South America Lead, Global Affairs (Sao Paulo)

About the Team

OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity. Achieving this goal requires more than cutting-edge research—it demands deep, ongoing engagement with the policymakers, communities, institutions, and partners shaping the future of AI.

The Global Affairs team leads this engagement. We cultivate authentic, collaborative relationships with public officials, regulators, civil society, community stakeholders, and the broader AI policymaking community to ensure diverse perspectives inform our work. By bringing external insights into OpenAI and sharing our learnings transparently, we help advance thoughtful regulation, responsible industry standards, and governance frameworks that promote the safe and beneficial development of AI technologies.

In close partnership with our research, product, and policy colleagues, the LATAM Public Policy team leads our Global Affairs engagement across all of Latin America — working across countries to anticipate emerging issues, craft forward-looking strategies, and champion policies that align technological progress with human values. Our mission is to help shape the global conversation on AI and ensure that the benefits of this transformative technology reach people everywhere. Examples of priority markets in the region include Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.

About the Role

OpenAI is seeking a strategic, entrepreneurial, and highly capable leader to serve as our South America Lead. In this role, you will build and execute OpenAI’s public policy and strategic engagement efforts across South America—during a period of exceptional momentum for AI governance, innovation, and infrastructure development.

Reporting to the Head of LatAm Public Policy, you will lead OpenAI’s work with the governments in South America, regulators, academic institutions, industry partners, civil society, and the broader South American innovation ecosystem. You will anticipate and shape political, policy and regulatory trends, support public-sector and enterprise adoption of AI technologies, and identify opportunities for strategic partnerships across the region.

This role will involve:

Strategy & leadership:

- Develop and implement OpenAI’s Public Policy strategy in South America, aligning global priorities with political, policy, and partnership opportunities at the regional level.

Stakeholder & political engagement:

- Cultivate direct relationships with federal, state and city-level policymakers, regulators, ministerial officials, and civil society leaders.

- Anticipate and shape legislative, regulatory, and political developments related to AI and any other matters relevant to OpenAI such as innovation, safety, infrastructure, and economic development.

Partnerships & ecosystem building:

- Identify and develop partnerships across finance, academia, agriculture, industry and the health sector to enable responsible AI deployment.

- Support enterprise and public-sector adoption of AI tools, collaborating closely with OpenAI’s commercial and technical teams.

Implementation & execution:

- Translate strategy into implementation plans with clear timelines, partner engagement plans, goals, and deliverables.

- Produce insights, memos, activity updates, and recommendations for internal and executive audiences.

- Organize and lead meetings, events, roundtables, and official engagements across Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and other countries.

Cross-functional collaboration:

- Work closely with research, engineering, product, legal, communications, and partnerships teams to align policy strategies with technical roadmaps and company priorities.

- Ensure South American perspectives inform OpenAI’s global work on safety, governance, and deployment.

You’ll thrive in this role if you:

- Are a seasoned operator at the intersection of public policy, technology, and government relations, comfortable navigating complex, rapidly evolving environments.

- Are a relationship-builder who earns trust with senior leaders in government, academia, and industry.

- Enjoy working in a high-energy, start-up-style environment and are willing to roll up your sleeves—operating with humility, good judgment, and optimism.

- Thrive both independently and as part of a collaborative, high-performing, peer-led team.

- Are a compelling communicator who can translate complex technical and policy concepts into clear, persuasive narratives for diverse audiences.

- Are energized by cross-functional work and can bring technical, legal, commercial, and operational teams together around shared goals.

We’re looking for a blend of:

- 15+ years of experience in public policy, government relations, technology policy, economic development, or a related field.

- Demonstrated success engaging federal governments across multiple jurisdictions.

- Proven ability to shape legislation or regulation, lead high-stakes policy campaigns, or build strategic partnerships across public and private sectors.

- Experience advising senior executives on political, regulatory, and public-affairs risks and opportunities.

- Deep knowledge of South America’s political, regulatory, and economic ecosystem—including AI-related issues such as copyright, safety, privacy, innovation, competition, and infrastructure.

- Outstanding communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills with a track record of influencing senior stakeholders.

- Experience working cross-functionally across legal, research, communications, commercial, and policy teams.

- Strong strategic judgment, integrity, situational awareness, and political instincts.