Safety Response Operations Lead

About the Team At OpenAI, our Trust, Safety & Risk Operations teams safeguard our products, users, and the company from abuse, fraud, scams, regulatory non-compliance, and other emerging risks. We operate at the intersection of operations, compliance, user trust, and safety working closely with Legal, Policy, Engineering, Product, Go-To-Market, and external partners to ensure our platforms are safe, compliant, and trusted by a diverse, global user base. The Global Safety Response Operations team provides 24/7 coverage for user safety, risk, and regulatory escalations across OpenAI’s products, handling the highest-priority cases that require human judgment and rapid response. The team operates as the core escalation and delivery arm of OpenAI’s safety operations, ensuring that our products remain safe and aligned with policy while enabling timely, empathetic, and consistent user support. About the Role The Global Safety Response Operations Lead is a hands-on team lead who both manages a regional Safety Response team and personally handles high-risk safety cases. This role combines frontline safety work with people leadership, operational ownership, and cross-functional coordination. You will lead a team of Safety Response Analysts who handle OpenAI’s most sensitive and high-impact cases, while also personally contributing to casework for complex, high-risk, or high-visibility issues. You will own the execution of high severity escalations in your region and ensure proper execution and communication to cross functional stakeholders You will be accountable for ensuring your region consistently meets utilization, quality, and SLA targets while serving as the operational interface with Product, Policy, Legal, Investigations, and regional stakeholders. This is a 24/7 global operation that requires flexibility to support rotating shifts, including nights, weekends, and holidays, as part of a leadership on-call model. In This Role, You Will: Lead and coach a regional team of Safety Response Analysts, ensuring high performance, engagement, and consistent decision quality. Own regional operational outcomes, including utilization, SLA adherence, backlog health, and quality benchmarks. Handle and oversee the most complex and high-risk cases, serving as the first line of escalation and incident lead for your region. Contribute directly to frontline work (20–30%), including investigations, enforcement decisions, and regulatory or legal escalations. Partner cross-functionally with Product, Policy, Legal, Investigations, and local market teams to execute safety outcomes and manage risk. Drive operational excellence and continuous improvement, improving workflows, tools, automation, and escalation paths. Identify emerging risks and trends, translating frontline insights into actionable recommendations for policy, product, or enforcement. You Might Thrive in This Role If You: You have 5+ years in Trust & Safety, Risk Operations, Investigations, Fraud, Annotation,