Lead Counsel, Commercial (Energy - Infrastructure)

About the Team OpenAI’s Legal team plays a crucial role in advancing our mission by tackling innovative and fundamental legal issues in AI. The team includes professionals from diverse legal fields—technology, AI, infrastructure, privacy, IP, corporate, employment, tax, regulatory, and litigation—who collaborate closely with colleagues across the company. If you are passionate about being an energy and infrastructure lawyer working on cutting-edge challenges, you’ll thrive here. About the Role We’re seeking an experienced energy lawyer to support the business on legal matters relating to the energy and power infrastructure supporting OpenAI’s fast-growing data center portfolio. This is a cross-functional role that will partner closely with energy, infrastructure development, engineering, procurement, and finance teams to advise on complex legal and regulatory issues and help structure, negotiate, and manage the transactions that secure reliable, cost-effective power for OpenAI’s long-term infrastructure ambitions. We’re looking for an experienced energy and infrastructure lawyer who thrives in ambiguity and wants to help define the commercial playbook for power procurement and energy project development in the AI era. This role reports to the Associate General Counsel for Infrastructure. The role’s scope and level will reflect the successful candidate’s experience and expertise. In this role, you will: - Own legal strategy and risk management for OpenAI’s global energy procurement and power infrastructure transactions, from initial structuring through execution and ongoing implementation. - Draft, negotiate, and advise on complex power purchase agreements, energy supply and hedging arrangements, and utility service and special contracts, including related regulatory requirements and approvals. - Structure and negotiate interconnection, transmission, and utility infrastructure arrangements that align power availability with data center development and operating schedules. - Advise leadership and business leaders on legal and regulatory considerations as they develop and implement our energy and data center strategy - Support strategic partnerships involving renewable and other carbon-free generation, energy storage, and on-site or behind-the-meter power solutions for AI infrastructure. - Develop legal and regulatory frameworks for energy procurement, project development, and collaboration with utilities, independent power producers, and energy developers. - Partner with finance and operations teams to align contract terms with business and compliance requirements, including pricing, delivery and curtailment risk, credit support, and project milestones. - Collaborate with policy and regulatory colleagues on issues impacting energy transactions, utility tariffs, grid access, market participation, retail service requirements, and renewable energy attributes. - Build scalable, efficient contracting processes that support OpenAI’s energy and infrastructure development at speed while managing legal and regulatory risk. - Guide outside counsel and coordinate with real estate, construction, tax, and regulatory counsel on energy transactions and project development. You might thrive in this role if you: - 10+ years of legal experience, with substantial focus on complex commercial energy transactions. - Have a JD and license or qualification to practice in CA. - Relevant experience in-house, at a law firm, or a combination of both, advising energy companies, utilities, developers, major power customers, or infrastructure investors. - Demonstrated experience independently leading complex energy transactions, including power purchase, utility service, or interconnection agreements. - Familiarity with U.S. electricity markets, utility tariffs, and the regulatory frameworks affecting energy supply, interconnection, and transmission, including FERC, state utility commissions, and regional grid operators. - Strong commercial judgment and financial fluency in energy pricing, volume commitments, credit support, and allocation of development and operating risk. - Demonstrated ability to operate with autonomy and sound judgment in highly technical and fast-moving environments. - Exceptional communication skills, with an ability to distill complexity into actionable, business-aligned guidance and advise senior business leaders on strategic decisions. - Experience advising on cross-border energy deals and international energy regulatory frameworks is a plus. - Prior experience with data center power procurement, generation or storage development, energy project finance, joint ventures, or on-site and behind-the-meter energy projects is a strong plus. 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 https://cdn.openai.com/policies/eeo-policy-statement.pdf. 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