Chief of Staff, Finance & Operations

About The OpenAI Foundation

The OpenAI Foundation is dedicated to leveraging artificial intelligence to drive transformative benefits across healthcare, education, scientific research, productivity, and public services, while also proactively addressing the challenges posed by advanced AI systems. The Foundation is committed to channeling at least $1 billion in investments over the next year targeting life sciences, disease cure efforts, job impact, AI resilience, and community engagement, as part of a broader $25 billion pledge toward curing diseases and AI readiness.

Role Overview

The Chief of Staff for Finance and Operations is a pivotal operational leader responsible for transforming strategic priorities into effective execution. This role requires enhancing the Finance and Operations leadership team’s productivity by implementing clear operational structures and utilizing AI-powered tools and automation to maximize efficiency without unnecessary bureaucracy.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and manage the Finance and Operations operating rhythm, including annual and quarterly planning processes, weekly leadership briefings, agendas, decision tracking, follow-up systems, collaborative documentation, and coordination across departments.
• Ensure comprehensive visibility into major Finance and Operations initiatives by monitoring responsible parties, deadlines, interdependencies, risks, decisions, and escalation channels.
• Coordinate and synthesize inputs for timely reporting, highlighting key variances and trade-offs, and converting financial data into practical insights and recommendations for leadership.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration on projects involving Finance, Operations, Legal, People, Recruiting, IT, program teams, and executive leadership by clarifying responsibilities, sequencing decisions, identifying obstacles, and ensuring smooth transitions and completion.
• Prepare and organize high-quality leadership, board, and committee materials using AI tools, including financial and operational updates, decision memos, dashboards, briefing documents, and follow-ups, ensuring accuracy and decision relevance.
• Lead strategic and operational projects requiring reliable execution, such as launching new processes or systems, enhancing workflows, assessing organizational capacity, and converting complex operational challenges into actionable plans.

Qualifications and Experience

• 8+ years of relevant experience in roles such as chief of staff, finance, business operations, strategic operations, FP&A, program management, consulting, startup or nonprofit operations.
• Proven track record of creating and managing planning systems, trackers, dashboards, templates, operational rhythms, or centralized data systems for dynamic teams.
• Exceptional organizational skills, strong attention to detail, and the ability to maintain composure amid ambiguity.
• Ability to distill complex discussions and financial or operational data into clear, concise presentations, dashboards, recommendations, and actionable plans suitable for board and leadership audiences.
• High levels of discretion and judgment when handling confidential information related to finance, employees, board activities, vendors, grants, and internal strategies.
• Enthusiasm for both system design and thorough follow-through on execution.
• Excellent interpersonal skills characterized by warmth, directness, service orientation, and the capability to work effectively with senior executives, functional leaders, program teams, board members, advisors, vendors, and external collaborators.
• Strong alignment with the Foundation’s mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all humanity.

Preferred Additional Experience

• Background supporting finance functions such as FP&A, accounting, treasury, grant management, people operations, procurement, or systems within growth-oriented or mission-driven organizations.
• Experience in coordinating annual planning cycles, board or committee reporting, system roll-outs, or enterprise-wide operational initiatives.
• Proficiency in deploying AI-driven automation to eliminate repetitive tasks, enhance reporting transparency, strengthen control mechanisms, and boost operational efficiency.