Chief of Staff, Life Sciences and Curing Diseases

Job description

Chief of Staff, Life Sciences and Curing Diseases

AI is already changing how people work, learn, and access care. It has the potential to unlock extraordinary benefits—faster medical breakthroughs, accelerated scientific discovery, more personalized services in healthcare and education, new tools for creativity and invention, higher productivity and economic growth, improved public services like transportation systems, and so much more.

But building powerful systems to benefit humanity is only a part of the work of our mission. Advanced AI models will also present new challenges that are already surfacing, and we need to be prepared to identify these challenges and develop solutions to address them.

These are the two dimensions of what we’re building the Foundation to do. We aim to enable the use of AI to find solutions to humanity’s hardest problems, transform what people are capable of, and deliver real benefits in people’s lives—while working hard with partners to be ready for new challenges, and to help make society resilient, as AI advances.

This work is just beginning. Over the next year, as we quickly ramp up, the Foundation expects to invest at least $1 billion across life sciences and curing diseases, jobs and economic impact, AI resilience, and community programs. This includes early investments toward our previously announced $25 billion commitment to curing diseases and AI resilience.

About the role

The OpenAI Foundation is building out its Life Sciences and Curing Diseases program to help accelerate progress on curing diseases and improving human health. The program’s initial focus areas include AI for Alzheimer’s, Public Data for Health, and Accelerating Progress on High-Mortality and High-Burden Diseases.

We are looking for a Chief of Staff to partner directly with the Head of Life Sciences and Curing Diseases. This is a high-leverage role at the center of one of the Foundation’s most important programs. You will help translate strategy into execution, ensure the program operates effectively as it scales, and act as a force multiplier across people, projects, and priorities.

This is not a traditional program management role. You will operate as an extension of the program lead—owning critical workstreams, driving clarity in ambiguous situations, and helping build the systems and team needed to deploy significant capital into real-world scientific and health impact.

In this role, you will

Drive execution across the Life Sciences and Curing Diseases portfolio

Translate high-level strategy into concrete priorities, roadmaps, and operating plans

Track progress across multiple focus areas, ensuring work is advancing with urgency and clarity

Identify bottlenecks and intervene directly to unblock critical initiatives

Act as a force multiplier for the Head of Life Sciences and Curing Diseases

Partner closely on decision-making, prioritization, and external engagements

Prepare materials, synthesize inputs, and ensure high-quality outputs across key initiatives

Step in to represent the program lead in internal and external settings when needed

Build and run the operating system for the program

Establish processes for planning, resource allocation, and execution across a rapidly growing portfolio

Create visibility across workstreams, ensuring leadership has a clear view of what is happening and what matters

Implement lightweight but effective systems that scale with the program

Own critical cross-functional initiatives

Lead special projects that cut across focus areas, including launching new initiatives, standing up new grantmaking efforts, and building partnerships

Coordinate with finance, legal, communications, operations, and external partners to move complex efforts forward

Help design and operationalize new focus areas before dedicated leads are in place

Support hiring and team buildout

Help identify talent gaps and drive recruiting for key roles across the life sciences portfolio

Act as a cultural anchor for a high-performance, mission-driven team

Onboard new team members and ensure they are set up to succeed quickly

You might thrive in this role if you

Have 5–12+ years of experience in roles like program management, strategy and operations, strategy consulting, program leadership, or early-stage startups

Are exceptionally strong at turning ambiguous problems into structured plans and executed outcomes

Have operated in fast-moving, high-stakes environments with significant ownership and limited guidance

Can context-switch quickly across domains while maintaining depth where needed, including scientific, operational, and strategic questions

Are comfortable driving both strategy and execution—no task is too high-level or too in-the-weeds

Have strong judgment and can be trusted with sensitive information and high-impact decisions

Are an excellent communicator—able to synthesize complex ideas clearly for different audiences

Have experience working with technical, scientific, or other highly specialized teams

Are highly agentic—someone who sees what needs to be done and does it without waiting for direction

Are comfortable operating in an organization that is still being built, where roles and structures evolve quickly

Care deeply about the Foundation’s mission and the opportunity to accelerate progress in life sciences and human health

Requirements

5+ years of relevant experience required; 8–12+ years preferred

Relevant experience in areas such as program management, strategy and operations, Chief of Staff work, life sciences, biotechnology, global health, translational medicine, public health, philanthropy, or related fields

Demonstrated ability to manage complex cross-functional workstreams and drive execution in ambiguous environments

Strong organizational and operational judgment, with the ability to build processes that improve clarity, speed, and effectiveness

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information clearly and persuasively

Experience working with senior leaders and supporting high-stakes decision-making

Ability to engage credibly with scientific, technical, operational, and external stakeholders

High degree of ownership, discretion, and accountability

Strong strategic judgment combined with a bias toward execution

Deep motivation to help accelerate progress in life sciences and contribute to the Foundation’s mission

Compensation

The annual base salary range for this role is $244,000 to $336,000 USD.

This range reflects our good‑faith estimate of the base salary we reasonably expect to pay for this position upon hire. Actual base salary will be determined based on job‑related factors, including the candidate’s relevant experience, skills, expertise, the scope of the role, and work location, as applicable.

This salary range does not include benefits or any other compensation for which the role may be eligible.

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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Worksite address

san francisco, CA, 94199, US

Who can apply

Review the original listing for work authorization, qualifications and employer requirements.