OpenAI Appoints Vijaye Raji as CTO of Applications Following Statsig Acquisition

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OpenAI Expands Leadership with Vijaye Raji and the Integration of Statsig

September 2, 2025

OpenAI is taking a significant step in its mission to bring advanced AI research to practical applications by appointing Vijaye Raji as the new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Applications. This move comes alongside the acquisition of Statsig, a leading experimentation platform that has already played a crucial role in OpenAI’s rapid development and deployment processes.

Technical Changes and Why They Matter

The appointment of Vijaye Raji and the integration of Statsig represent a strategic shift for OpenAI. As the company scales ChatGPT and develops new applications to serve hundreds of millions of users, the need for robust engineering systems, fast iteration, and a focus on quality and reliability becomes paramount.

• Leadership Expansion: Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications at OpenAI, will now have Raji reporting directly to her. This structure ensures that product engineering for key applications like ChatGPT and Codex is aligned with the broader mission.
• Core Systems and Product Lines: Raji’s responsibilities will span core systems, infrastructure, and integrity, ensuring that these components are optimized for performance and security.

Vijaye Raji: A Proven Leader in Scale and Innovation

Vijaye Raji brings a wealth of experience to his new role. As the founder and CEO of Statsig, he has demonstrated an entrepreneurial vision and a deep understanding of how rapid experimentation and data-driven decision-making can drive product success. His decade-long tenure at Meta, where he led large-scale consumer engineering, further solidifies his credentials.

• Entrepreneurial Vision: Raji’s background in founding and scaling Statsig showcases his ability to build innovative products from the ground up.
• Operational Expertise: His experience at Meta has equipped him with the skills to manage complex engineering systems and drive large-scale projects.

The Role of Statsig

Statsig is a trusted platform for A/B testing, feature flagging, and real-time decisioning. By bringing it in-house, OpenAI aims to accelerate its experimentation capabilities and build more responsive user experiences.

• Rapid Experimentation: The ability to quickly test and iterate on new features will be crucial as OpenAI continues to develop and refine its applications.
• Data-Informed Decisions: Statsig’s robust data analytics tools will help OpenAI make informed decisions, ensuring that their products are both effective and safe.

Vision for the Future

Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications at OpenAI, expressed her confidence in Raji’s leadership:

"Vijaye has a remarkable record of building new consumer and B2B products and systems at scale. He’s joining at a time when our models are opening entirely new ways to build, and his leadership will help turn that progress into safe applications that empower people with many new tools to improve their lives, help companies increase their impact, and allow developers to build faster and better products."

Raji also shared his enthusiasm for the new role:

"Joining OpenAI as CTO of Applications is an extraordinary opportunity to bring my experience scaling consumer and enterprise products to a mission I deeply believe in: advancing AI in ways that are capable of solving hard problems, reliable, and truly beneficial to people everywhere. The journey with Statsig has been deeply gratifying, leading me to this moment and giving me conviction that we will continue helping teams ship better software every day."

Conclusion

With the appointment of Vijaye Raji and the acquisition of Statsig, OpenAI is well-positioned to continue its mission of advancing AI in a way that is both innovative and responsible. The combination of strong leadership and cutting-edge technology will be crucial as the company scales its applications to serve a global audience.