Expression of Interest: Chief of Staff (Operations Team)

80,000 Hours

10d•Hybrid

About The Position

80,000 Hours is seeking a Chief of Staff for their Operations Team to help build a best-in-class operations function. This role will act as a thought partner to the Director of Operations (DoO) and take on significant responsibilities in leading and managing the team. The operations team is responsible for ensuring the organization has the necessary resources (financial, team, workspace, systems) and that these resources are deployed effectively. Their scope includes HR, recruiting, finance, governance, legal, office management, events, and tech/security systems. The team currently consists of 15 staff across four sub-teams and plans to grow to over 20 in 2026. The Chief of Staff will report to the long-term leader of the team.

Requirements

Prior experience in a relevant role.
Strong judgment and reasoning skills to navigate complex issues, facilitate decision-making, and weigh competing considerations.
High degree of reliability and a track record of consistently high-quality work.
Proficiency in project management, capable of running complex, poorly scoped, multi-stakeholder work end-to-end.
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to make work cognitively easy to engage with, highlight key points, state conclusions clearly, and structure reasoning logically.
Strong collaboration skills, including effective stakeholder management, engagement with critical feedback, and building strong working relationships.
A desire to be a force multiplier and derive satisfaction from supporting team leads and enabling team success.

Nice To Haves

Involvement with the effective altruism / AI safety community.
Experience running or helping to run an operations team.
Experience supporting a senior leader as a Chief of Staff or in a similar role.
Experience working at an EA or AI safety-focused organization.
Experience in consulting, project management, or other roles requiring strong analytical skills and stakeholder management.

Responsibilities

Act as a thought partner to the DoO, assisting with planning, prioritization, and providing a sounding board for team, people, and strategy questions.
Lead on operations team culture and cohesion, including organizing social events and strategy sessions, fostering a strong feedback culture, supporting team morale, and identifying and addressing team-wide issues.
Own the operations team's infrastructure, including managing quarterly and annual planning, overseeing team-wide task management systems, and designing processes for a fast-growing team.
Lead high-stakes special projects that do not fit neatly into other sub-teams, such as staff AI learning initiatives, drafting expressions of interest for senior hires, or leading team vision pushes, with increasing independence over time.
Undertake team lead work on behalf of the DoO, such as contributing to organization-wide coordination and planning, or drafting strategy documents and team communications.
Potentially take on more independent ownership over time, including strategy work, hiring, or specializing in a domain, with the possibility of succeeding the Director of Operations role.