Generalist (Operations)

Take on the business and back-end operations that keep Kairos running: finances, payments, HR, compliance, and systems, plus support for our programs and Pathfinder groups.

Note: This role description is a first draft. Scope, salary, and responsibilities may evolve as our plans develop over the coming weeks, and we’ll keep you in the loop about any changes if you apply.

 

About Kairos

Kairos is a nonprofit accelerating talent into AI safety and policy. In just over two years, we’ve trained 1,200+ people through our flagship programs:

• SPAR: The largest AI safety research fellowship, with 800+ mentees per round mentored by researchers from Anthropic, Redwood Research, RAND, MIT, the UK AI Security Institute, and others.

• Generator Residency: In partnership with Constellation, a platform for generalist talent to pitch, build, and ship projects that build capacity and infrastructure across the AI safety ecosystem, with advisors from METR, Redwood Research, AI Futures Project, and more.

• Global Challenges Project: A workshop series introducing promising students to careers in AI safety and biosecurity, run several times a year across Oxford, Boston, and Berkeley.

• Pathfinder Fellowship: Helping grow the global network of AI safety university groups from a few dozen to nearly 100, with $9.5M in funding over the next two years to support their work.

We see ourselves as a portfolio of highly impactful projects in a fast-evolving field. Over the next six months, we expect to double in size and launch several new initiatives addressing critical gaps in the ecosystem.

 

The Role

We’re looking for a Generalist (Operations) to do the wide range of things that keep Kairos running in the background. The bulk of the role is core business and back-end operations: paying vendors, supervising accountants, supporting bookkeeping and our audit, figuring out how to employ and onboard people, and keeping us compliant. Alongside that, you’ll support our Pathfinder groups, process grants, build internal systems and automations, and pitch in on program ops.

 

What You’ll Do

• Build systems and automations. Spot the operational work that shouldn’t be done by hand and automate it, so you and the team can spend time on the things that actually need judgment.

• Run our finances and back-end operations. Pay vendors and contractors, supervise accountants, support bookkeeping and our annual audit, handle the logistics of employing people (payroll, benefits, onboarding and offboarding), and help keep us compliant. You won’t need to be an expert on day one, but you’ll learn to own these functions.

• Process grants and payments. Run grant processing across Pathfinder and our other programs, make payments to individuals and organizations, and manage expense processing.

• Pitch in on program ops and whatever else needs doing. Inbox triage, problem-solving on program logistics, and the occasional program-ops crunch where we need the hands.

 

Who You Are

• Smart, agentic, and able to figure things out. A lot of this role is picking up unfamiliar processes (a new accounting task, a compliance requirement, a group’s odd request) and just working out how to do them well. We care about this more than about specific prior experience.

• Great at automation and tooling. You instinctively reach for a better system rather than resigning yourself to doing things by hand, and you use AI and automation tools to get more done, complementing rather than replacing your own judgment. The best person in this role makes much of the repetitive work disappear.

• Eager to help, and able to be assertive. You like unblocking people and improving their experience. You can be gentle but honest with a rejected applicant, and politely firm with an overly demanding one.

• Organized and on top of things. You keep careful track of to-dos and information. When you drop a ball, it’s on purpose.

• Strong writer and communicator. You’re clear and concise, and you think through your messaging from the reader’s perspective.

• Mission-aligned. You care about making advanced AI go well, and you’re comfortable operating in the AI safety ecosystem and its culture.

While not required, we especially value:

• Some experience in finance, accounting, HR, nonprofit compliance, event planning, or other business operations or nonprofit administration (but we’re glad to have you learn these on the job)

• Strong automation and AI-tooling chops

• Context on AI safety and the broader ecosystem

 

Why Work With Us

• You’ll be working toward reducing risks from advanced AI, potentially the most important challenge of our time. The programs you’ll support influence hundreds of future AI safety and policy professionals.

• Few ops roles are this broad. You’ll touch grants, finance, compliance, systems, and programs, and build unusually wide operating experience fast.

• You’ll get to shape the role around your interests, with a say in which skills you build and which functions you take on.

• We’re building a world-class team, so you’ll be in good company. Work alongside people from METR, Coefficient Giving, Rethink Priorities, and CEA who share your commitment to impact.

• Collaborate regularly with leading AI safety researchers, policy professionals, funders, and organizers.

 

What We Offer

• Base salary: $95,000–$190,000, depending on experience and location, with potential for additional compensation for exceptional candidates

• Location: Access to office space in San Francisco, Berkeley, London, or Boston; optional coworking elsewhere. If you work from an AI safety office in San Francisco, Berkeley, London, or Boston, we cover food, lunches, and office expenses.

• Benefits: Flexible working hours, highly competitive health insurance, dental and vision coverage, generous vacation policy, and professional development budget

• Team retreats: We host all-team retreats three times a year to connect in person, collaborate, and build team culture.

 

Logistics

• Start date: Flexible, though we generally expect new hires to be able to start within a couple of months of applying

• Remote, with expected travel 3-6 times a year for conferences and events, predominantly in the US

• We’d also be happy for you to work out of any of the AI safety hubs in San Francisco, Berkeley, London, or Boston, though we have a light preference for people to work out of Berkeley.

• We prefer candidates who can attend meetings in the ET time zone (though our team currently spans GMT-8 to GMT+1).

• We may be able to provide visa sponsorship to the US, depending on the circumstances (especially, but not exclusively, O-1As).

 

Our Culture

We’re a small, high-trust team motivated by the urgent challenge of making advanced AI go well. We try hard to figure out where we’re wrong, which means we say uncomfortable things to each other and change our minds fairly often. We value collaborative truth-seeking, a scout mindset, agility, and an alliance mindset with the broader ecosystem.

We also believe meaningful work should be enjoyable. We support each other’s well-being, celebrate wins, and maintain a healthy sense of humor even when the work is hard.

 

Application Process

1. Application form (10–20 mins)

2. Screening call (15 mins)

3. Take-home assignment (1.5–3 hours, paid)

4. Interview (45 mins)

5. Reference checks

6. Work trial (3–4 days, paid - this can be flexibly scheduled around your other commitments)

7. Offer

If you’re excited about this role but unsure whether you meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway. If you’re interested in multiple roles, apply to the one that best fits your skills and interests, and note in your application the other roles that you’d like to be considered for.

 

Questions? Reach out at Know someone who might be a good fit? If your referral gets hired and completes 6 months with us, we’ll pay you a $5,000 referral bonus. Learn more here.

Compensation: $95K – $190K

• • $95K – $190K

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