Business Operations Manager

Constellation Institute; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 195,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthy meals

Snacks & drinks

Generous vacation

401(k) with match

Commuter benefits

Health, dental, vision insurance

Collaborative team

Engagement with researchers

Job summary

Constellation Institute in Berkeley, CA seeks a Business Operations Manager to lead a talented BizOps team. You will report to the Director of Business Operations, delivering timely and accurate financial information while building rigorous compliance and processes.

The role emphasizes leadership, budgeting, grants, and partnerships to enable fast, informed decisions in a dynamic AI safety environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years working in non-profit finance with at least 2 years in a leadership role.
• Experience with budgets of $20M+ and high transaction volume.
• 3+ years supervising a team of 2 or more.
• Experience building intuitive tools in Google Sheets or Excel for non-financial audiences.
• Strong judgment on speed vs. precision; 'get to yes' mindset, with ability to say no when needed.
• Experience with QuickBooks Online and Bill.com/Divvy.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a small BizOps team, including coaching and performance management.
• Own month-end close and day-to-day accounting; collaborate with external accountants.
• Lead annual budgeting and real-time close reporting.
• Manage banking relationships and rolling cash flow projections.
• Partner with program and event leads to embed BizOps in planning.

Skills

Financial planning & analysis

Business forecasting

Clear communication

Owns accounting operations

Time & project management

Tools

Google Sheets

Excel

QuickBooks Online

Bill.com

Divvy

Job description

About Constellation

Constellation is an independent research center that brings together people throughout the AI safety ecosystem to accelerate insight, research, and talent through better cooperation. Unlike a conference or summit, Constellation operates continuously, in the form of a physical workspace as well as conference-style talks, workshops, and training bootcamps. Continuous operation allows for relationships and conversations to develop over time, meaningfully fostering trust, collaboration, and shared insight. It also makes Constellation a natural field-building hub by rapidly inspiring, orienting, and connecting people who are newer to the field.

About Constellation

Constellation is an independent research center that brings together people throughout the AI safety ecosystem to accelerate insight, research, and talent through better cooperation. Unlike a conference or summit, Constellation operates continuously, in the form of a physical workspace as well as conference-style talks, workshops, and training bootcamps. Continuous operation allows for relationships and conversations to develop over time, meaningfully fostering trust, collaboration, and shared insight. It also makes Constellation a natural field-building hub by rapidly inspiring, orienting, and connecting people who are newer to the field.

Based in Berkeley, CA, our shared workspace hosts over 300 people per week across dozens of AI safety organizations in nonprofits, academia, industry, and government. Hundreds of other researchers spend time at Constellation for shorter visits each year. We believe this is the strongest and highest-output network of AI safety researchers in the world; dozens of participants in past Constellation programs have gone on to safety-focused roles at companies such as METR, Redwood Research, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and the US and UK Safety Institutes.

About The Role

As our Business Operations Manager, you'll lead a talented team, report directly to our Director of Business Operations, and have visibility across the organization. As a support function delivering on a time-sensitive and critical mission, this role will help the team make fast decisions with sound financial information, while building the financial rigor and compliance that a field under increasing scrutiny demands. We're looking for a seasoned financial operator who leads and collaborates well, in an environment that moves as quickly as the field we work in.

Key responsibilities

Team Leadership

• Lead and grow a small team of Business Operations generalists: coaching, performance management, workload balancing, and holding the team accountable for quality.
• Ensure process documentation is current, clear, and genuinely useful.
• Shape and update key BizOps policies, including billing and expense policies.

Finance And Accounting

• Own month-end close and day-to-day accounting, working closely with our external accountants and the BizOps team.
• Lead annual budgeting process.
• Regularly report close to real-time budget vs actuals for team budgets.
• Own the annual financial audit and 990 filing, start to finish.
• Manage banking relationships and account administration.
• Build and maintain rolling cash flow projections.
• Support grant management for off-cycle funding.

Organizational partnership

• Partner with program and event leads so BizOps needs are built into planning and programs operate quickly and efficiently.
• Provide support to partner organizations as they build or strengthen their own business operations functions
• Take on additional BizOps projects as they come up, from negotiating a vendor contract to standing up a grant making system.

Experience

• 5+ years working in non-profit finance, with at least 2 years in a leadership role
• An ideal candidate has worked with a $20M+ budget with high transaction volume and complexity
• 3+ years supervising a team of 2 or more
• A "get to yes" mindset, paired with the judgment to know when and how to effectively deliver a no
• Experience building intuitive tools in Google Sheets or Excel for non-financial audiences
• Good judgment on speed vs. precision tradeoffs
• Experience with QuickBooks Online and Bill.com / Divvy

Skills

• Financial planning and analysis
• Business forecasting and program modeling
• Clear communication across internal teams and external stakeholders (auditors, accountants, vendors)
• Comfortable owning accounting operations directly, not just overseeing them
• Excellent time and project management

Compensation & Benefits

The base pay range for this role is $150,000 - $195,000 per year.

• Healthy lunches and dinners catered by our amazing kitchen team
• Unlimited snacks & drinks
• Generous vacation policy
• 401(k) with employer match
• Employer-paid commuter benefits
• High-quality health, dental, and vision insurance
• Friendly and supportive team
• Regular interaction with AI safety researchers and thought leaders

Additional Information

This is a full time, on-site role. Our Berkeley office is a few steps from the nearest BART (metro) and bus stop. On-site parking is also available.

The ideal candidate for this role will have some combination of the skills and experiences described above. If you are not sure if you are qualified, we strongly encourage you to apply anyway. Beyond the qualifications outlined, our priority is building a team that will help humanity safely navigate the development of transformative AI. If you would be excited to do this work, we’d love to consider you.

We value diversity in all respects and base our hiring decisions on the needs of the organization and individual qualifications. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age or disability.