Kairos is hiring a Head of Operations/Founding Generalist

By Agustín Covarrubias 🔸, Topaz @ 2025-03-12T20:58 (+59)

Summary

Are you looking for an impactful role in AI safety? Look no further! 

Kairos is a recently founded AI safety fieldbuilding organization with the mission of mitigating the risks from advanced AI by helping fill talent gaps and needs within the field. Our programs, such as SPAR, currently support hundreds of people going into AI safety each year, and we’re looking to scale up as we grow our programs and start new ones. 

We’re looking for a skilled generalist or operations professional to help grow our organization as our third employee. This role would have a salary of $80,000 to $130,000 plus benefits, and we think this is a unique opportunity to get involved in multiple high-impact AI safety projects and help us build our org from the ground up.

About Kairos

Kairos manages a portfolio of different AI safety fieldbuilding projects, including:

• SPAR: A 3-month AI safety research fellowship for over 150 people to try their hand at technical, policy, and strategy research, mentored by over 40 researchers.
• FSP: A program to support the network of ~50 AI safety university groups around the world with mentorship, workshops, connection opportunities, and other resources. 

Kairos is built as an agile organization that can adjust to the field’s changing needs. We anticipate we’ll continue to take on new fieldbuilding projects in the future. We're small (you'll be employee #3!), which means you'll have an outsized impact and the chance to shape how we grow.

About the role

We’re looking for either a Head of Operations or a Founding Generalist to play a key role in planning and executing our portfolio of projects across group support and research programs.

In this role, you’ll be a key player in helping scale Kairos’s programs. Your responsibilities will span program management, participant recruitment and communications, developing systems to make our programs more efficient and, potentially, managing people as we grow. As a founding team member in a small, dynamic organization, you'll have significant ownership over your work and the opportunity to shape Kairos's future direction.

The distinction between Head of Operations and Founding Generalist would mostly come down to seniority in operations experience, as well as appetite for handling a broad set of strategy and planning tasks. Being the third employee in the organization, we expect that whoever takes the role will need to be ready to wear many different hats alongside the rest of the team. As a result, we're open to tailoring this role to the right candidate's interests and aptitudes.

What you'll do

• Manage programs: Drive forward our existing programs (SPAR and FSP), develop processes to make them more effective, and potentially help design new ones.
• Program operations: Working alongside the team to execute program logistics, like recruiting participants, filtering applications, and managing communications with program participants.
• Building systems: Set up and manage key systems and processes to enable the execution of our projects, including a CRM, as well as systems for program applications, participant tracking, measurement and evaluation, and surveys.
• Event planning and logistics: Coordinate virtual and in-person events including booking travel and accommodation, booking and coordinating with event venues, finding and working with caterers, and other logistical tasks. Examples of events we’ve run are OASIS, a series of university organizer workshops, or meetups for SPAR.
• People management: As we grow, you may eventually manage future contractors or team members.
• Wear many hats: In a small org, everyone pitches in where needed. You'll need to be open to tackling whatever comes up.

About you

An ideal candidate will have most or all of the following characteristics: 

• You’re adaptable: You thrive in a fast-paced environment where priorities can shift quickly. We need someone that’s flexible, willing to adapt and anticipate these shifts. By default, you should assume that your priorities in 2026 will look different from those in 2025.
• You’re agentic: You don't need much direction to get things done and can proactively plan and execute on tasks. You’re intentional with what you’re doing, you avoid groupthink, and you embrace taking on ambitious goals.
• You’re organized: You can juggle multiple projects without dropping balls.
• You have strong operations experience: You have experience running operations for different kinds of projects, be it programs or events, either in-person or remotely.
• You can efficiently prioritize: You can prioritize and execute on complex projects and tasks, with minimal oversight. You can effectively schedule your week as new tasks and priorities emerge.
• You’re systems-oriented: You feel comfortable using common workflow tools, as well as creating and maintaining spreadsheets, or using tools like Airtable or Asana to keep track of things. You’re comfortable leveraging AI when it can accelerate your work.
• You have good people skills: You enjoy working with different personalities and building relationships. We spend a lot of time meeting with stakeholders and talking to participants in our programs, and we're looking for someone who shares our enthusiasm for these interactions.
• You have strong communication skills: You can write clearly and communicate effectively with a range of diverse stakeholders. When communicating internally, you can effectively leverage reasoning transparency.

While not required, we prefer candidates who also have:

• A foundational understanding of AI risk and a strong desire to reduce catastrophic risks from AI.
  • E.g. you’ve taken a course like AI Safety Fundamentals or engaged substantially with similar content.
• Previous experience working within AI safety or adjacent communities and familiarity with similar programs to ours (e.g. OSP, SPAR, MATS, GovAI, etc).

Why work with us?

• You'll have real ownership over your work and the chance to shape how Kairos operates. We believe our programs have substantial room to grow and improve, and you would have a key role in making this happen.
• Given the relatively complex nature of the role, we’re extra committed to supporting you to ensure you’re successful in this role. We won’t throw you off the deep end, and you’ll never be asked to do tasks we wouldn’t do ourselves.
• As Kairos expands, your role will likely evolve with your interests and skills. We’re perpetually growing and learning and believe Kairos is a great place to gain experience in multiple different domains.
• You'll regularly collaborate with leading AI safety stakeholders, building valuable connections across the field.

Compensation and benefits

The base compensation for this position will vary between $80,000 and $130,000 (USD) with a 10% 401k or an equivalent 10% unconditional pension contribution. The exact salary will depend on the candidate’s seniority level and, in the case of other countries, a potential cost of living adjustment. 

Our benefits include: flexible working hours, competitive health insurance, dental/vision insurance, a generous vacation policy, and a generous professional development budget.

Logistics

• The start date for this role would be May to early June.
• This is a remote opportunity, but you’ll be expected to travel a few times a year for conferences, typically in the US.
• We’d also be happy for you to work out of any AI safety office in Berkeley, London, or Boston.
• We prefer candidates who can be available for meetings within the window of 9 AM to 4 PM EDT, though this can be discussed.
• We may be able to sponsor visas for some candidates to work in the US, depending on individual circumstances.

Application process

• Fill out this application form (10 to 20 mins)  (or recommend us someone)
• Quick initial screening (15 mins)
• Trial task (1 to 3 hours)
• Interview with both founders
• Paid work trial (few days to a week)
• References and offer

Our culture

Kairos is a new but dynamic nonprofit driven by a strong mission to reduce existential risks from AI. We operate with a scout mindset—pursuing truth over comfort and embracing uncertainty. Our team values purpose over ego, alliance over competition, and maintaining the agility needed to address the urgent challenges posed by advanced AI.

We also like to have fun together. While working on AI safety can sometimes be stressful, we are really passionate and energized by the work we do and believe meaningful work should also be enjoyable. We support each other's wellbeing, celebrate small wins, and maintain a healthy sense of humor. 

If you think you might be a good fit for the role but don’t meet all the qualifications, we strongly encourage you to apply anyway! We care more about you having the right mindset rather than perfectly meeting every requirement.

Additional information

While this role is ideally full-time, we’re open to potential part-time arrangements for particularly good candidates.

We’re also willing to negotiate on certain points for especially promising applicants. This includes the role title or the compensation package.

Kairos is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will be considered for this role and will not be discriminated against.