Chief Operating Officer

Overview

SaferAI is seeking a Chief Operating Officer (COO) to serve as a key executive partner to the Executive Director.

SaferAI is seeking a Chief Operating Officer (COO) to serve as a key executive partner to the Executive Director. The main responsibility of the COO will be to ensure that SaferAI remains an excellent, high-performing organization. This broad leadership role encompasses fundraising, management, hiring, strategy, and organization-wide processes. The ideal candidate will be highly agentic, with strong ownership, the ability to learn quickly, and capable of executing rapidly with high attention to detail.

‍About SaferAI

SaferAI is a fast-moving, mission-driven organization advancing and promoting AI risk management to reduce AI risks, in particular extreme risks from advanced AI systems. We’re uniquely positioned at the intersection of technical research work and policy, ensuring that the knowledge we produce has an impact on AI risk management.

We are an important contributor to AI standards across the globe. Our team members co-lead the AI risk management standard in the EU (at CEN-CENELEC J TC 21), and serve as project editor of the generative AI benchmarking and red teaming standard at ISO. We are the only NGO member of the G7 OECD informal task force drafting and revising the reporting framework of the Hiroshima AI Process Code of Conduct. We are a founding member of the US AI Safety Institute Consortium, a founding member of the Hiroshima AI Process Friends Group Partners’ Community and we regularly contribute to OECD/GPAI Expert Community meetings.

We are also making key contributions to policy. Our biggest policy impact lies in playing a counterfactual role in making the Code of Practice effective, which we believe is one of the most important developments in AI safety governance. From ensuring that civil society organisations and independent experts have a seat at the table to making important contributions in all the 4 expert groups. We are now pursuing an ambitious project to establish a government-backed international accelerator for Secure & Human-Centric AI to develop AI control and assurance technologies.

Our technical work is key to maintaining and furthering the unique expertise we bring to governments and companies. We released the first AI risk management framework combining traditional risk management and frontier AI safety policies, cited by NVIDIA’s risk assessment work. We co-drafted G42’s risk management policy. We developed the first AI risk management rating framework for AI companies’ risk management practices, featured in TIME and Euractiv, and sparking the interest of major investors. We currently lead a large-scale cyber AI risk modeling project that has sparked strong interest from multiple AI safety and security institutes.

‍Responsibilities

You will report to the Executive Director. The responsibilities below represent the full scope of the COO role; however, these can be adapted and shared with the Executive Director based on the selected candidate’s skills and expertise.

Fundraising (owner)

  • Map and prioritize the funding landscape, maintain relationships with grantmakers and donors.
  • Own grant pipeline end-to-end: runway forecasting and timing recommendations, prospecting, proposals, budgets, due diligence, and timely reporting.

Hiring & talent (owner)

  • Co-define roles with the ED; design and run the full hiring pipeline (sourcing, screening, interviews, work tests, references).
  • Lead onboarding and role ramp-up along with the team leads.

Operations & process excellence (owner)

  • Build, implement, and maintain systems and tools across the organization.
  • Establish goal-setting and execution tracking and drive cross-team delivery.
  • Oversee our operations associate and external accountants/ops providers.

Management & org enablement

  • Manage selected team members depending on fit and needs; raise the bar on execution quality.
  • Coordinate quarterly org reviews and 360 feedback.

Content & output quality

  • Review major outputs (e.g., policy submissions, technical research papers, public comms) for clarity, rigor, and alignment with strategy.
  • Maintain editorial standards and review processes across teams.

Strategy partner to the Executive Director

  • Serve as a thought partner for strategic planning, priority-setting, and partnership decisions.
  • Challenge and refine plans while ensuring proper sequencing of initiatives.

‍Skills and Experience Required

  • Evidence of high ownership and a scaling mindset, ability to learn fast and get excellent at new domains quickly.
  • Low-ego, accountable operator who excels at translating strategy into execution.
  • Mission alignment with reducing risks from advanced AI.
  • 2+ years of experience in strategic leadership or operations within high-growth, mission-driven environments.
  • Proven leadership capabilities with demonstrated ability to coach and develop talent.

‍Nice to haves

  • Established fundraising track record: donor prospecting, proposal writing, reporting, and relationship management.
  • Comprehensive hiring experience spanning role design, structured screening, interviewing, work tests, and reference checks.
  • Strong technical AI safety research judgment and well-informed perspective on AI safety strategy.
  • Experience scaling organizations through growth phases.

‍Expected impact within 6 months

We believe in setting clear expectations. Here’s what we envision as indicators of strong performance six months into the role:

  • You’ve developed and executed a robust fundraising strategy, securing for our research and policy agenda a total of $1M+ in committed funding.
  • You’ve successfully taken on direct management responsibilities, reducing the Executive Director’s direct reports from 5 to 3. You could maintain the organization’s full performance standards if the ED is absent.
  • You’ve deeply internalized SaferAI’s strategy, strengths, and the AI safety landscape, contributing insightful strategic recommendations that demonstrably advance our mission.
  • You fully own our core processes (SOPs, onboarding, hiring) and have implemented key new systems that the entire organization actively uses such as 360 feedback cycles, individual OKRs, performance reviews, and better project management practices.
  • You’re confidently reviewing some of our critical outputs (e.g., research papers or policy memos) providing substantive feedback that maintains SaferAI’s reputation for excellence.

‍Working Conditions

Location: We have a central office in Paris and we will be opening an office in London. We prefer candidates willing to relocate to France or the UK and who can work from either office, but we welcome applications from candidates based anywhere and will consider remote arrangements for strong candidates. French language skills are not required for this position.

Salary Range: Competitive salary based on experience and qualifications.

Benefits: 

  • Health insurance coverage and retirement plans adapted to the location
  • Commute covered at 50%
  • Productivity expenditures up to €2k annually
  • Co-working office space (if relevant)

‍How to Apply

To apply for this position, please complete this application form. We will evaluate the candidates on a rolling basis starting now until we fill the role. We hope to fill the role by November. 
We encourage you to lean towards applying, even if you don’t have all the skills and experience required. 

If you have any questions or concerns throughout the application process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at careers@safer-ai.org. We look forward to reviewing your application.

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