits are available to candidates during the hiring process.

This role is at-will and OpenAI reserves the right to modify base pay and other compensation components at any time based on individual performance, team or company results, or market conditions.

About the Team

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 professionals from diverse fields, including technology, AI, privacy, IP, corporate, employment, tax law, regulatory, and litigation.

About the Role

As a member of our AI Product Counsel team focusing on research, you will assist with legal initiatives related to our advanced AI models and technologies. You’ll partner closely with researchers and engineers to help them plan, develop, and align models such as GPT-5, as well as our future research roadmap. This is a unique opportunity to engage directly with the forefront of the legal and AI fields. This role reports to our lead counsel for AI Research.

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:

  • Be the go-to counsel and partner for several research teams focused on AI research and model development.
  • Identify and address copyright, regulatory, privacy, and other legal risks and mitigations related to AI model development and deployment.
  • Develop strategies for handling legal issues in creative ways and build processes for scaling flexible solutions that address risk.
  • Become an expert in AI legal matters and help propose and advance AI legal policy positions.

You’ll enjoy this role if you:

  • Have a JD and license or qualification to practice in CA.
  • Have 5+ years of experience with a mix of in-house and technology-focused law firm roles, including significant copyright experience.
  • Understand the letter of the law and can approach problems in a practical, principled approach.
  • Build cross-functional relationships and communication styles that resonate with teams to balance risk-taking with responsible development.
  • Have a strong sense of ownership, are inquisitive and enthusiastic about technology, enjoy being continually challenged, and can demonstrate sound judgment in ambiguous situations.

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.

This listing is enriched and indexed by YubHub. To apply, use the employer's original posting: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai/ce7d1708-2790-4da5-89df-74024af7cf46