Incentive Programs Specialist, AWS

Job description

About the Team OpenAI’s Partnerships organization works at the intersection of technology, infrastructure, and go-to-market strategy to accelerate the adoption of AI globally. We collaborate closely with strategic cloud providers and ecosystem partners to scale access to OpenAI products and enable customer success. We are seeking an Incentives Programs Specialist, AWS to lead the strategy, planning, and operational execution of AWS incentive funding programs across OpenAI. This role will own how OpenAI maximizes and deploys AWS incentive investments — including Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) funding and broader AWS partner incentive programs — to drive measurable business outcomes. This is a highly cross-functional role that combines strategic planning, financial stewardship, program design, and partner collaboration. You will work closely with GTM, Partnerships, Finance, and AWS stakeholders to ensure incentive investments are aligned to OpenAI’s highest-priority growth initiatives. About the Role As the Incentive Programs Specialist, AWS, you will define and manage OpenAI’s AWS incentive funding strategy across multiple business motions, customer segments, and partner initiatives. You will oversee annual and quarterly planning, optimize funding allocation, and continuously evaluate program effectiveness to maximize ROI and business impact. You will serve as the central owner of OpenAI’s AWS incentive ecosystem — maintaining visibility across both SCA-specific funding and standard AWS partner programs — and translate those opportunities into scalable, high-impact incentive strategies. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in highly analytical, fast-moving environments and enjoys building structured programs that influence strategic business growth. You Will - Own the strategy and deployment plan for AWS incentive funding, including the Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) funding pool and the broader portfolio of AWS partner incentive programs available to OpenAI. - Develop annual and quarterly funding plans, including budget allocation, quarterization, prioritization frameworks, and in-period rebalancing based on performance and evolving business needs. - Design and operationalize incentive programs that support AWS and OpenAI GTM priorities, including: - Partner activation - Co-sell acceleration - Customer adoption - Strategic partner investment - Define investment allocation strategies across segments, partners, sales motions, and time periods to maximize business impact and funding utilization. - Monitor program performance, ROI, funding utilization, and business outcomes; identify trends and optimize programs to improve efficiency and effectiveness. - Build reporting and governance mechanisms to provide transparency into funding performance, forecasts, and utilization. - Partner cross-functionally with GTM, Partnerships, Finance, Revenue Operations, and AWS stakeholders to align incentive investments with strategic priorities. - Maintain expertise in the AWS incentives landscape, including evolving AWS partner funding models, eligibility requirements, and operational processes. - Ensure OpenAI fully captures and operationalizes available AWS program benefits and incentive opportunities. You Might Thrive in This Role If You - Have experience managing cloud incentive programs, partner funding, channel programs, or strategic alliance investments — ideally with AWS or another hyperscaler ecosystem. - Are highly analytical and comfortable working with budgets, forecasting models, ROI analysis, and business performance metrics. - Can translate complex funding structures into clear operational plans and scalable business programs. - Are comfortable operating cross-functionally across business, finance, operations, and partner teams. - Have strong program management skills and can drive initiatives from strategy through execution. - Thrive in ambiguous, fast-paced environments and enjoy building structure where it does not yet exist. - Communicate clearly and effectively with both executive stakeholders and operational teams. Preferred Qualifications - 5+ years of experience in partnerships, cloud alliances, incentive programs, finance operations, GTM strategy, or related fields. - Experience working with AWS partner programs, SCA structures, MDF/co-sell funding, or cloud ecosystem incentives. - Experience managing large funding pools, investment planning, or strategic business operations. - Strong Excel / financial modeling and data analysis capabilities. - Familiarity with SaaS, cloud infrastructure, AI, or enterprise technology ecosystems. 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 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. 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