Senior Manager, Programs

About the role

Location: San Francisco, CA (on-site 5 days/week)

The Role

This is a full-time, on-site role in San Francisco (local candidates only).

CAIS runs a growing portfolio of programs that build and strengthen the field of AI safety: fellowships, workshops, convenings, and educational courses. We're hiring a Senior Manager, Programs to shape an early idea and objective into a program, to execute it at a high bar, to make it repeatable.

You'll define the goals and scope, identify the right stakeholders and partners, build the plan and budget, and carry it through delivery and evaluation. You'll do this independently, bringing leadership recommendations and decisions rather than waiting for direction at each step.

The scope of a program varies by design. You might stand up a new fellowship from scratch, run a convening of leading researchers and policymakers, or take a program that works and build the systems that let it run again next year without you holding every piece. What unites the work is the need for someone who can take a rough mandate and turn it into a well-run program with measurable impact.

We pride ourselves as being interdisciplinary, and we think this is a unique and exciting opportunity to be on the forefront of this quickly evolving technical field, regardless of previous technical training.

Who We're Looking For

You're an experienced program manager who has owned consequential, multi-stakeholder programs from concept through delivery. You know how to take an ambiguous idea and make it real: scope it, find the right people, build the plan, secure partners, manage the budget, anticipate what could go wrong, and make sure it ships to a high standard.

• You combine strategic judgment with operational strength.
• You can decide what a program should be and why, then get into the details required to make it work.
• You lead through influence, holding participants, partners, vendors, and internal teams accountable without needing formal authority over them.

This is a senior role with significant autonomy. We're looking for someone who wants to own a portfolio of programs, build institutional knowledge, and raise the bar for how CAIS designs and runs programs.

What You'll Do

• Conduct preliminary research and exploration for new projects to establish clear goals, scope, and requirements.
• Collaborate with the VP of Operations to define project plans including objectives, deliverables, timelines, and resources.
• Independently gather context in new domains by consulting experts, reviewing research, and using available resources.
• Take ownership of project implementation and ensure the project is delivered in line with the agreed scope, timeline, and quality expectations.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate risks to ensure successful project execution, address challenges proactively and escalate critical issues to the VP of Operations for resolution as needed.
• Ensure accurate and comprehensive project documentation and reporting, including setting up maintaining project details in approrpiate Project Management Software.
• Demonstrate the ability to push through obstacles and remain agile in the face of changing requirements, adjusting course to ensure milestones and goals are met.
• Manage relationships with external partners, vendors or other stakeholders to ensure project requirements are met.
• Manage project budgets and resource utilization, including tracking expenses and ensuring alignment with financial goals.
• Lead cross-functional teams with guidance from the VP of Operations to collaborate effectively with team members and with external stakeholders
• Where appropriate, delegates tasks to team members or partners and provides required guidance and supervision
• Lead, manage, and mentor members of the Programs team

What We're Looking For

• 6+ years of experience in program management, project management, or a similarly high-ownership role, including owning complex, multi-stakeholder programs end to end.
• A track record of designing new programs, not only running existing ones: taking an idea from concept to a successful launch with limited guidance.
• Experience managing several programs at once, with sound prioritization across them.
• Strong budget ownership and resource management.
• The ability to influence senior stakeholders without direct authority and to establish accountability across internal teams and external partners.
• Demonstrated systems thinking: you build repeatable mechanisms, not one-off plans, and you know how much process a problem needs.
• The ability to get up to speed quickly in unfamiliar domains by learning from experts, papers, and other sources.
• Sound judgment under uncertainty, knowing when to move quickly, investigate further, or escalate.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including distilling complexity and trade-offs for leadership.
• High agency and a high bar for quality. You're open to feedback and honest with yourself and others, even when it's uncomfortable, because getting to the best answer matters more.
• Experience mentoring or managing program staff.
• Genuine interest in AI safety and CAIS's mission.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.

Nice to Have

• Experience running fellowships, academic workshops, conferences, or research programs.
• Experience in a research organization, AI or technology company, or policy or field-building organization.
• Experience at an early-stage or fast-growing mission-driven organization.

Salary Range

$150,000 - $200,000 annually, depending on experience.

Benefits

• Health insurance for you and your dependents
• 401K plan + 4% matching
• Unlimited PTO
• Lunch and dinner at the office
• Annual Professional Development Stipend
• Access to some of the top talent working on technical and conceptual research in AI safety

Referral Program

• Know someone who could be a great fit for this role?
• Submit their details through our Referral Form.
• If we end up hiring your referral, you'll receive a $1,500 bonus once they've been with CAIS for 90 days.