Chief of Staff

Aisafety; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

The Center for AI Safety (CAIS) is seeking a senior operator to serve as Chief of Staff to the President. You will run the operating cadence, protect executive attention, drive cross-functional execution, and represent the President internally and externally.

This role reports to the President and coordinates across Research, Publications, Public Engagement, Operations, Special Projects, and Federal, with a disciplined approach to decision making and confidentiality.

Qualifications

• 5-12 years in chief-of-staff, program management, BizOps, or comparable senior operational roles.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; credible with internal executives and external partners.
• Highly organized; owns processes end-to-end.
• Strong judgment under ambiguity; directionally correct without full information.
• Trust and discretion with sensitive information.
• Bias toward execution and high reliability.

Responsibilities

• Run the weekly executive meeting and weekly team leads sync across Research, Publications, Public Engagement, Operations, Special Projects, and Federal—driving priorities, surfacing blockers, forcing decisions, and tracking accountability
• Own the President's calendar, availability, and information flow, ensuring only the highest-priority items reach him
• Coordinate across the executive team. Mediate disagreements, force alignment, surface concerns early, and drive issues to resolution
• Represent the President externally on partnership, contract, and stakeholder conversations
• Build the systems and processes that allow the organization to operate independently of the President for stretches of two or more weeks
• Make decisions on the President's behalf when necessary, with strong enough context to be directionally right
• Handle confidential and politically sensitive information with discretion

Skills

Executive coordination

Excellent communication

Highly organized

Judgment under ambiguity

Discretion with sensitive information

Bias toward execution

Job description

The Center for AI Safety (CAIS) is a leading research and advocacy organization focused on mitigating societal-scale risks from AI. We address AI's toughest challenges through technical research, field-building initiatives, and policy engagement, along with our sister organization in DC, Center for AI Safety Action Fund.

CAIS operates across six core areas: Research, Publications, Public Engagement, Operations, Special Projects, and Federal, each moving at high speed against the most consequential technology shift of our time. As we scale, an emerging bottleneck is the operating fabric that translates the President's intent into shipped outcomes across the organization.

We're hiring a senior operator to serve as Chief of Staff to the President. This role is the connective tissue between the leadership team. You will run the operating cadence, protect executive attention, drive cross-functional execution, and represent the President internally and externally. You will report to the President.

Responsibilities

• Run the weekly executive meeting and weekly team leads sync across Research, Publications, Public Engagement, Operations, Special Projects, and Federal—driving priorities, surfacing blockers, forcing decisions, and tracking accountability
• Own the President's calendar, availability, and information flow, ensuring only the highest-priority items reach him
• Coordinate across the executive team. Mediate disagreements, force alignment, surface concerns early, and drive issues to resolution
• Represent the President externally on partnership, contract, and stakeholder conversations
• Build the systems and processes that allow the organization to operate independently of the President for stretches of two or more weeks
• Make decisions on the President's behalf when necessary, with strong enough context to be directionally right
• Handle confidential and politically sensitive information with discretion

Qualifications

• 5-12 years in chief-of-staff, program management, BizOps, or comparable senior operational roles
• Excellent written and verbal communication; credible with both internal executives and external partners
• Highly organized; owns processes end-to-end
• Strong judgment under ambiguity; directionally correct without full information
• Trust and discretion with sensitive information
• Bias toward execution and high reliability

Equal Opportunity Employer

The Center for AI Safety is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, medical condition, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. In alignment with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment.

If you require a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please contact [e-mail].

We value diversity and encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply.