kairos-project - Head of Operations
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Requirements
• Experienced, full-stack operator. You have around 7+ years across operations with real depth in the hard skills, especially finance and compliance. Nonprofit experience is a strong plus. • Systems-builder with a UX mindset. You build efficient processes and avoid unnecessary bureaucracy. You’re good at turning sound judgment into infrastructure that scales beyond you. • Highly organized. You keep careful track of to-dos and information. When you drop a ball, it’s on purpose. • Comfortable in startup mode. You’re proactive and agentic about improvements, and you stay calm when days are unpredictable and the work is varied. • 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: • Experience leading operations or finance at a nonprofit • Experience setting up or advising on nonprofit incorporation and fiscal sponsorship • Context on AI safety and the broader ecosystem
Responsibilities
• OWN KAIROS’S INTERNAL OPERATIONS • Finance and accounting. Manage our bookkeepers and accountants, lead our annual audit and 990 filing, own treasury, and build the budgeting and financial planning that lets us make money decisions deliberately as we scale. • Compliance. Keep us on top of federal and state filings, charitable registrations, and nonprofit governance requirements. • People operations. Own payroll, benefits, employer-of-record relationships, onboarding and offboarding, and HR policy across a globally distributed team. • Systems and policies. Build internal infrastructure that stays lightweight as we grow, including dual controls, documentation, the employee handbook, and the workflows that keep us both safe and quick. • RUN OPERATIONS FOR KAIROS LABS • Support fiscally sponsored projects. Help new field-building projects meet their ops needs, from finance to hiring. • Advise on setup and spinout. Guide founders through nonprofit formation and the path to operating independently. • Handle the weird problems. Be the person who can untangle whatever unusual legal, financial, or operational situation comes up. • OVERSEE GRANTMAKING AND PROGRAM OPS • Build grant infrastructure. Make grant processing fast, compliant, and pleasant for grantees across Pathfinder and future programs. • Oversee our fiscal sponsorship of Pathfinder groups. Own spending controls, support, and compliance across our university groups. • Manage and grow the ops team. Shape the ops function and the team behind it as both expand.
Benefits
• You’ll be working toward reducing risks from advanced AI, potentially the most important challenge of our time. Your work keeps the whole organization compliant, solvent, and able to move fast. • You’ll own a large and consequential surface area, with strong ownership over how Kairos operates and grows. • You’ll have real strategic input, co-creating the ops function and Kairos Labs’ operational model with the co-directors. • 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. • Base salary: $170,000–$260,000, depending on experience and location, with potential for additional compensation for exceptional candidates • Retirement: 10% 401(k) contribution or equivalent pension contribution or salary increase • 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 twice a year to connect in person, collaborate, and build team culture. • Start date: Ideally by August 2026 • 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). • 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) • If you’re excited about this role but unsure whether you meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway. • Questions? Reach out at [email protected]. • 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 https://kairos-project.org/referrals.
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