How OpenAI's New Chief People Officer Leads in the AI Era

OpenAI has announced that it is appointing Arvind KC as its new Chief People Officer, joining the company from a position as Chief People and Systems Officer at Roblox.

He will be taking over from Julia Villagra, who left the role in September 2025. 

Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications at OpenAI, says of the appointment: “We believe the way we scale OpenAI should reflect the future we’re helping to create. 

“KC will play a key role in ensuring our people processes, policies and systems match our ambition, while preserving the culture and operating principles that have helped us get here.”

People strategy at OpenAI

Over the course of his career, Arvind has held senior leadership roles in a combination of people and IT functions, for companies such as Roblox, Google, Meta and Palantir. 

According to OpenAI, this background provides him with the context to best understand how high performing technical teams operate, allowing him to develop a people strategy that can sustain the company’s mission-focused culture. 

OpenAI has grown significantly in recent years – from US$30m annual revenue in 2020 to an estimated annual revenue of US$13bn-US$20bn in 2025. 

With this rapid scale up, the company says it feels it has an “obligation” to ensure it invests in employee growth and looks after its talent. 

This is of particular importance as new AI capabilities change how the company gets work done. 

OpenAI has already embedded its own tools within daily workflows to ensure employees use the technology to improve their efficiency. 

It has also developed OpenAI Academy, which is designed to democratise AI learning and skills such as prompt engineering. 

Going forward, OpenAI says Arvind’s role will be central to transitioning responsibly towards a more AI-enabled era. 

Arvind says: “This is a moment where every organisation is being asked to rethink how work happens, what teams need, how people grow, and how to adapt as the tools change. 

“I'm excited to join OpenAI as we work through those questions ourselves, and alongside our ecosystem of users, customers and partners building the future with us.”

AI’s role in the workplace

Having a robust people strategy in place is crucial as AI plays an increasingly important role in workforce operations. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has previously predicted that AI may soon be more capable than humans. 

At the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, Sam said: “AI superintelligence at some point on its development curve would be capable of doing a better job being the CEO of a major company than any executive, certainly me”.

In January 2026, Sam shared at a town hall event that the company is looking to reduce its hiring processes. He said: “We are planning to dramatically slow down how quickly we grow because we think we'll be able to do so much more with fewer people”. 

The company is investing in its people as it evolves, however, by reskilling them for new ways of working. This includes the OpenAI residency programme – a six month, in-person programme designed to help researchers transition into AI roles. 

Through this initiative, the company is reskilling talent for more advanced AI development.