Operations Associate

Please apply here.

The Center for AI Safety (CAIS) is a leading research and field-building organization on a mission to reduce societal-scale risks from AI. Alongside our sister organization, the CAIS Action Fund, we tackle the toughest AI issues with a mix of technical, societal and policy solutions. Our work includes publishing a global statement on AI Risk signed by Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio and CEOs from the major AI labs and running a large compute cluster for global academic researchers working on AI safety research. Our founder and Director, Dan Hendrycks, is a leading AI researcher (contributed the most widely used LLM benchmark and has over 25,000 citations) and AI Safety Advisor to xAI.

The Operations Associate plays a key role in supporting CAIS's organizational efficiency and culture by overseeing office operations, event planning, and executive support. This role requires a proactive and detail-oriented individual who can manage essential tasks across HR, finance, technology, office management, and team culture.

In this role you will:

• Oversee general office management, including ordering supplies, managing food and snack orders, handling mail and deliveries, and ensuring the office is equipped for daily operations.
• Coordinate employee onboarding and offboarding processes, including managing contracts, account setups, and workspace arrangements to ensure a seamless first and last day for team members.
• Manage software access and general technical assistance for all employees.
• Support financial processes, including expense reviews, reimbursements, and audit preparation.
• Assist with legal processes, such as visa management, corporate filings, and other compliance tasks.
• Foster a positive team culture by organizing birthday and milestone celebrations, planning team events, and gathering employee feedback.
• Collaborate with the Operations Manager to develop, implement, and communicate operational policies and standards across the organization.
• Organize logistics for events and workshops, coordinating timelines, venues, travel, and catering as needed.
• Provide research and administrative support to field-building, operations, and executive staff.

We're looking for someone who is great at:

• Communicating clearly; ensuring systems and processes are easily understood and accessible to everyone on the team.
• Managing all details meticulously while keeping the broader vision in mind.
• Thriving in an autonomous role while welcoming feedback and new ideas; always striving to reach the best solutions even when challenges arise.
• Working with a diverse set of team members and supporting their individual needs while maintaining efficiency for the organization.
• You might thrive in this role if you:
• Have a strong organizational standard, have high attention to detail, and are great at problem solving.
• Have experience in operational support, especially in dynamic environments like startups.
• Are able to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines.
• Are comfortable with technology.
• Are open to new ideas and feedback, honest with yourself and others; at CAIS, even when it’s slightly uncomfortable, we prioritize getting to the best answer.
• Are motivated by work that is focused on AI safety and risk.

Benefits:

• Health insurance for you and your dependents
• 401K plan + 4% matching
• Unlimited PTO
• Lunch and dinner at the office
• Annual Professional Development Stipend
• Access to some of the top talent working on technical and conceptual research in AI safety