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OpenAI's Global Affairs team is seeking a Program Manager for National Security Policy Operations to join the National Security Policy team, reporting to Sasha Baker. This is a hands-on program management role focused on running the planning, coordination, and execution systems that enable the team to operate effectively.
The role sits at the center of the National Security Policy team's planning, prioritization, information flow, and execution. You will translate team priorities into executable plans, synthesize data and inputs into clear program updates, manage key programs and workstreams, and create the operating discipline that keeps decisions, dependencies, and follow-through on track. Success means giving the team clear visibility into commitments, dependencies, decisions, and risks; reducing fragmented operational work; enabling faster and better-informed decisions; and ensuring priorities move reliably from scoping through completion.
Key responsibilities include:
- Run portfolio planning and team operations, including intake, workplans, milestones, owners, dependencies, risks, and progress reporting. Surface capacity constraints, recommend sequencing and tradeoffs, and escalate decisions to leadership.
- Build and maintain lightweight, repeatable operating systems for planning, meeting cadences, knowledge management, decision logs, and centralized tracking of developments, commitments, and follow-up.
- Own the team's program metrics and central tracking of commitments, owners, deadlines, dependencies, decisions, and follow-up. Produce concise updates and practical dashboards that make progress, risks, and decisions clear to policy leaders.
- Coordinate policy deliverables and external engagements from planning through follow-up. Assemble briefing packages; draft talking points, presentations, readouts, and updates; organize visits and convenings; manage review cycles; and track action items through completion.
- Own operational management of the team's contractors and consultants, coordinating onboarding, scopes of work, deliverables, contract renewals, invoices, and offboarding with Legal, Finance, Procurement, and other teams.
- Coordinate across Global Affairs, Research, Safety, Security, Product Policy, Legal, Communications, and OpenAI for Government to manage dependencies and advance shared priorities.
- Continuously improve the team's operating model through feedback loops, retrospectives, and thoughtful use of AI, automation, and lightweight tooling.
You should thrive in this role if you enjoy learning technical and policy context to coordinate work effectively; thrive in fast-paced, flexible environments where priorities evolve; collaborate effectively across policy, technical, legal, operational, and business teams; can lead complex workstreams and keep stakeholders aligned through influence rather than formal authority; view program management as a craft; are passionate about AI and thoughtful about its national security and societal risks; and are energized by enabling subject-matter experts and leaders to do their best work.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 5+ years of relevant experience in program management, project management, policy operations, strategic operations, chief of staff, government program delivery, or related roles.
- Experience coordinating complex work across multiple stakeholders and building practical systems that help teams deliver. Experience supporting policy, government, national security, or technical teams is a plus.
- Track record of independently driving complex cross-functional programs from scoping through delivery, managing stakeholders, dependencies, and risks while building durable systems and delivering measurable outcomes.
- Strong analytical, writing, and communication skills, with the ability to synthesize quantitative and qualitative inputs into crisp decision materials, action plans, and executive-ready updates.
- Ability to understand strategic context while remaining hands-on in detailed execution, influence without formal authority, and exercise sound judgment and discretion in fast-moving, sensitive environments.
- Genuine care for the impact of AI on national security, democratic institutions, and society; familiarity with areas such as frontier risk, cybersecurity, biosecurity, critical infrastructure, defense and intelligence applications, or technical AI governance is a plus. Formal project or program management certification is welcome but not required.
