Senior Business Operations Associate

About FAR.AI

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, 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, and worked with OpenAI 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 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 role with a broad remit and real ownership: You will own key organizational processes, drive critical improvements in intra- and inter-team operations, support FAR.Labs and 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.

Why This Role / Why Now

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 moving, along with a portfolio of internal systems that will be yours to run and improve. Partnering with our Business Operations Manager, you'll be the dependable center of our operations, making sure nothing slips and someone teams trust to just handle it. You’ll own work that’s varied, hands-on, and close to every part of the organization, with the latitude to redesign what isn't working and room to grow as the function builds out.

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’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 scales.
Finance & compliance: Own and maintain 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

3-6 years of 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: things you have delivered or problems you have solved while juggling several responsibilities at once.
Comfort working across multiple operational domains simultaneously: finance, HR, compliance, IT, and projects. Even if you’re not a domain expert, you've ramped up in new areas quickly before and can learn fast.
Superb written and verbal communication. You can adjust your communication for different audiences, summarize a situation accurately, and write clear, concise documentation.
Reliable with details, especially on compliance and finance tasks, where a missed deadline or a wrong number is a real issue. You flag issues and develop solutions proactively.
Comfort zooming between the details and the big picture. You can take an ambiguous problem, ask the right questions to scope it, and chart a path to a solution, without losing track of the specifics that make or break execution.
Demonstrated service mindset. You get energy from helping others succeed – no job is too big or too small.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

Experience in fast-paced, highly ambiguous environments. You've worked in startups, nimble nonprofits, and/or high-growth teams before.
Experience contributing to an impact-driven organization, or a passion for AI safety.
Experience, and driving change within an organization.
Experience driving change within an organization, with a sense for creating the right amount of structure to enable, rather than stifle, a team that’s scaling fast.
Experience with tools like Coda, Notion, Asana, CRMs, or similar operational software.
Fluency with AI tools and workflows, paired with the judgment to know when to use them and when not to.
Experience building automations for efficiency gains.

Logistics

Structure: You will be a full-time employee of FAR.AI, a 501(c)(3) research non-profit.
Location: Berkeley, CA (onsite/hybrid).
Hours: Full-time (40 hours/week).
Compensation: $110,000-$125,000/year, depending on experience. We will also pay for work-related travel and equipment expenses, and offer catered lunch and dinner at our office in Berkeley.
Reporting: Reports to the Business Operations Manager.
Hiring process: A test task, phone screen, interview with the hiring manager, and in-depth interviews with the team, followed by reference checks.

If you have any questions about the role, please do get in touch at talent@far.ai. If you don't have questions, the best way to ensure a thorough review of your skills and qualifications is to apply directly through the application form. Please don't email us to share your resume (it won't have any impact on our decision). Thank you!

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