Associate, Operations

<p style="line-height: 1.3;"><strong>Location:</strong> San Francisco, CA (on-site 5 days/week)</p> <h2 style="line-height: 1.3;">About The Center for AI Safety (CAIS)</h2> <p style="line-height: 1.3;">The Center for AI Safety (CAIS) is a leading research and advocacy organization focused on mitigating societal-scale risks from AI. Some of our past achievements include: releasing the most widely used <a href="https://agi.safe.ai/">measure of AI capabilities</a> used by all major AI companies, running a large compute cluster to facilitate AI safety research which has been <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=-stV_FcAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&authuser=2&gmla=AKKJWFeMmvjUgfBqtfyL9ZK2SBO2bGLHT7kmNjPTqC6Jx79K88hG66x5LnFy5IdMhBWiJHNmgVFwQ8mS1VVyoae_">cited over 16,000 times</a>, and publishing a <a href="https://aistatement.com/">global statement</a> on AI Risk signed by Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio and top AI CEOs.</p> <h2 style="line-height: 1.3;">The Role</h2> <p style="line-height: 1.3;">This is a full-time, on-site role for someone with 2 - 4 years of generalist operations experience. You’ll report to the Director of Operations.</p> <p style="line-height: 1.3;">Our Operations Associates are the connective tissue that bring together the entire organization. Your job is to understand the behind the scenes workflows that keep CAIS running, from People Ops and Recruiting to IT and Legal, and to serve as the liaison to the program teams, identifying ways you can support them so that they can do their best work. You’re motivated by AI Safety and understand that enabling the team to do high-impact work is itself high-impact work. You're comfortable with ambiguity, can move quickly, and bring strong judgment about when to act independently versus when to escalate. You’re low ego, no task is beneath you, and no problem is too small.</p> <p style="line-height: 1.3;"><strong>This role is not a good fit for you if</strong> you’re looking to use Ops as a stepping stone into something else like Program Management or Fieldbuilding. We’re looking for someone who genuinely enjoys the unglamorous aspects of operations and wants to grow within it.</p> <h2 style="line-height: 1.3;">What You'll Do</h2> <p style="line-height: 1.3;"><em>Operational Coordination & Team Support</em></p> <ul> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Serve as a reliable first-line point of contact for employee questions and inbound, org-wide, operational requests so you can triage, route, and follow through to resolution.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Monitor shared channels and inboxes used for operational requests; ensure requests are acknowledged, tracked, and closed out.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Maintain and develop internal documentation, reference guides, and tracking systems on behalf of the Ops team.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Provide administrative and operational support to Ops leadership and other teams (Field Building, Research, Public Engagement) as needed.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Proactively identify, recommend and implement solutions across staffing, processes and tools to make the CAIS engine run smoother.</li> </ul> <p><em>People Ops Support</em></p> <ul> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Support onboarding and offboarding logistics in coordination with the People Ops Manager by preparing materials and setting up accounts as needed and serve as a friendly first point of contact for new joiners.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Help coordinate team events, offsites, and moments of recognition (birthdays, milestones, celebrations).</li> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Assist with policy rollout and day-to-day execution of People programs.</li> </ul> <p><em>IT & Systems Support</em></p> <ul> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Triage and fulfill access requests for approved tools in coordination with IT; maintain clean provisioning records.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Assist IT with software and device onboarding/offboarding logistics.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Help maintain the software/tools inventory and support periodic audits.</li> </ul> <p><em>Office Support</em></p> <ul> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Support day-to-day office needs such as restocking supplies, coordinating catering, setting up for all-hands and events.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Liaise with facilities/office management on space requests and small improvement projects.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.3;">Assist with visitor logistics and access coordination.</li> </ul> <h2 style="line-height: 1.3;">What We're Looking For</h2> <ul> <li style="line-height: 1.4;">Bachelor's degree</li> <li style="line-height: 1.4; font-weight: bold;"><strong>2 - 4 years of generalist operations, project management, or similar experience</strong></li> <li style="line-height: 1.4;">You've planned and executed something big: a large offsite, a multi-day event, a conference, owning everything from the high-level coordination down to the catering confirmations and day-of troubleshooting.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.4;">You notice the broken process and fix it before anyone asks</li> <li style="line-height: 1.4;">You're able to context-switch comfortably and quickly</li> <li style="line-height: 1.4;">You roll up your sleeves: no task is beneath you, no problem is too small</li> <li style="line-height: 1.4;">You reach fo