← Back to jobs

Hardware Finance Manager

openai

Híbrido San Francisco
Finance

Job Score

90 pts
Hybrid model (+80) Finance (+10)

About the Team

OpenAI’s acquisition of io marks our entry into consumer hardware and our ambition to define the next human–computer interface. Success in hardware requires strong financial stewardship across the full product cost stack—from early design and sourcing decisions through manufacturing, logistics, inventory, returns, and warranty.

Hardware Finance works across Product, Supply Chain, Operations, Accounting, Systems/Data, and Finance to connect business decisions to product cost, inventory, cash, COGS, and margin.

About the Role

We are seeking a Hardware Finance Manager to own an assigned area of hardware COGS and inventory end to end. The initial assignment will depend on business priorities and the successful candidate’s expertise. It may include BOM and product cost, manufacturing variance analysis, inventory planning, logistics, returns and warranty, customer support, or another connected set of hardware-finance responsibilities.

This is an individual-contributor role with broad scope. Prior hardware experience and deep, hands-on expertise in at least two relevant domains are required. The person will be expected to operate independently, build reusable processes and analytical workflows, and remain accountable for the analysis, judgment, and recommendations.

In this role, you will:

  • Own an assigned area of hardware COGS and inventory end to end.

  • Own forecasting, close, and business variance analysis for the assigned scope.

  • Provide hardware leadership with clear variance explanations, trend analysis, and forward-looking signals that connect business and supplier decisions to inventory, cash, COGS, and margin.

  • Partner with business teams and Finance Platforms to establish the financial data, systems, and dashboards needed to support analysis.

  • Ensure data integrity and governance through clear definitions, ownership, validation checks, controls, and review processes.

  • Improve forecasting, reporting, systems, and finance processes so they remain reliable and can scale as the organization grows.

  • Build strong cross-functional relationships and identify material risks, opportunities, and tradeoffs early.

  • Develop practical scenarios and recommendations that help leadership make informed decisions.

  • Partner across Supply Chain, Operations, Product, Accounting, Systems/Data, and Finance.

  • Drive alignment without formal authority and communicate complex financial issues clearly to senior stakeholders.

  • Develop expertise in an adjacent COGS or inventory domain as business priorities evolve.

You might thrive in this role if you have:

  • 8+ years of prior consumer hardware or complex physical-product finance experience.

  • Deep, hands-on expertise across multiple relevant domains, with demonstrated ownership in at least two.

  • Demonstrated leadership of ambiguous cross-functional initiatives with material impact.

  • Strong financial modeling, analytical, communication, and stakeholder-influence skills.

  • Evidence of building scalable processes, systems, frameworks, or automated workflows.

  • Ability to identify accounting, control, data, and source implications and engage the right owners.

  • Ability to lead through influence and improve others’ effectiveness.

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.

What did you think of this job?

Comments 0

Want to leave a comment?
Sign in or create your account in seconds to join the discussion.
Loading comments...

About Finance

The Finance area in technology companies combines traditional financial knowledge with advanced digital tools. FP&A, controlling, and corporate finance professionals are essential for the organization's financial health.

Key skills include financial modeling, metrics analysis (MRR, ARR, LTV, CAC), ERP (SAP, Oracle), and BI tools. Certifications like CFA and CPA-20 are differentiators.

The financial sector offers stable opportunities with competitive salaries, especially in fintechs and large technology companies.

Discover Other Areas

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

About Technical Support

Technical Support is essential to ensure customer satisfaction and retention. Support professionals resolve technical issues, document solutions, and identify patterns that can lead to product improvements.

Key skills include troubleshooting, customer service, technical documentation, ITIL knowledge, and ticketing tools (Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom).

Technical support has evolved from a reactive to a proactive function, with high-level professionals working in Customer Engineering and Support Engineering.

About UI Design

The User Interface (UI) Design area focuses on creating and designing all the visual elements that users interact with in a digital product. This includes screens, buttons, icons, typography, color palettes, and responsive layouts, ensuring an aesthetically pleasing, consistent, and easy-to-use interface. Skills in tools like Figma and knowledge of design systems are essential.

About Customer Success

Customer Success is the area responsible for ensuring clients achieve their goals when using the product or service. It is a strategic function for retention, expansion, and customer satisfaction.

Key skills include account management, churn analysis, NPS, onboarding, upsell, and cross-sell. Knowledge of CS tools like Gainsight, Totango, and ChurnZero is a differentiator.

CS is becoming increasingly strategic in SaaS companies, with professionals directly contributing to recurring revenue growth (MRR/ARR).

About Cloud Solutions

The Cloud Solutions area is responsible for designing, implementing, and managing cloud infrastructure and services (AWS, Azure, GCP) for companies. Cloud professionals architect scalable, secure, and cost-optimized solutions, from data center migrations to serverless and multi-cloud architectures.

Key skills include IaC (Terraform, CloudFormation), containers (Docker, Kubernetes), serverless (Lambda, Cloud Functions), managed databases (RDS, DynamoDB, BigQuery), cloud networking (VPC, CDN, load balancer), and security (IAM, WAF, KMS). Knowledge of FinOps, cloud governance, and AWS/Azure/GCP certifications is a differentiator.

Cloud Solutions professionals in technology companies are highly valued, especially those who master multi-cloud architectures, FinOps, and can optimize costs while maintaining performance and security. The field offers opportunities from cloud engineer to cloud solutions architect, head of cloud, and chief cloud architect.

About Sales

The Sales area is responsible for generating revenue and expanding the customer base. B2B and B2C sales professionals are fundamental for sustainable growth of any organization.

Key skills include prospecting, negotiation, CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot), sales enablement, and value consulting. The consultative and data-driven approach is increasingly valued.

Consultative sellers and senior Sales Managers have very high earning potential, with OTE (On-Target Earnings) that can exceed monthly salaries in technology 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

The New Account Manager Profile: How to Land the Best Remote B2B SaaS Jobs

The Evolution of Account Management: Beyond Relationship Building

If you are aiming for an Account Manager (AM), Key Account Manager (KAM), or Enterprise Account Director role in 2026, it is crucial to understand that the traditional "order-taker" profile focused solely on charisma is a thing of the past. In tech companies, especially within the B2B SaaS (Software as a Service) model, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is higher than ever. Consequently, retaining and expanding the existing customer base are now the primary drivers of profitability.

Recruiters at tech giants and hyper-growth startups are looking for hybrid professionals: individuals with sharp emotional intelligence, but who also possess strong analytical skills to interpret usage data and prevent churn. If your resume does not reflect this duality, you will quickly be filtered out by modern ATS algorithms.

3 Critical Skills to Make Your Resume Stand Out

1. Mastery of Data-Driven Strategies

An elite Account Manager does not wait for the client to complain before taking action. They actively monitor account health. During interviews, you must be able to discuss how you leverage CRM tools (like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Pipedrive) and Customer Success platforms (like Gainsight or Totango) to identify Upsell and Cross-sell opportunities.

"B2B sales teams that adopt data-driven and AI-backed strategies perform substantially better in customer retention and account expansion."

— Gartner Report on B2B Sales

2. Bridging the Gap Between Client and Engineering (Product Feedback Loop)

You will act as the voice of the customer within the company. The most competitive roles require the AM to translate client business pains into actionable insights for Product Managers (PMs) and Software Engineers. In your portfolio of achievements, always mention how your clients' feedback helped shape the product roadmap, resulting in new features and increased Net Promoter Scores (NPS).

3. Asynchronous Communication and Remote Strategic Consulting

With remote work firmly established globally, traditional in-person business lunches have been replaced by strategic Zoom calls and asynchronous alignments. You need to demonstrate your ability to lead a Quarterly Business Review (QBR) effectively in a remote setting, presenting ROI (Return on Investment) reports that easily justify contract renewals.

Practical Interview Tips

When you reach the interview stage with a VP of Sales or Head of Customer Success, drop the generic speech and bring concrete numbers to the table. Structure your answers using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

  • Focus on Net Revenue Retention (NRR): Do not just state how many accounts you managed; explain how you successfully grew the revenue of those accounts over time.
  • Conflict Resolution: Have a ready-to-tell example of an "at-risk" account that you managed to turn around and save from churning.
  • Onboarding and Adoption: Explain your methodology for ensuring that the client fully adopts and utilizes the software from day one.

The Path to Six-Figure Remote Roles

The US tech market remains highly competitive, with enterprise account roles in startups and scale-ups consistently offering six-figure base salaries plus aggressive OTE (On-Target Earnings). However, simply applying through standard job boards often leads your resume straight into a black hole. To access the "hidden job market" of premium US Remote opportunities, smart networking and utilizing curated tech platforms are absolute requirements.

"The best sales opportunities are not the ones you merely apply for; they are the ones your reputation and network qualify you for in advance."

— Harvard Business Review: The Future of B2B Sales