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Senior Manager, Revenue Recognition - Strategic Deals

openai

San Francisco
Business Intelligence

Job Score

80 pts
On-site model (+70) Business Intelligence (+10)

About the Team

OpenAI Finance helps ensure the organization is set up for success in pursuit of its mission of ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.

Within Finance, the Technical Revenue team partners with Product, Strategic Partnerships, Business Development, Growth, Legal, Deal Desk, GTM, Strategic Finance, Revenue Accounting, and Finance Systems to enable scalable, audit-ready monetization. We advise on commercial and contract design, establish defensible accounting positions under ASC 606, and translate those conclusions into repeatable processes, systems, controls, and reporting.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior Manager of Revenue Recognition to lead revenue strategy and technical accounting for OpenAI’s strategic commercial deals.

Reporting to the Head of Technical Revenue, you will serve as the primary revenue advisor for large, bespoke, and non-standard deals outside OpenAI’s standard product and service offerings. Your portfolio may include strategic collaborations, cloud marketplaces, platform and distribution deals, licensing and revenue-share models, joint go-to-market initiatives, research collaborations, and other emerging commercial structures.

You will engage early in the deal lifecycle to help shape commercially viable, accounting-compliant, and operationally scalable outcomes. You will establish the accounting posture, identify required contract and product terms, define reporting and control requirements, and ensure that deal economics, billing flows, and revenue recognition remain aligned as the business evolves.

This role requires strong technical accounting judgment, commercial fluency, executive communication, and the ability to create clarity and ownership in areas where precedent may not yet exist.

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 technical revenue accounting for strategic commercial deals, including large, bespoke, and non-standard transactions outside OpenAI’s standard product and service offerings.

  • Serve as the primary revenue advisor for strategic collaborations, cloud marketplaces, platform and distribution deals, licensing and revenue-share models, and other emerging commercial structures.

  • Partner early with Strategic Partnerships, Product, GTM, Strategic Finance, Legal, Deal Desk, and Tax to understand and influence deal economics, pricing, contract terms, and operational design.

  • Evaluate complex and ambiguous transactions under ASC 606, including principal-versus-agent considerations, gross-versus-net presentation, performance obligations, variable consideration, contract combinations, commitments, credits, incentives, and related-party considerations.

  • Translate technical conclusions into practical commercial guardrails and establish clear intake, escalation, and decision-making frameworks for material deals and amendments.

  • Define the data, reporting, billing, settlement, reconciliation, and control requirements needed to operationalize new commercial models and support accurate revenue recognition.

  • Draft audit-ready technical accounting memos and policies, lead discussions with external auditors, and clearly communicate conclusions and trade-offs to senior stakeholders.

  • Manage and develop team members and external resources, prioritize concurrent high-value deals, and strengthen the team’s ability to influence commercial decisions proactively.

You might thrive in this role if you have:

  • 10+ years of technical revenue accounting or related advisory experience, with deep ASC 606 expertise and experience leading complex workstreams or teams.

  • Significant experience supporting large, bespoke commercial deals, strategic collaborations, cloud marketplaces, platform distribution, licensing, revenue-share models, or other multi-party transactions.

  • A track record of influencing commercial strategy, pricing, product design, and contract terms before launch or signature.

  • Experience navigating emerging monetization models such as advertising revenue, marketplaces/commerce platforms, or other multi-sided ecosystems is a strong plus.

  • Strong command of principal-versus-agent analysis, gross-versus-net presentation, variable consideration, consideration payable to a customer, contract combinations, and complex performance-obligation assessments.

  • A track record of influencing commercial strategy, pricing, product design, and contract terms before launch or signature.

  • Experience translating evolving commercial models into scalable billing, accounting, reconciliation, reporting, systems, and control requirements.

  • Strong commercial judgment and executive communication skills, with the ability to explain complex accounting issues and practical trade-offs to senior non-accounting stakeholders.

  • Demonstrated success establishing ownership, governance, and repeatable processes in ambiguous, rapidly changing environments while developing team members and managing external resources.

  • CPA strongly preferred; a mix of Big 4 (or accounting advisory) and tech industry experience in high-growth environments is highly valued.

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.

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.

To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.

OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy

At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.

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About Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence (BI) is the area responsible for transforming raw data into strategic information for decision-making. BI professionals build dashboards, reports, and analyses that help companies understand their performance and identify growth opportunities.

Key skills include data modeling (star schema, snowflake), ETL (extraction, transformation, loading), advanced SQL, BI tools (Power BI, Tableau, Looker), data warehousing, KPIs, and business metrics analysis (MRR, churn, cohort). Knowledge of dbt, Airflow, and data pipelines is a differentiator.

BI professionals in technology companies are highly valued, especially those who master data visualization, analytics engineering, and can translate complex data into actionable insights for the business. The field offers opportunities from BI analyst to head of data, with a focus on data-driven decision making.

Discover Other Areas

Understand the scope of work, key skills, and tools used in different career areas.

About Web Master

The Web Master is the professional responsible for maintaining, securing, and ensuring the technical performance of websites and web applications. They manage servers, hosting infrastructure, uptime monitoring, and ensure everything runs fast and reliably.

Key skills include server management (Apache, Nginx), hosting (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure), CDN (Cloudflare), SSL, DNS, web security (WAF, firewall), performance (Core Web Vitals, cache, compression), and versioning (Git, CI/CD). Knowledge of Docker, WordPress, cPanel, and monitoring (Sentry, New Relic) is a differentiator.

Web Masters in technology companies are highly valued, especially those who master DevOps, SRE, and can guarantee uptime and performance at scale. The field offers opportunities from junior webmaster to SRE and infrastructure engineer, with a focus on reliability, security, and speed.

About People Analyst

The People Analyst is the professional responsible for transforming people data into strategic insights for HR decision-making. They combine data analysis knowledge with people management vision to help organizations understand workforce metrics, turnover, engagement, and diversity.

Key skills include people analytics, workforce analytics, turnover and retention analysis, HR metrics (time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, e-NPS), data visualization (Power BI, Tableau, Visier), workforce planning, and compensation analysis. Knowledge of statistics, SQL, and people analytics tools is a differentiator.

People Analysts in technology companies are highly valued, especially those who can translate complex people data into actionable insights for retention, diversity, and growth strategies. The field offers opportunities from HR analyst to head of people analytics, with a focus on data-driven people management.

About Public Relations

The Public Relations (PR) area focuses on managing the reputation, image, and communication of an organization with its various stakeholders (such as clients, investors, employees, media, and the community). PR professionals develop corporate communication strategies, manage media relations (press relations), organize institutional events, and work in image crisis prevention and management.

About Web3

The Web3 area represents the new phase of the decentralized internet, built on blockchain technology. Web3 professionals create decentralized applications (dApps), interact with smart contracts, manage digital assets (cryptocurrencies and NFTs), and utilize DeFi (Decentralized Finance) protocols, revolutionizing how data, ownership, and finance are managed online.

About Project Management

Project Management is essential to ensure strategic initiatives are delivered on time, within scope, and with quality. PM professionals coordinate teams, manage risks, and communicate with stakeholders.

Key methodologies include PMBOK, PRINCE2, Scrum, and Kanban. Tools like Jira, Asana, Monday, and MS Project are widely used in daily work.

Certifications like PMP and PgMP are important differentiators in the market, with growing demand in technology and consulting companies.

Career Guides

Technology Career Guide

Planning, skills, interviews, and professional growth in IT, Data Science, DevOps, and Product.

Read full guide →

Design Career Guide

UX/UI, Graphic Design, Product Design. Portfolio, tools, interviews, and growth in the Design field.

Read full guide →

Marketing Career Guide

SEO, Paid Media, Growth, Content Marketing. Certifications, tools, and strategies to grow in Digital Marketing.

Read full guide →

Finance Career Guide

Financial market, investments, corporate finance, certifications, and strategies to grow in the financial field.

Read full guide →

Communication Career Guide

Journalism, PR, Corporate Communication, Content Marketing, and Multimedia Production.

Read full guide →

Administration Career Guide

Business Management, HR, Logistics, Consulting, Project Management, and Entrepreneurship.

Read full guide →

Data Career Guide

Data Science, Data Engineering, BI, Machine Learning, and AI. From training to the job market.

Read full guide →

Product Career Guide

Product Management, Product Ownership, Agile, Scrum, and OKRs. From strategy to execution.

Read full guide →

Tech & Remote Glossary

Stop getting lost in interviews and job descriptions

The job market, especially within tech and global companies, has developed its own dialect. Not understanding these acronyms can make you lose valuable opportunities or poorly negotiate your contract. To end this problem, we created the Definitive Glossary for the Remote Professional.

🏢 Work Models & Routine

Async (Asynchronous Work)
A communication model where responses don't need to be immediate. Instead of back-to-back meetings, the team relies on well-structured documents, threads, and messages. It's the gold standard for global companies spanning multiple time zones.
Sync (Synchronous Work)
The opposite of Async. It requires the team to be online and available at the same time for meetings, live chats, and real-time collaboration.
Daily / Stand-up
A quick daily meeting (usually 15 minutes) common in Agile (Scrum) methodologies. The team answers three questions: What did I do yesterday? What will I do today? Are there any blockers?
All-Hands / Town Hall
A company-wide meeting involving all employees. Usually led by the founders (C-Levels) to present results, new goals, and answer team questions.
1:1 (One-on-One)
A recurring individual meeting between a professional and their direct manager. It is used for career alignment, feedback, and problem-solving, not just for project status updates.

💰 Contracts, Benefits & Compensation

PTO (Paid Time Off)
Instead of strict, categorized leave policies, modern US companies usually offer a flexible pool of days (e.g., 20 days of PTO, or even "Unlimited PTO") that you can use for vacations, sick days, or personal matters, while receiving your regular compensation.
Equity / Stock Options
Company ownership. The startup offers you the right to buy shares at a heavily discounted strike price in the future. If the company grows, goes public, or is acquired, these shares can be highly lucrative.
Vesting (Vesting Schedule)
The rule that controls your Equity. It usually lasts 4 years. You don't get all the shares on day one; you "earn" them gradually as you stay with the company. A "1-year Cliff" means you must stay for at least one year to receive your first batch of shares.
RSUs (Restricted Stock Units)
Unlike Stock Options (where you have the right to buy the stock), RSUs are actual shares the company grants you as a bonus or part of your compensation package, following a strict Vesting schedule.
Independent Contractor (1099 / B2B)
The most common international hiring model for global talent working for US companies. You act as a service provider (business-to-business), receiving the gross salary (often six-figure compensation) without standard local payroll tax deductions at the source.

🤖 Recruitment & Hiring Process

ATS (Applicant Tracking System)
The "robot" that reads your resume. Software like Greenhouse, Ashby, and Workday are used to filter candidates by keywords before a human even looks at the document. (Pro tip: this is why your resume must be clean, semantic, and have the right keywords).
JD (Job Description)
The document that lists the responsibilities, technical requirements, and benefits of the open position.
Cultural Fit
The interview stage that evaluates if your core values, communication style, and worldview align with the company's culture. This is the ultimate test of your Soft Skills.
Onboarding
The integration process. It's the period of your first few weeks at the company, where you get your access credentials, learn about the culture, study the internal documentation, and understand how the product works.

🚀 How to use this to your advantage?

The secret isn't just knowing what these acronyms mean, but using them actively. If during an interview for a premium tech role you ask, "How does your PTO policy and Vesting schedule work?", the recruiter will immediately perceive you as a high-level professional, familiar with the global market standards.

The remote job market requires preparation. And having the right vocabulary is the first big step to securing six-figure proposals and standing out among thousands of applicants.

Expert Tip

Data-Driven: How Data Defines Company Success or Failure

The Data-Driven Era: How Data Culture Defines Company Success or Failure

Published by Mondywork | Category: Data / Business Intelligence

The End of Corporate Gut Feeling

In the past, major business decisions were made based on intuition, previous experience, or the famous "gut feeling" of directors (what the market refers to as the HiPPO - Highest Paid Person's Opinion). Today, however, in a highly competitive and globalized corporate ecosystem, relying on guesswork is the fastest recipe for bankruptcy.

Digital transformation didn't just connect processes; it generated a massive volume of information. The companies that thrive are those that know how to capture, clean, and transform this raw data into actionable insights.

"Data-driven organizations are 23 times more likely to acquire customers, six times as likely to retain those customers, and 19 times as likely to be profitable as a result."
— McKinsey Global Institute Study

What Does it Mean to Have a Data-Driven Culture?

Being Data-Driven doesn't just mean subscribing to expensive Analytics tools or having a beautiful dashboard on the office wall. It's a fundamental shift in organizational culture, where truth is sought in the numbers before any action is executed.

  • Predictability: Predictive models allow companies to forecast market trends, customer churn, and operational bottlenecks before they happen.
  • Risk Mitigation: Decisions based on statistics drastically reduce the margin of error in investments and new product launches.
  • Personalization at Scale: Behavioral analysis enables marketing to deliver exactly what the user wants, right when they have the highest propensity to buy.

The Impact of Business Intelligence (BI) and Big Data

To extract the true value from information, companies are building robust Business Intelligence (BI) and Big Data departments. ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, Data Lakes architecture, and the mastery of software like Power BI and Tableau have become the backbone of top-tier US startups and unicorns.

The Harvard Business Review has repeatedly highlighted that the professional who can translate complex data into business language is a modern corporation's most valuable asset. It's not enough to have the data; you must know how to tell a story with it (Data Storytelling).

The Job Market: The Hunt for Data Talent

With this paradigm shift, the demand for Data Engineers, BI Analysts, Data Scientists, and Analytics Engineers has skyrocketed. International companies—especially in the US and Europe—are aggressively hiring global professionals for 100% US Remote roles, offering highly competitive six-figure compensation packages.

For these companies, which use rigorous Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS like Ashby, Workday, and Greenhouse), the ideal candidate is one who seamlessly blends technical mastery (SQL, Python, DAX) with a sharp business acumen.


References and Recommended Reading

  • McKinsey & Company: The data-driven enterprise of 2025.
  • Harvard Business Review: How to Build a Data-Driven Culture.
  • Gartner: Top Trends in Data and Analytics.

Master the art of turning data into revenue?

The best US startups and global tech companies are actively looking for analytical professionals like you, offering remote roles with premium compensation. Don't miss out on the top Data, BI, and Machine Learning opportunities in the market.