Employment Investigator

About This Team

OpenAI’s People team is committed to hiring, engaging, and supporting world-class talent to help safely build and deploy universally beneficial Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

The Global Employee Relations, Employment Investigations, and People Standards team brings together expertise in employee relations, workplace investigations, and people policy and compliance. We play a critical role in shaping how OpenAI supports its people through complexity, growth, and change.

Our team guides and supports the company through some of its most nuanced and high-impact people challenges. We operate with deep context and care, balancing trust, judgment, and creativity in every situation. We don’t default to predefined frameworks. Instead, we take a principled yet flexible approach, designing thoughtful, tailored solutions that reflect our values, the needs of our employees, and the unique pace of OpenAI.

About This Role

We’re looking for an Employment Investigator to join our Employment Investigations team. This role reports to the Director of Employment Investigations and leads investigations into potential legal and policy violations. Drawing on your knowledge of employment law and strong investigative skills, you’ll handle sensitive issues with care and empathy and help foster a positive, respectful workplace culture.

You’ll work closely with senior investigators, Legal, and HR Business Partners to ensure investigations are handled with care, rigor, and integrity. This role is ideal for someone who has strong foundational investigations experience and is eager to grow their skills in a fast-paced, high-impact environment.

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:

• Lead and conduct thorough, objective, and timely investigations into employee concerns, including allegations of misconduct, harassment, discrimination, and other policy violations.
• Execute investigations with rigor and adhere to gold standard practices, ensuring meticulous attention to detail and adherence to investigative best practices.
• Maintain a high level of confidentiality, discretion, and empathy in all interactions.
• Adhere to protocols for gathering and preserving information, documentation, and report writing.
• Maintain accurate, complete, and consistent data in case management systems to ensure integrity and reliability of investigation records.
• Develop investigation plans, interview parties and witnesses, assess evidence, and prepare clear and comprehensive investigation reports.
• Escalate complex or sensitive matters to senior investigators and collaborate closely with Legal and other cross-functional partners.
• Follow protocols for gathering, preserving, and documenting evidence in line with best practices and legal standards.
• Partner closely with Legal, HR and other cross-functional teams to ensure fair, consistent, and values-aligned resolution of people issues.
• Contribute to process improvements by helping refine documentation standards, templates, and investigation workflows.
• Stay informed on employment law trends and workplace investigation best practices, seeking guidance when novel issues arise.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• A JD degree and 5+ years of experience as an employment or workplace investigations attorney, or in another in-house investigations role, or working on complex employee relations issues. Equivalent experience as an employment attorney is also welcomed. Global employment law experience or AWI-CH designation is a plus.
• Experience successfully managing and advising on sensitive, nuanced employee relations issues, with expertise in managing and de-escalating highly charged matters.
• Strong foundational knowledge of employment law and workplace investigation practices; some global exposure is a plus.
• Excellent analytical, written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to draft clear and defensible reports.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, enabling you to build trust, rapport and influence with employees at all levels.
• A detail-oriented, structured approach to problem-solving and documentation.
• Sound judgment, with a clear sense of when to escalate complex or sensitive matters.
• A growth mindset and a motivation to learn from experienced investigators and legal professionals.
• The capacity to thrive, adapt, and excel in a high-performance and rapidly changing work environment.
• Unwavering integrity and professionalism, with a commitment to maintaining confidentiality and handling sensitive information with the utmost discretion.
• Demonstrated empathy and the ability to think creatively and strategically in high-pressure situations.

Why This Role is Exciting:

• You’ll work on meaningful and impactful issues at the intersection of people, trust, and organizational integrity.
• You’ll have the opportunity to grow your expertise in complex investigations, with mentorship and guidance from senior investigators and Legal partners.
• You’ll contribute to building fair, transparent processes that reflect OpenAI’s values and culture.
• As the company continues to expand globally, you’ll gain exposure to multi-region issues in a way that accelerates your professional growth.