Chief of Staff

We’re open to hiring this role at different levels. Title and compensation will be commensurate with experience and expected scope. We do not offer visa sponsorship.

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About Active Site

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. Read more about our work in the Economist, the New York Times, our preprint, and substack.

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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.

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You’ll help run complex in-person studies, grow our team, manage projects, and build internal systems to scale our impact.

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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

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What You Will Own

• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• Finance. 

Own project-level budgeting. Coordinate with external bookkeepers, accountants, and legal partners to keep everything accurate and on time.

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• 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.

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What Success Looks Like

Within the first 3 to 6 months, you have set up a consistent system for project tracking and updates. You have led the full operations plan for one in-person study, including recruitment, screening, participant communications, logistics, day-of coordination, and post-study wrap-up. Vendor relationships are organized, financial planning and operations are sound, and HR infrastructure is in place.

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Within the first year, you have run a full planning cycle with clear tracking and follow-through. Multiple studies have run in parallel without operational strain. You are trusted to own high-stakes decisions independently.

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Competencies and Qualifications

Required

• 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.

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Preferred

• 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

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Who We Are Looking For

The strongest candidates are people who close loops and flag problems early. You balance speed and quality: you know when things can be good enough v.s. when perfection and attention to detail are required. You’re comfortable operating under the 80/20 principle and with delivering minimum viable products. You can handle a high volume of operations. You make good judgment calls without needing to be supervised. You find ambiguous, novel problems more interesting than routine ones.

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If you are strong on fundamentals and judgment, and some of the preferred qualifications are thin, we’d love to hear from you anyway.

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Work Environment

This is an in-person role based in our Cambridge, MA office.

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During periods when we are running in-person studies, this role is expected to be on-site five days per week from 9 AM-5 PM to support study execution, coordination, and day-of operations.

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During periods without active studies, there is increased flexibility to work from home and maintain a hybrid schedule.

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Salary and benefits

This is a full-time role reporting to the Executive Director.

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The starting salary range is $135,000 to $175,000 per year, depending on prior experience.

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We also offer:

• 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

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Work Authorization

This position is open to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and individuals currently authorized to work in the U.S.

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Visa Sponsorship: We welcome candidates on F-1 OPT status and will consider H-1B sponsorship for qualified individuals who are currently residing in the United States. We can only sponsor Change of Status or Transfer petitions and cannot sponsor candidates who are outside the U.S. and would require consular processing.

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Referral bonus

We offer a referral bonus of up to $2,500 to individuals who refer successful candidates for this position:

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If you refer a candidate that we invite to a work trial, you will receive $250.

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If the candidate receives a job offer from us, you will receive a further $750, for a total of $1,000.

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 If the candidate is still working with us after the initial three month contract, you will receive a further $1,500, for a total of $2,500.

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To receive these bonuses, we must reasonably believe that you were responsible for referring the candidate to us (e.g. due to you introducing them to us when we didn’t previously know them, or them mentioning you on their application as the reason they heard about the position).

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Our Hiring Process

We review applications on a rolling basis and aim to move quickly.

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• Application Review
• Screening Interview
• Hiring Manager Interview
• Paid Remote Work Test
• In-Person Final Interview
• Reference Check & Offer

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Equal Opportunity and Accommodations

Panoplia Laboratories, Inc. (d/b/a Active Site) is an equal opportunity employer and will not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of age, color, disability, gender identity or gender expression, ancestry, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, marital or familial status, or any other personal characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law. Panoplia Laboratories, Inc. (d/b/a Active Site) also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA. Panoplia Laboratories, Inc. (d/b/a Active Site) is an E-Verify employer. Panoplia Laboratories, Inc. (d/b/a Active Site) is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you need an accommodation during the application process or to perform the essential functions of this job, please let us know.