Business Operations Associate / Senior Business Operations Associate

About this role

BUSINESS OPERATIONS ASSOCIATE / SENIOR BUSINESS OPERATIONS ASSOCIATE

ABOUT FAR.AI http://FAR.AI

FAR.AI http://FAR.AI IS A NON-PROFIT AI RESEARCH INSTITUTE DEDICATED TO ENSURING ADVANCED AI IS SAFE AND BENEFICIAL FOR EVERYONE. WE WORK AT THE INTERSECTION OF MACHINE LEARNING, SAFETY RESEARCH, AND POLICY, SUPPORTING A GLOBAL COMMUNITY OF RESEARCHERS AND PRACTITIONERS. AT FAR.AI http://FAR.AI, WE BELIEVE IN THOUGHTFUL, INCLUSIVE, AND RIGOROUS WORK THAT EMPOWERS OUR TEAM AND PARTNERS TO DO THEIR BEST WORK.

Since our founding in July 2022, we've grown quickly to 40+ staff, producing 30+ influential academic papers, and established the leading AI Safety events for research and international cooperation. Our work is recognized globally, with publications at premier venues and features in the Financial Times, Nature News, Forbes, and MIT Technology Review.

We drive practical change through red-teaming with frontier model developers and government institutions. Most recently, we discovered major issues with Anthropic’s latest model the same day it was released https://x.com/ARGleave/status/1926138376509440433, and worked with OpenAI https://x.com/ARGleave/status/1946366030844141716 to safeguard their latest model. Additionally, we help steer and grow the AI safety field through developing research roadmaps with renowned researchers such as Yoshua Bengio. We also operate FAR.Labs, an AI safety-focused co-working space in Berkeley, housing 40 members, as well as support the community through targeted grants to technical researchers.

THE ROLE

We are hiring a Business Operations Associate or Senior Business Operations Associate to support our Business Operations Manager and work closely with our COO and leaders across the organization. This is a hands-on generalist operations role with a broad remit: you will own the compliance tracker, provide finance and accounting support, assist with HR operations, assist with travel and events, support FAR.Labs, help with IT coordination, take on special projects as they arise, and fill gaps where there's no clear owner.

You will report to our Business Operations Manager and collaborate closely with our COO and the rest of the BizOps team. Your priorities will shift as organizational needs evolve. No two weeks will look the same, and that is by design.

While both roles share the same core remit and require a successful track record of delivering critical improvements in intra- and inter-team operations, a Senior Business Operations Associate would bring deep experience in owning and building operational systems and processes in startup-like environments, exhibit nuanced thinking in driving improvements across teams, and take full ownership of a portfolio of internal systems.

WHY THIS ROLE / WHY NOW

FAR.AI http://FAR.AI is scaling fast. We are 45 people today and expect to grow to 75+ by the end of the year. Our operations team is growing alongside the organization, and the scope of what we need to run well is expanding: finance and accounting, HR and compliance, IT, FAR.Labs, and a steady stream of special projects that do not fit neatly anywhere else.

This role owns the recurring work that keeps FAR.AI http://FAR.AI moving. Partnering with our Business Operations Manager, you’ll be the dependable center of our operations, making sure nothing slips and who teams trust to just handle it. You’ll own work that’s varied, hands-on, and close to every part of the organization. If you do excellent work and the fit is strong, there is real room to grow with us. The operations function is being built, not maintained, and this is an opportunity to be part of that.

If you are sharp, low-ego, and energized by getting things done across a wide range of operational domains, we would love to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities

- Operations delivery: Own operational tickets, triaging incoming requests and providing first-responder support across the team. Own and improve our operational requests pipeline, maintain policies, and support recurring operational rhythms. Drive operational excellence and clear any roadblocks that might slow us down.

- Systems & continuous improvement: Support the design, maintenance, and optimization of FAR.AI http://FAR.AI’s cross-team coordination systems, operational tool stack, and knowledge management systems. Spot operational risks and process gaps early, and propose solutions. Identify and execute on opportunities for process automation and systems integration as FAR.AI http://FAR.AI scales.

- Finance & compliance: Own and maintain FAR.AI http://FAR.AI's compliance calendar, tracking federal, state, and local filing deadlines and ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. Support the systematization and automation of compliance obligations across the organization, support grantmaking operations, and provide financial operations support as needed.

- IT coordination: Provide initial IT support and coordinate with vendors to keep the team's tools and systems running. Coordinate equipment provisioning and sourcing.

- HR operations: Support onboarding and offboarding processes, HR compliance, employment policies, and the maintenance of the company handbook.

- Coworking space operations: Support the operations of FAR.Labs, including event logistics.

- Special projects: Take on ad hoc operations projects end-to-end and drive specific pieces of larger initiatives.

Must-Have Qualifications

- Professional experience in operations or program/project management, with demonstrated success building and implementing operational systems and processes. Consulting backgrounds are welcome, but please note that we'll want to see evidence of real operational execution and iteration.

- Demonstrated experience as a high-agency problem-solver. You've repeatedly identified a need or a better way to do something and brought the solution to life, without being asked.

- Evidence of real results in past roles:…