Chief of Staff

The AI Policy Network; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 165,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Technology budget

Health insurance stipend

Unlimited PTO

Job summary

The AI Policy Network (AIPN) seeks a Chief of Staff in Washington, DC, with hybrid work options. This senior operations role extends the Executive Director's capacity, building the systems needed for growth and decision-making at scale.

The ideal candidate has 5+ years supporting senior leaders, superb written communication, and judgment to act decisively with imperfect information. Strong discretion and cross-functional leadership are essential.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in decision-support or operational leadership roles (e.g., chief of staff, legislative director, campaign manager, agency chief of staff, or management consultant).
• Strong project management and cross-team performance delivery.
• Exceptional written communication for memos, briefing materials, and strategy documents.

Responsibilities

• Develop fluency in organizational priorities to handle ED-level decisions.
• Triage requests and route only ED-level decisions to the Executive Director.
• Drive operating cadence: weekly staff meetings, monthly reviews, quarterly planning.
• Identify gaps and own interim functions during hiring.
• Prepare board briefings, donor materials, and external partnership communications.
• Represent the ED in meetings with partners, funders, and policy stakeholders.
• Coordinate with external firms on behalf of the ED.
• Synthesize signals across teams and surface actionable insights.
• Draft memos, strategy documents, and internal communications.
• Support preparation for Hill meetings, donor events, and media appearances.

Skills

Project management

Written communication

Ambiguity tolerance

Discretion with sensitive information

Stakeholder management

Job description

• Location: Washington, D.C. (open to hybrid arrangements)
• Compensation: $165,000 - $235,000
• Reports to: Executive Director

I. POSITION SUMMARY

The Chief of Staff is a senior operational role responsible for extending the Executive Director's capacity across the organization. As AIPN scales, the Chief of Staff will absorb context across all functions, make decisions on behalf of the Executive Director, and build the operating systems that allow the organization to grow without routing every decision through the Executive Director.

The ideal candidate brings experience supporting senior leaders in fast-paced, high-stakes environments, strong communication and management skills, and the judgment to act decisively with imperfect information.

II. RESPONSIBILITIES

A. Decision Support & Delegation

• Develop sufficient fluency in AIPN's priorities, constraints, and reasoning to handle a large fraction of decisions that currently require the Executive Director's direct involvement.
• Triage incoming requests and issues, routing only genuinely ED-level decisions to the Executive Director.

B. Organizational Operations

• Drive AIPN's operating cadence, including weekly staff meetings, monthly reviews, and quarterly planning cycles.
• Identify operational gaps and build solutions, including interim ownership of functions during hiring.
• Track organizational commitments and hold teams accountable to deadlines and deliverables.

C. Stakeholder & External Management

• Prepare briefings and materials for board meetings, donor engagements, and external partnerships.
• Represent the Executive Director in meetings with partners, funders, and policy stakeholders as appropriate.
• Coordinate with external firms (lobbying, communications, legal) on behalf of the Executive Director.
• Comfort operating across the political spectrum, including in Republican congressional and executive branch environments.

D. Information Synthesis & Strategic Support

• Connect signals across teams -- identifying when hiring delays, product questions, and stakeholder concerns reflect a common underlying issue -- and surface insights clearly.
• Draft decision memos, strategy documents, and internal communications.
• Support preparation for high-level engagements, including Hill meetings, donor events, and media appearances.

III. QUALIFICATIONS

A. Required

• 5+ years of experience in decision-support or operational leadership roles, such as chief of staff, legislative director, campaign manager, agency chief of staff, or management consultant.
• Strong project management skillset and comfort driving performance across a large team.
• Exceptional written communication skills, including the ability to produce clear decision memos, briefing materials, and strategy documents under time pressure.
• Comfort operating with ambiguity and making judgment calls with incomplete information.
• Experience managing sensitive information with complete discretion (board materials, personnel decisions, financial data).

B. Preferred

• Familiarity with technology policy, AI, or national security policy environments.
• Experience in political organizations, advocacy groups, or think tanks.
• Sufficient technical literacy to triage decisions related to engineering, infrastructure, or product development.
• Background in nonprofit or 501(c)(4) organizational operations.

IV. ABOUT AIPN

The AI Policy Network (AIPN) is a bipartisan, independent 501(c)(4) advocacy organization dedicated to preparing America for the era of artificial superintelligence. We provide policymakers with technically grounded perspectives on emerging AI capabilities and risks, with particular focus on ensuring advanced AI systems remain reliable, controllable, and aligned with their intended purposes.

Benefits include technology budget, stipend for health insurance, and unlimited PTO.