Research Manager Jobs in San Francisco, CA
Research Manager jobs in San Francisco are in strong demand, concentrated in Mission Bay, SoMa, and the Financial District across biotech, technology, and financial services. Employers hiring right now include OpenAI, Anthropic, and REFLECTION. See the openings below and apply to the ones that match your experience.
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Showing 5 of 116+ Research Manager jobs
Research Program Management - San Francisco
About the Team
Safety Systems manages the complete lifecycle of safety efforts for OpenAI’s frontier models. We work across research, engineering, product, and policy to understand risks, develop and validate safeguards, and support responsible deployment.
Our work spans safeguards research and deployment, safety assessments, launch readiness, and trusted-access programs for advanced capabilities. We address risks including biological and cyber misuse and misalignment, with programs that strengthen safety across models and products.
About the Role
We’re hiring Research Program Managers across AI Safeguards and Frontier Risks Safety. You’ll lead programs that develop and improve the safeguards used across our models and products, or assess and mitigate risks associated with frontier capabilities, launches, and trusted-access programs.
You will partner with researchers development and deployment decisions. We’re looking for people who combine strong technical judgment, experience managing complex research programs, and a commitment to AI safety.
These roles are based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.
In this role, you will:
Shape safety programs and technical roadmaps. Partner with research and engineering leads to define goals investments.
Drive safeguards development and deployment. Translate safety research into safeguards across models and products. Maintain an end-to-end view of safeguard coverage, effectiveness, and opportunities for improvement for one or more risk areas, and drive a roadmap that advances across launches.
Coordinate evaluations and safety assessments. Organize capability evaluations, alignment and control assessments, adversarial testing, and safeguard stress-testing, including risks from autonomous and multi-agent systems. Support embedded assessments throughout model development, internal use, and deployment.
Drive safety readiness and trusted-access programs. Coordinate safety requirements and execution across frontier model launches and deployments. Work with technical teams to define assessment scope and the evidence needed to inform safety and access decisions.
Turn findings into improvements. Triage safeguard gaps, jailbreaks, and overflagging with accountable teams. Establish owners and escalation paths, track remediation and regression testing, and turn recurring issues into research and engineering improvements.
Strengthen the evidence behind safety decisions. Support safety cases that connect claims to evaluations, safeguards, assumptions, and remaining uncertainty. Surface evidence gaps and unresolved risks, and communicate methods, results, limitations, and follow-up actions through assessment reports, system cards, and updates to decision-makers.
Build programs that scale across products. Coordinate shared tooling and feedback workflows, privacy and security requirements, and safeguard user experience and quality assurance. Help teams apply safeguards consistently across product surfaces and upcoming launches.
You might thrive in this role if you:
Have 5+ years of experience in technical safety work, owning technical programs, or related roles in fast-moving environments.
Have led complex research or technical programs involving researchers and engineers, particularly in AI, cybersecurity, biosafety, or another field where failures can have serious consequences.
Understand frontier AI safety concepts, including capability evaluations, alignment, control, monitoring, and safeguard robustness, and can engage substantively with technical teams.
Can assess what evaluation results do and do not establish, including methodological limitations, uncertainty, and the difference between model capability and real-world risk.
Can turn ambiguous questions into clear programs, make practical tradeoffs, and adjust priorities as evidence changes.
Have worked extensively across research, engineering, and product teams and can coordinate with policy and communications partners.
Exercise sound judgment when findings are concerning or incomplete, raise unresolved risks constructively, and communicate complex technical work clearly.
Are motivated to help ensure increasingly capable AI systems remain beneficial and under meaningful human control.
About OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core the full spectrum of humanity.
We are an equal opportunity employeration, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.
Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable lawation technology systems and related data security obligations.
To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.
We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.
At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.
Compensation
$239K – $328K + Offers Equity
The base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factorsance-related bonus(es) for eligible employees, and the following benefits.
Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts
Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit)
401(k) retirement plan with employer match
Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)
Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees
13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time (1 hour per 30 hours worked, or more, as required by applicable state or local law)
Mental health and wellness support
Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
Annual learning and development stipend to fuel your professional growth
Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible
Relocation support for eligible employees
Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided.
More details about our benefits are available to candidates during the hiring process.
This role is at-will and OpenAI reserves the right to modify base pay and other compensation components at any time based on individual performance, team or company results, or market conditions.
Research Program Management - San Francisco
About the Team
Safety Systems manages the complete lifecycle of safety efforts for OpenAI’s frontier models. We work across research, engineering, product, and policy to understand risks, develop and validate safeguards, and support responsible deployment.
Our work spans safeguards research and deployment, safety assessments, launch readiness, and trusted-access programs for advanced capabilities. We address risks including biological and cyber misuse and misalignment, with programs that strengthen safety across models and products.
About the Role
We’re hiring Research Program Managers across AI Safeguards and Frontier Risks Safety. You’ll lead programs that develop and improve the safeguards used across our models and products, or assess and mitigate risks associated with frontier capabilities, launches, and trusted-access programs.
You will partner with researchers development and deployment decisions. We’re looking for people who combine strong technical judgment, experience managing complex research programs, and a commitment to AI safety.
These roles are based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.
In this role, you will:
Shape safety programs and technical roadmaps. Partner with research and engineering leads to define goals investments.
Drive safeguards development and deployment. Translate safety research into safeguards across models and products. Maintain an end-to-end view of safeguard coverage, effectiveness, and opportunities for improvement for one or more risk areas, and drive a roadmap that advances across launches.
Coordinate evaluations and safety assessments. Organize capability evaluations, alignment and control assessments, adversarial testing, and safeguard stress-testing, including risks from autonomous and multi-agent systems. Support embedded assessments throughout model development, internal use, and deployment.
Drive safety readiness and trusted-access programs. Coordinate safety requirements and execution across frontier model launches and deployments. Work with technical teams to define assessment scope and the evidence needed to inform safety and access decisions.
Turn findings into improvements. Triage safeguard gaps, jailbreaks, and overflagging with accountable teams. Establish owners and escalation paths, track remediation and regression testing, and turn recurring issues into research and engineering improvements.
Strengthen the evidence behind safety decisions. Support safety cases that connect claims to evaluations, safeguards, assumptions, and remaining uncertainty. Surface evidence gaps and unresolved risks, and communicate methods, results, limitations, and follow-up actions through assessment reports, system cards, and updates to decision-makers.
Build programs that scale across products. Coordinate shared tooling and feedback workflows, privacy and security requirements, and safeguard user experience and quality assurance. Help teams apply safeguards consistently across product surfaces and upcoming launches.
You might thrive in this role if you:
Have 5+ years of experience in technical safety work, owning technical programs, or related roles in fast-moving environments.
Have led complex research or technical programs involving researchers and engineers, particularly in AI, cybersecurity, biosafety, or another field where failures can have serious consequences.
Understand frontier AI safety concepts, including capability evaluations, alignment, control, monitoring, and safeguard robustness, and can engage substantively with technical teams.
Can assess what evaluation results do and do not establish, including methodological limitations, uncertainty, and the difference between model capability and real-world risk.
Can turn ambiguous questions into clear programs, make practical tradeoffs, and adjust priorities as evidence changes.
Have worked extensively across research, engineering, and product teams and can coordinate with policy and communications partners.
Exercise sound judgment when findings are concerning or incomplete, raise unresolved risks constructively, and communicate complex technical work clearly.
Are motivated to help ensure increasingly capable AI systems remain beneficial and under meaningful human control.
About OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core the full spectrum of humanity.
We are an equal opportunity employeration, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.
Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable lawation technology systems and related data security obligations.
To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.
We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.
At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.
Compensation
$239K – $328K + Offers Equity
The base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factorsance-related bonus(es) for eligible employees, and the following benefits.
Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, with employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts
Pre-tax accounts for Health FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and commuter expenses (parking and transit)
401(k) retirement plan with employer match
Paid parental leave (up to 24 weeks for birth parents and 20 weeks for non-birthing parents), plus paid medical and caregiver leave (up to 8 weeks)
Paid time off: flexible PTO for exempt employees and up to 15 days annually for non-exempt employees
13+ paid company holidays, and multiple paid coordinated company office closures throughout the year for focus and recharge, plus paid sick or safe time (1 hour per 30 hours worked, or more, as required by applicable state or local law)
Mental health and wellness support
Employer-paid basic life and disability coverage
Annual learning and development stipend to fuel your professional growth
Daily meals in our offices, and meal delivery credits as eligible
Relocation support for eligible employees
Additional taxable fringe benefits, such as charitable donation matching and wellness stipends, may also be provided.
More details about our benefits are available to candidates during the hiring process.
This role is at-will and OpenAI reserves the right to modify base pay and other compensation components at any time based on individual performance, team or company results, or market conditions.
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Find Research Manager JobsResearch Manager Job Market in San Francisco
Who's Hiring
- OpenAI23
- Anthropic23
- REFLECTION9
- AfterQuery6
- Lila Sciences6
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software17
- Science & Research9
- Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals3
Research Manager Jobs in San Francisco: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a research manager job in San Francisco?
The strongest opportunities in San Francisco sit inside biotech companies in Mission Bay, enterprise tech firms in SoMa, and financial services organizations in the Financial District. Candidates with demonstrated experience leading multi-method research programs and translating findings for executive stakeholders stand out most. Familiarity with the fast product cycles common at San Francisco tech companies, or with clinical and translational research workflows at local life sciences firms, gives applicants a clear edge over generalist profiles.
Which companies hire research managers in San Francisco?
Companies currently hiring research managers in San Francisco include OpenAI, Anthropic, and REFLECTION, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. San Francisco's employer mix skews heavily toward venture-backed technology startups, established biotech and life sciences firms anchored in Mission Bay, and large financial institutions with dedicated research and insights functions.
Are there remote research manager jobs in San Francisco?
Yes, though availability varies: research manager roles that are primarily analytical and strategic tend to be more remote-friendly, while positions tied to lab work or in-person user research sessions are almost always on-site. About 73% of research manager openings tied to San Francisco are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, with hybrid schedules being especially common at tech companies in SoMa. Fully remote postings tend to come from firms where the research function is entirely quantitative or desk-based.
How can I get a research manager job in San Francisco with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path in San Francisco is moving up from a senior researcher or research lead role inside a local tech company or Mission Bay biotech, where internal promotion is common. Entry-level candidates should target research operations coordinator or associate researcher positions at mid-size startups in SoMa, which often promote quickly. Building a portfolio of cross-functional projects and presenting research findings to product or clinical stakeholders directly mirrors what San Francisco hiring managers look for when promoting into management.
Which industries hire the most research managers in San Francisco?
The sectors hiring the most research managers in San Francisco are Technology & Software, Science & Research, and Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. San Francisco's concentration of biotech campuses, consumer technology headquarters, and financial services firms with active insights teams makes it one of the denser research manager markets on the West Coast.
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