Head of Operations, Youth AI Safety Institute
Company: COMMON SENSE MEDIA
Location: San Francisco - SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103
Salary: $176k - $209k per year
Type: Full-time
Posted: 2026-07-02
About this role
Head of Operations
Youth AI Safety Institute
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| --- | --- |
| Organization | Common Sense Media |
| Program | Youth AI Safety Institute |
| Reports To | Executive Director (once hired) and Co-CEO until ED is in place |
| Location | San Francisco, CA (in office) |
| Classification Salary Range | Full-time, Exempt $176,000–$209,000 |
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## POSITION OVERVIEW
The Head of Operations is the Executive Director's closest operational partner—the person who ensures that every dimension of Common Sense Media's Youth AI Safety Institute functions with integrity, efficiency, and strategic foresight. This is a senior leadership role that spans the full breadth of how the Institute operates: from fiduciary oversight and governance compliance to the smooth execution of our standards, evaluations, and public engagement work; from domestic and global partnership strategy to contract negotiations that anticipate the future shape of the AI industry.
This role ensures our governance is airtight, our partnerships are strategically sound, our work is free of legal or ethical vulnerabilities, and our organization moves with the coherence and coordination that a global safety lab demands. The Head of Operations is the connective tissue of the Institute: internally across the working team, cross-organizationally with Common Sense Media's shared functions, and externally with the academic, nonprofit, industry, and philanthropic partners who make our mission possible.
This is a role for a senior leader who has operated at the intersection of strategy and execution—someone who can hold both the long view and the immediate operational reality, who anticipates problems before they surface, and who builds the systems and relationships that allow the Executive Director to lead the Institute without being consumed by its mechanics.
The Head of Operations will oversee the Operations team, and will serve as the primary representative of the Institute with Common Sense Media's exec...