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