Manager, Operations

Constellation Institute

Berkeley (CA)

On-site

USD 148,000 - 192,000

Full time

5 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Healthy meals

Unlimited snacks and drinks

Generous vacation policy

401(k) with company match

Employer-paid commuter benefits

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Friendly and supportive team

Engagement with AI safety researchers

Job summary

Constellation Institute is seeking an Operations Program Manager to lead and develop the Operations Coordinator team, ensuring excellent daily service and career growth for OCs. The role involves prioritizing requests, managing overtime, and collaborating with cross‑functional teams to design scalable processes.

Based on in‑person, Berkeley‑on‑site work from 9am–5pm, with occasional events after hours. This entry‑level operations role grows into higher responsibility within the AI safety

Qualifications

Experience managing and developing a team of 5–10 early‑career staff
Experience designing or running onboarding and training programs
Strong prioritization across many stakeholders and saying no with grace
Direct, kind, specific feedback and delivering difficult news
Hiring experience: screening, interviewing, and decisions
Hands‑on operations knowledge (office, events, customer support) to set QA standards
Systems thinking to fix processes at scale
Clear, concise written communication
Familiar with Asana, Slack, Google Workspace, and Claude

Responsibilities

Lead and develop a team of 5–10 Operations Coordinators and Senior OCs
Prioritize OC time requests, balance capacity, and communicate decisions
Own OC training plan and improve it with cohort feedback
Ensure quality standards for onboarding, offboarding, arrivals, and requests
Collaborate with Site Operations, Convening, People Ops, and BizOps
Partner with managers to design long‑term OC program structure

Skills

Team leadership

People development

Prioritization

Feedback delivery

Hiring experience

Operations knowledge

Systems thinking

Clear written communication

Asana

Slack

Google Workspace

Claude

Tools

Asana

Slack

Google Workspace

Claude

Job description

About The Role

The Operations Program Manager leads Constellation's Operations Coordinator (OC) team, which provides day-to-day support to our researchers and programs. In this role, you’ll be responsible for the people, the development path, and the capacity of the team that keeps our research center running.
This is a people management role, and a people development role where your primary responsibility is to manage and develop the careers of a team of 5-10 junior Operations Coordinators to be both excellent in their current roles while preparing for long careers in AI safety.
The OC role is an entry-level operations role. They handle arrivals and tours, requests, onboarding and offboarding, and event support for dozens of organizations and hundreds of researchers. Coordinators learn the core work, take on projects, and move into roles across the AI safety ecosystem.
The Operations Program Manager is accountable for both sides of that: ensuring the team delivers excellent service every day, and that every coordinator develops their skills to prepare them for taking on more responsibilities.
You will be responsible for prioritizing larger requests for OC time from Constellation teams and partner orgs. Since OC time is finite, you’ll weigh those tradeoffs and make clear, well-communicated decisions. As our organization grows, you’ll also work closely with other managers to develop and improve processes for efficiently handing off work between teams.
This is a full-time, in-person role. You must be able to work on-site in Berkeley from 9am to 5pm on weekdays. There is occasional evening work for events and urgent issues.

Key responsibilities

People management and development

People manage a team of 5-10 Operations Coordinators. Set goals, give regular feedback, and own performance management for up to ten OCs and Senior OCs.
Guide each OC through their professional development path: core skills, mentorship, projects, and transition. Actively source small operations projects from other Constellation teams and partner orgs in our building to help them test their fit and land a strong next step.
Coach and advise Senior OCs, who split their time between doing their own projects and training/mentoring new OCs.
Managing the OC hiring process and own hiring decisions for new cohorts of OCs. Teach current OCs how to do screening and interviewing to build their skills and share the workload.

Capacity planning and intake

Act as the single intake point for requests on OC time. Weigh them against core coverage, training load, and organizational priorities, and communicate decisions (including "not now") clearly and kindly.
Manage the OC schedule. The OC role is non-exempt and requires overtime for any hours worked beyond 40 per week. The Operations Program Manager is responsible for ensuring OCs manage their time effectively and for approving OT when necessary.
Forecast OC capacity across cohort transitions, event-heavy periods, and the project portfolio. Keep the coverage rotation sustainable.
Balance core operations against projects with other Constellation teams and partner orgs.

Program ownership

Working closely with the Senior OCs, own the OC training plan: keep it current, improve it with each cohort's feedback, and make sure trainers are set up to succeed.
Set and uphold quality standards for the core functions: arrivals and tours, requests, onboarding, offboarding, etc. Work with the Senior OCs on quality assurance and setting standard operating procedures.
Help OCs scope and complete projects that build their skills and benefit the organization.

Cross-functional partnership

Partner with Site Operations, Convening, People Ops, and BizOps team leads to keep OC work aligned with the organization’s priorities.
Contribute to long‑term org design for the OC program as it evolves.

Skills & Experience

Experience and confidence managing and developing a team of 5-10 early‑career staff, ideally in operations or a service‑oriented team
Experience designing or running onboarding and training programs
Skill at prioritizing among competing requests from many stakeholders, and at saying no with grace
Direct, kind, specific feedback, and comfort delivering difficult news
Hiring experience: screening, interviewing, and making decisions
Enough hands‑on operations knowledge (office, events, customer support) to set standards and QA the work credibly
Systems thinking: you notice what breaks at scale and fix the process
Clear, concise written communication
Comfort with:
- Asana, Slack Google Workspace, and Claude
- Ambiguity and change during an interim structure
- Thinking on your feet in a fast‑paced environment

You might be a good fit if you

Get energy from helping early‑career people grow, and are proud when they move on to great roles
Like fitting finite capacity to a large volume of demand
Have a service mindset and care about the experience of researchers and visitors
Take ownership and enjoy building a program, not just running one
Are excited to support the AI safety ecosystem and learn more about it
Care about making transformative AI go well

Compensation & Benefits

The base pay range for this role is $148,000 – $192,000 per year.
Our benefits are hard to beat! They include: