Senior Program Associate (Operations)

Title: Senior Program Associate (Operations)

Salary: $90,000-$110,000+ (incl. healthcare and retirement contributions)

Location: In-person, Washington, DC; visa sponsorship available

Job Type: Full-time

Application Deadline: Sunday, February 8, 2026

The Horizon Institute for Public Service is seeking a full-time Senior Program Associate (Operations) to build and manage the hiring and onboarding systems that will enable our continued growth. Horizon has grown from 2 to 18 employees in approximately three years, more than doubling our staff in the past year alone, with a rapidly growing multi-million dollar budget. As we pursue ambitious expansion plans, our ability to hire exceptional talent and integrate them is our biggest barrier to expanding our impact. This role will directly help us address our most critical organizational bottleneck, enabling the organization to scale its impact.

In this role, you'll gain deep experience in end-to-end hiring management, working across multiple complex processes simultaneously. You'll shape the employee experience at a rapidly growing organization during a formative period, with the opportunity to grow into broader people operations leadership as you master core responsibilities. If you're energized by the challenge of building systems that enable organizational growth and want to develop expertise in talent operations at a mission-driven organization, this role could be an excellent fit.

Competitive applicants will likely have completed at least a bachelor's degree and have at least 1-2 years of relevant work experience in hiring coordination, project management, or operations roles. Previous experience with hiring or other HR responsibilities is valued but not required. If you think the role is a great fit for your skills and interests, we encourage you to apply even if you don't have previous experience in this exact field. Our hiring process is designed to test for aptitudes and skills, not specific resume markers or past experience.

Our mission

The Horizon Institute for Public Service is a non-profit that supports the next generation of public servants with expertise in emerging technologies.

Emerging technologies, like biotechnology and artificial intelligence, are rapidly reshaping our world. The US government plays an essential role in developing and governing new technologies, crafting policies to take advantage of their benefits and avert the risks they pose. But policymakers' ability to stay ahead of the curve depends on access to the requisite expertise—and right now, that expertise is sorely lacking.

Since our launch three years ago, we've helped hundreds of professionals explore and launch critically needed careers in public service. For example, through our fellowship program, we’ve helped 100+ subject-matter experts fill vital roles at top think tanks, in Congress, and in agencies across government. Our online emergingtechpolicy.org career resource has reached 150,000+ users. We’ve also supported over 1,000 individuals through events and advising and headhunting services, leading to many dozens of job transitions. We participated in the first-ever government AI hiring fair and recently launched the AI Policy Leadership Network. We plan to both scale these existing programs and have several exciting new projects slated for launch in 2026. You can read more about our programs and impact in our 2025 year in review.

About the role

As the Senior Program Associate, you will lead our hiring and onboarding efforts as we continue to scale our team and programs. This role is central to ensuring we bring exceptional talent into the organization, set them up for success from day one, and create an exceptional culture where employees can grow and thrive.

As our people operations specialist, you'll be responsible for supporting complex hiring rounds from start to finish, coordinating with multiple stakeholders across the organization, and creating onboarding experiences for new staff that rapidly integrate them into the team and high-impact workstreams. As you grow in the role, you'll also have the opportunity to shape our approach to culture, development, and retention.

This is a full-time role within our operations team. We're looking for someone who combines strong project management skills with a genuine commitment