OpenAI is putting in place a larger team in India, adding Applied AI Engineers and Architects to its ranks in Mumbai and Delhi. It is a response to the way businesses are no longer content with just experimenting with AI; they want to put it to work.
These new hires will be part of the Technical Success organisation. Their job is straightforward: to see enterprise customers through from proof-of-concept to a production system that can be measured for business value.
Why OpenAI Is Expanding Its India Team
The move is part of a broader push to increase OpenAI’s footprint on the ground in India. In addition to the Delhi office, there are plans for locations in Mumbai and Bengaluru. Local leadership is being bolstered as well; Prabhjeet Singh, who was President of Uber in India and South Asia, is due to come on board as Managing Director for India in September 2026.
What Will OpenAI’s New AI Roles Do?
An Applied AI Architect is expected to be the senior technical point of contact for an enterprise portfolio, something akin to the “CTO of their book of business.” The architect will shape AI strategy and walk the customer through everything from pre-sales discovery to deployment and beyond.
Then there are the Applied AI Engineers. They will be in the trenches with organisations to design and build the systems, handling the whole process from choosing use cases and architecture to prototyping and eventual scale-up.
In a sense, the roles mark a change in how enterprise AI is viewed. The issue is not so much proving AI can do the job, but ensuring it does so reliably when scaled up.
Why India Matters to OpenAI’s Growth
India has long been a key market for OpenAI. With some 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users – or roughly 9.3 per cent of all global traffic – the country is second only to the US in size, and younger demographics drive much of that usage.
To keep pace with that user base, OpenAI is making deeper local investments. The Delhi office has been open since August 2025 and more are on the way.
From AI Pilots to Production-Ready Systems
But the hiring in India is not limited to engineering. OpenAI is also assembling teams for enterprise sales, product partnerships and developer marketing. The approach is dictated by the reality of the Indian market where companies are done with isolated trials and are looking at agentic workflows and full production deployments. They need a partner that can navigate the local requirements around security, compliance and integration.
What OpenAI’s Expansion Means for India’s AI Talent
For the technology workforce here, the expansion is telling. It is a sign that India is evolving from a consumer of frontier AI into a hub where global firms are establishing the teams necessary to adapt and deploy it in the real world.
