OpenAI has hired former Shopify executive Glen Worthington to lead product and customer support.
Worthington previously worked as vice president of global support at Shopify, leading teams with thousands of employees who troubleshoot issues for the Canadian e-commerce company's millions of merchants. He's the latest among a string of leaders in Shopify's support organization to leave.
Under Worthington's leadership, Shopify embarked on a plan to put AI at the center of its work with merchants. It aimed to make it easier for merchants to get answers to simple questions without having to involve Shopify employees unless necessary. Shopify's work with AI has incorporated large language models, including those developed by OpenAI.
Worthington was also previously chief of staff, reporting to Shopify's former COO, Toby Shannan.
At OpenAI, he will lead the User Operations organization, which collaborates with Sales, Product, and Engineering to ensure that companies using OpenAI's products have a good experience. OpenAI is hiring generalists and engineers to work on that team.
Representatives for OpenAI and Shopify did not provide comment by the time of publication.
Worthington posted about his new gig on LinkedIn.
"The opportunity to be part of something this deeply important to the world could not be more motivating for me, and I am grateful for the chance to work alongside some of the brightest minds building support systems for the most creative users on the planet," he wrote. "The journey ahead is not just about addressing today's challenges, it's about reimagining what support can be in the age of AI."
Shopify's Support organization has undergone some leadership changes in recent months.
Jen Bebb, previously Shopify's director of global merchant and product support, left the company in March when Worthington left. She has since joined WordPress VIP as vice president of global support. Clovis Cuqui, who previously led support as Shopify's VP of merchant acceleration, announced his departure in October.
During his time at Shopify, Worthington helped lead a project called "Code Yellow," intended to improve customer-service levels that had "deteriorated beyond acceptable ranges," according to internal documents.
Shopify does not have any open roles listed in customer support.
Worthington isn't the only Shopify leader to join OpenAI in recent months. Miqdad Jaffer, who led companywide AI initiatives as a director of product at Shopify, joined OpenAI's product staff in March.
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