The job, in the employer's words
Location: San Francisco, CA (on-site 5 days/week)
About The Center for AI Safety (CAIS)
The Center for AI Safety (CAIS) is a leading research and advocacy organization focused on mitigating societal-scale risks from AI. Some of our past achievements include: releasing the most widely used measure of AI capabilities used by all major AI companies, running a large compute cluster to facilitate AI safety research which has been cited over 16,000 times, and publishing a global statement on AI Risk signed by Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio and top AI CEOs.
The Role
This is a full-time, on-site role in San Francisco (local candidates only).
We're looking for a People Operations leader who has built the People & Culture function from the ground up at a scaling organization, not just maintained one that already existed.You'll have ownership of our people processes and systems from end to end: designing them, fixing what's not working, and building a durable foundation that supports significant growth.
This is an individual-contributor role, not a people-management position. You will build the systems our organization will run on. This is the perfect role for you if you’re energized by that distinction and that the satisfaction of this role comes from designing something that scales well, not from headcount. We will strategically scale the People team as we continue to grow.
What You'll Do
- Own the full people-ops lifecycle, from hiring and onboarding through off-boarding, building the systems and documentation that make each stage scalable as we grow.
- Set up and maintain the infrastructure underneath it all: HRIS, payroll, benefits administration, and compliance recordkeeping.
- Establish our internal policy and compliance foundation, employee handbook, leave and accommodations processes, and workplace safety and L&D programs, so we're prepared as headcount scales.
- Build our performance and development framework: review cycles, documentation, and manager support, sized appropriately for where we are today and where we hope to be.
- Develop compensation best practices, from pay transparency compliance to the beginnings of a structured comp framework, in partnership with leadership.
- Act as the point person for employee relations and HR compliance questions, escalating to outside counsel or specialized support where needed.
- Partner across adjacent Ops functions (Finance on payroll and comp data, IT on provisioning and access, general Operations on facilities and vendors) so people workflows connect cleanly rather than living in isolation.
- Look for opportunities to scale and automate people-ops systems and workflows, including through AI tools, so processes become faster and more reliable.
- Serve as a champion and steward of our internal team culture, establishing and making improvements to our practices, traditions, and rituals to reinforce and build our culture.
- Prioritize exceptionally: not everything above needs to be built at once, part of the job is identifying what matters now versus what can wait for more headcount.
What We're Looking For
- Prior experience building or substantially improving, and then leading, people operations processes and systems at a scaling organization, ideally a startup or fast-growing nonprofit.
- Demonstrated ability to design systems from scratch, not just operate ones already in place.
- Strong understanding of core HR/people-ops fundamentals across the full lifecycle, hiring and onboarding, benefits and compensation, leaves and compliance, performance and off-boarding, and comfort with HRIS tools (Rippling, Gusto, or similar).
- Comfortable operating as an individual contributor with high autonomy; this role builds the foundation, it doesn't yet manage a team.
- Excellent judgment on prioritization: able to tell the difference between what's urgent, what's important, and what can wait until there's more headcount to support it.
- Track record of scaling and automating people-ops workflows at a previous organization, ideally including use of AI tools to streamline processes rather than just adding headcount to handle volume.
- Strong written communication skills; able to turn ambiguous questions into clear systems, policy, and documentation.
- Able to move at the pace of a fast-scaling, well-funded, early-stage company: fast decisions, frequent re-prioritization, and high ownership.
- Genuine interest in AI safety and CAIS's mission.
Nice to Have
- Experience building people operations specifically ahead of a hiring ramp, rather than in response to one.
- Familiarity with the people-ops needs of technical or research-heavy organizations.
- Startup experience at early stage (50-150 person) companies.
Salary Range
$160,000 - $200,000 annually, depending on experience.
Benefits
- Health insurance for you and your dependents
- 401K plan + 4% matching
- Unlimited PTO
- Lunch and dinner at the office
- Annual Professional Development Stipend
- Access to some of the top talent working on technical and conceptual research in AI safety
Referral Program
Know someone who could be a great fit for this role? Submit their details through our Referral Form. If we end up hiring your referral, you’ll receive a $1,500 bonus once they’ve been with CAIS for 90 days.
Equal Opportunity Employer
The Center for AI Safety is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, medical condition, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. In alignment with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment.
If you require a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please contact contact@safe.ai.
We value diversity and encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply.
Requirements mentioned
- Prior experience building or substantially improving, and then leading, people operations processes and systems at a scaling organization, ideally a startup or fast-growing nonprofit.
- Demonstrated ability to design systems from scratch, not just operate ones already in place.
- Strong understanding of core HR/people-ops fundamentals across the full lifecycle, hiring and onboarding, benefits and compensation, leaves and compliance, performance and off-boarding, and comfort with HRIS tools (Rippling, Gusto, or similar).
- Comfortable operating as an individual contributor with high autonomy; this role builds the foundation, it doesn't yet manage a team.
- Excellent judgment on prioritization: able to tell the difference between what's urgent, what's important, and what can wait until there's more headcount to support it.
- Track record of scaling and automating people-ops workflows at a previous organization, ideally including use of AI tools to streamline processes rather than just adding headcount to handle volume.
- Strong written communication skills; able to turn ambiguous questions into clear systems, policy, and documentation.
- Able to move at the pace of a fast-scaling, well-funded, early-stage company: fast decisions, frequent re-prioritization, and high ownership.
- Genuine interest in AI safety and CAIS's mission.
- Experience building people operations specifically ahead of a hiring ramp, rather than in response to one.
- Familiarity with the people-ops needs of technical or research-heavy organizations.
- Startup experience at early stage (50-150 person) companies.
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