Operations Program Manager

Constellation; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Constellation is seeking a Manager of Operations to lead a team of 5–10 junior Operations Coordinators. You will guide their development, manage performance, and build the onboarding and training programs that accelerate their careers in AI safety.

You will own intake prioritization, capacity planning, and cross-functional partnerships to ensure high-quality service and scalable processes. This is an on-site, full-time role in Berkeley.

Qualifications

• Experience leading 5–10 junior Operations Coordinators.
• Design or run onboarding and training programs.
• Prioritize competing requests from multiple stakeholders.
• Direct, kind feedback and delivering difficult news.
• Hiring experience: screening and interviewing.
• Hands-on operations knowledge (office, events, customer support).
• Systems thinking to fix processes at scale.
• Clear, concise written communication.
• Familiarity with Asana, Slack, Google Workspace, Claude.

Responsibilities

• Manage the OC team, set goals, provide regular feedback, and own performance for up to ten staff.
• Develop career paths and projects to advance early-career talent.
• Own OC training plan and QA standards; ensure trainers are set up to succeed.
• Collaborate with Site Ops, Convening, People Ops, and BizOps to align priorities.

Skills

People management

Onboarding & training

Hiring & interviewing

Prioritization & decision making

Feedback & coaching

Operations knowledge

Cross-functional partnership

Written communication

Asana

Slack

Google Workspace

Claude

Tools

Asana

Slack

Google Workspace

Claude

Job description

About the role

The Manager, Operations 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 Manager, Operations 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