Chief Operating Officer

Key Information (Deadline: Wed 2 Sep)

We are hiring a COO (total comp. $220K-330K) to rapidly scale Longview’s team and operations.

Longview Philanthropy advises major donors and makes grants in AI safety and nuclear weapons policy. Our mission is to help the world navigate extreme risk and unlock an excellent future. We directed over $75 million to high-impact organizations in 2025, and expect 2026 will be substantially bigger.

We’re ~35 people and plan to significantly grow Longview’s team in 2027 and beyond. Scaling this fast without breaking the organization and losing agility and nimbleness is hard. We want someone who can:

• Scale and manage the leads of critical functions to keep pace with our growth, including People Operations, Business Operations, Finance, Talent, and Grants Management. By the end of your first year, Longview should feel faster and more efficient than it does today.
• Set up and manage the leads of new functions that go beyond traditional scopes, such as a finance function that also invests funds and a recruiting function that also headhunts founders for seed-stage grantees.

You’re likely a good fit if you’ve scaled an organization before, ideally more than once, and are confident you can repeat that success here. We want to hire people motivated by our mission, but you don’t need a background in AI safety or philanthropy; we expect many strong candidates will come from fast-scaling startups and tech companies.

Title: COO or Director of Operations, dependent on experience.

Reports to: Katie Hearsum, our current COO who is transitioning to another senior role (e.g. Managing Director), or our CEO Simran Dhaliwal.

Location: We prefer candidates who can work in person at one of our offices in Berkeley, Washington DC, New York, or London. We are able to sponsor visas in the US and UK.

Start date: ASAP, to be determined together with the successful applicant.

Deadline: Applications close EOD anywhere, Sunday 6 September 2026. We’ll be reviewing applications on a rolling basis.

Compensation:

• Director of Operations: $165K–264K+
• COO: $220K–330K+

These are total compensation figures. They include both a base salary and a 10% unconditional pension / 401(k) contribution. See below for Longview's benefits, which include health insurance, a professional development budget, a well-being budget, and 36 vacation days per year.

Application process: We plan to run a thorough but quick process comprising an application form, a paid strategy work task, interviews with leadership and direct reports, reference checks, and a paid two-day in-person work trial. We'll tailor the process for individual candidates.

Responsibilities

Help Longview double in size.

• Design and execute the operations and hiring strategy to double Longview’s headcount, deciding which functions to build out and when, in partnership with the Office of the CEO and the leadership team. (As of Aug 19, we are 28 staff with 6 accepted offers.)
• Own the operations org chart and hiring decisions (scoping roles, closing candidates) while maintaining a high bar for excellence and fit.
• Build productive, high-trust relationships between operations and every other department (grantmaking, donor advising).
• Stay on top of regulatory requirements across the jurisdictions we operate in (US and UK entities; grantmaking and advisory compliance) and keep every function you lead compliant so we can move fast while maintaining an appropriate risk profile.

Develop ops leaders.

• Manage and develop the People Operations, Business Operations, Finance, Talent, and Grants Management leads, coaching them through the challenges and opportunities of a fast-scaling organization.
• Be a culture carrier and set the standard for how operations works: direct feedback, clear ownership, and high-quality decisions. Lead operations with a mission-first approach, e.g. take seriously potentially short AI timelines.

Set up new ops functions that go beyond traditional scopes.

• Build and manage a finance function to cover both internal finance (accounting, payroll, budgets, audit) and investing the capital we hold.
• Build and manage a recruiting function that can grow Longview to the size we need, and that also serves our grantmaking by headhunting founders for the new organizations our grantmakers want to help create.

Build systems and processes for scaling.

• Build simple, robust systems for planning and decision-making that can scale, staying discerning about whether and when new structure is needed.
• Streamline, standardize, and automate routine operational work, including with AI.
• Run operations as a service to the rest of Longview: absorb complex, cross-cutting coordination work so our grantmakers and advisors can spend nearly all their time on the work only they can do.

We’re open to tailoring the role for excellent candidates. If a different scope or title would make you more excited about this, let us know.

Ideal Candidate

Someone who has led operations through rapid scaling before, ideally more than once, and can take on our growth plans with high confidence: a manager of managers, experienced across multiple operational functions, fast-paced, and excellent at prioritization.

Essential experience.

• Scaled operations at a fast-growing organization, ideally within the 30-to-60-person stage or beyond, and knows the failure modes along the way.
• Has comfort and experience with geographically dispersed teams.
• Managed managers during periods of high organizational growth.
• Been responsible for at least three operational functions. (Ours are currently People Operations, Business Operations, Finance, Talent, Grants Management.)

Critical abilities.

• Great taste for process: instinctively knows when structure adds value and when it becomes harmful bureaucracy.
• Moves fast and prioritizes effectively under pressure, performing well with many competing priorities and shifting deadlines.
• Excited about coaching and developing people.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and tackling novel problems without an established playbook.

Communication and collaboration.

• Exceptionally clear written and verbal communicator who adapts quickly to how we work (e.g., memo-based decision-making; preparing agendas so meetings focus on key discussions and decisions).
• Confident pushing back on colleagues, regardless of seniority, when warranted.
• Proactively gives regular, candid, direct feedback, and is comfortable receiving very direct feedback.

Motivation and fit.

• Motivated by Longview’s mission. You don’t need existing knowledge of AI safety or philanthropy, but you do need to care about the problems and understand how that shapes our decision-making, rather than defaulting to how things are usually done.
• Kind and conscientious.
• Energized by (not just tolerant of) fast-paced, lean environments.

Other nice-to-haves (not required).

• Direct hands-on experience with grants management, non-profit compliance, or regulated-industry operations.
• Prior exposure to AI safety or philanthropy.

Most strong candidates will not have all of the above. If you’re on the fence because you’re not sure you meet every qualification, we still strongly encourage you to apply.

About Longview Philanthropy

Longview Philanthropy was founded in 2018 to advise major donors on reducing extreme risks; our mission is to help the world navigate extreme risk and unlock an excellent future. Unlike foundations built around a single donor, we raise from many major donors and deploy funds we hold ourselves. Longview has four departments: operations, donor advising, AI grantmaking, and nuclear grantmaking.

We are a collaborative, dedicated, and positive team. We are all deeply motivated by the work that we do and the impact we can have. We are an ambitious organization with a culture of clear communication, commitment to excellence and professional development, direct feedback, ownership over our work, and a strong focus on outcomes. We have offices in Berkeley, New York City, DC, and London.

Longview is an equal opportunity employer. We aim to employ people with many different experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds who share our passion and believe in our mission. We do not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability status, political affiliation, citizenship status, conviction record, military status, or personal appearance. Please contact us to discuss any adjustments to the application process.

Longview Benefits

All benefits, including the pension contribution, are subject to eligibility and applicable waiting periods.

Benefits for US staff.

• 100% employer-paid private health insurance with UHC
• Dental and vision with Guardian
• 25 days vacation, plus 8 public holidays, plus an additional 3 days off over the winter break
• 4 months fully paid family leave
• $3,000 annual professional development budget
• Well-being budget for gym memberships and fitness classes up to $200 per month
• For most of our US offices: in-office meals and a well-stocked office fridge!

Benefits for UK staff.

• Private health insurance through Aviva
• 25 days holiday, plus 8 bank holidays, and an additional 3 days off over the winter break
• 4 months fully paid family leave
• £5,000/year well-being budget (therapy, gym memberships, fitness)
• £2,400/year professional development budget
• Equipment and other support for setting up a productive work environment
• In-office meals and a well-stocked office fridge!