Chief of Staff

Active Site • Cambridge, MA

9d • Hybrid

About The Position

Active Site is a nonprofit researching the intersection of AI and biosecurity. AI models are rapidly becoming more capable in biology, amplifying the risk of accidental or intentional misuse. We conduct uplift studies, observing participants in real-world wet labs to measure how AI augments human performance in biological experimentation. We use our findings to advance the science of risk assessment and implement concrete mitigations that safeguard the future of AIxBio. The Role Active Site is hiring its first Chief of Staff. This is a senior generalist role that owns the operational, organizational, and coordination infrastructure of a fast-moving research nonprofit. You’ll help run complex in-person studies, grow our team, manage projects, and build internal systems to scale our impact. You will primarily build and implement things that do not yet exist at Active Site. You will proactively identify what is broken before anyone asks you to and fix it. This is a role that thrives in ambiguity, and the best candidates will excel at operating under uncertainty.

Requirements

• 3 or more years of experience in a fast-paced, high-ownership environment, such as a startup or early-stage research organization
• Strong fluency with AI tools, automation, and modern project management and productivity tooling.
• Demonstrated range across operational domains, including at least some exposure to HR, finance, or project operations.
• Exceptional judgment: you make good decisions with limited information and know what warrants escalation.
• Experience working closely with senior leadership or founders.
• Experience designing automated solutions to operational problems.
• A genuine default toward action and comfort operating under ambiguity.

Nice To Haves

• Background in a research organization or scientific environment.
• Familiarity with human subject studies
• Exposure to nonprofit finance, grant management, or compliance.
• Enthusiasm about or experience in biosecurity and AI safety

Responsibilities

• Strategy and execution: Run our planning and coordination cadence. Translate high-level priorities into clear owners, timelines, and follow-through. Identify where things are getting stuck and remove the blockers. Be the person who makes sure decisions actually get implemented.
• Cross-functional projects: Own initiatives that do not fit neatly inside a single function: new study launches, new program buildouts, tooling rollouts, process overhauls. Scope, sequence, and deliver them end to end.
• Study operations: Partner with researchers to turn study plans into operational reality. Own the logistics of in-person uplift studies, in particular recruitment and screening processes. Build repeatable systems so each study runs more smoothly than the last.
• People and HR: Build and run our people function. Onboarding, offboarding, employment documentation, benefits administration, hiring coordination. Develop the policies and infrastructure a growing team needs. Know when to bring in outsourced support.
• Finance: Own project-level budgeting. Coordinate with external bookkeepers, accountants, and legal partners to keep everything accurate and on time.
• Internal systems: Build and implement the operational infrastructure that makes Active Site work at scale. Documentation, workflows, knowledge management, internal tooling. Use AI and automation to reduce manual overhead and increase organizational leverage.

Benefits

• Comprehensive healthcare coverage: Medical: 100% Employer-Paid Premiums via UnitedHealthCare.
• Dental & Vision: 75% Employer-Paid Premiums via BlueCross BlueShield and Guardian.
• 4 weeks of PTO
• 12 weeks of fully-paid parental leave (4 additional fully-paid weeks for birthing parent)
• 401(k) with 4% match
• Annual professional development budget
• Relocation support
• Office setup

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed