Operations Specialist

If your dream job is to help others contribute to the safe and beneficial development of AI while owning the operations in a growing organization, then this might be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for!

Impact Academy is a startup non-profit that runs cutting-edge fellowships to enable global talent to use their careers to mitigate global catastrophic risks and contribute to a better future. Over the next years, we will focus all our efforts on the safe and beneficial development of AI.

• Start date: As soon as possible. We plan on making an offer in mid-October.
• Location: We have a strong preference for individuals who can move to London though we will consider remote-first for exceptional candidates. We can sponsor UK visas, and we will cover your moving costs.
• Salary: Compensation is based on experience, location, and relevant industry benchmarks and will likely fall within £50,000 to £80,000.
• Employment: This is a full-time permanent employment with a six-month probation period.
• We are not accepting applications for this role anymore.
• Contact: If you have any questions, please contact us at hiring@impactacademy.org.

We’re looking for an Operations Specialist to take ownership of our core operations to ensure a high level of productivity and efficiency across the organization so we can reduce the risks from advanced AI systems.

We already have extensive systems and policies in place, which are currently being maintained by our close collaborators at Impact Ops and program-specific staff. However, we want you to take over our core operations and raise them to the next level. You'll also be instrumental in freeing up our co-CEO’s time to focus on strategic initiatives. As we scale, you will likely build a team of high-performing generalist operations staff and grow into a Head of Operations/COO.

During your first six months, you’ll mainly work on

Strategy & management

• Develop, implement, and oversee an effective strategy for our operations for the next year (and beyond) together with our collaborators at Impact Ops and our program-specific staff. Exceptional candidates would also contribute to wider strategic plans.

Finance & accounting

• Work with outsourced support to manage and maintain Impact Academy’s finance & accounting such as budgets and annual returns for 2024 and beyond.

HR & recruitment

• Oversee HR & recruitment functions like hiring, performance evaluations, onboarding, development, team retreats, salaries, benefits, and contracts.

Handle emergent operations

• Handle various operations challenges that come up for a growing start-up (e.g., implementing new procedures and systems, registering the organization in new locations, understanding salaries in new countries, setting up a new bank account, etc.).

Internal processes, Legal & Compliance

• Work closely with the co-CEO to develop, maintain, and coordinate internal processes (e.g., our annual and quarterly goals and policies) and ensure compliance.

Program support

• Support the operations of our individual programs together with relevant team members, such as talent selection and retreats.

We’re looking for a great person to join our small, supportive, and ambitious team. You might be an excellent fit if most of the following holds true for you:

• Operations experience: You have at least two years of work experience in operations (adjacent) positions. This could range from tech project management or supply chain to tech education or consulting.
• Entrepreneurial spirit: You thrive in a dynamic start-up environment with less certainty and are eager to seize new opportunities for Impact Academy. Even though it can be intense and occasionally involve unconventional work hours.
• An operations mindset: You proactively notice what’s broken, move fast to fix it, and continually identify opportunities to do more with the same amount of time and resources. Especially by using smart solutions such as systems, tools, and automated processes.
• Autonomy: You like managing projects independently and can prioritize competing demands.
• High attention to detail and reliability: You have excellent follow-through and ensure nothing important gets dropped.
• Passionate about reducing the catastrophic risks from AI and contributing to a better future: You’re passionate about steering the development of AI. Both to reduce the potential catastrophic risks that advanced AI systems pose and to bring about the enormous potential benefits.

We encourage speculative applications; we expect many strong candidates will not meet all of the criteria listed here, and thus would encourage you to apply if you are on the fence.

Compensation is based on your experience, location, and relevant industry benchmarks and will likely fall within £50,000 to £80,000.

Other benefits include:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.
• A $3,000-5,000 annual professional development allowance to support training and other resources to improve your skill set. (We might offer more if there are additional compelling opportunities for you to learn.)
• A 5% employer pension contribution in your country of living.
• Equipment to help your productivity. We’ll pay for high-quality and ergonomic equipment, like a laptop, monitor, chair, and desk.
• Parental leave and support, with up to 16 weeks of fully-paid leave and up to 52 weeks leave in total. We also provide financial support to help you balance childcare needs.
• At least 20 days of paid vacation time, plus public holidays. We encourage you to use the full allowance.

Impact Academy is a startup non-profit that runs cutting-edge fellowships to enable global talent to use their careers to mitigate global catastrophic risks and contribute to a better future. Over the next years, we will focus all our efforts on the safe and beneficial development of AI.

Since 2023, we have supported around 200 people by experimenting with multiple different programs such as the AI Safety Careers Course and the EU Tech Policy Fellowship (together with Training for Good). Some of our alumni have gone on to do AI policy research at think tanks in the US and the EU. Others have pursued PhDs or joined impactful organizations. A few have founded their own organizations. More recently, we’re focusing more on running the first-ever AI Safety fellowships in India for some of its brightest minds. We also co-founded Meta Charity Funders through AIM, which has disbursed >$2.7M in grants, and Vilhelm and Lowe are now setting up a foundation with support from a European billionaire philanthropist and will be spending less time at Impact Academy.

We’re a small, supportive, and ambitious team that’s very dedicated to making AI go well and thus contribute to future generations. To do this, we aim high and try to bring out the best in each other by holding each to high standards and giving feedback while taking care of ourselves and each other.

We’re fortunate to be supported by private philanthropists and foundations such as Open Philanthropy and have raised $3M+ so far.

The application process consists of:

1. Stage 1: Complete the application form.
2. Stage 2: Short work test.
3. Stage 3: Longer paid work test designed to simulate the work you would do if hired.
4. Stage 4: Remote interview.
5. Stage 5: 2-day in-person work trial in London to allow you and us to see what it would be like if you worked at Impact Academy. We’ll pay for flights and accommodation. We may consider a remote work trial in special circumstances.

You’ll be compensated for all work tests beyond stage 2.

We’re aware that factors like gender, race, and socioeconomic background can affect people’s willingness to apply for roles for which they meet some but not all the suggested attributes. We especially encourage people from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

There’s no such thing as a “perfect” candidate. If you’re on the fence about applying because you’re unsure whether you’re qualified, we encourage you to apply.

On Wednesday, August 7th we conducted a Q&A for this role at 4pm BST.

You can view the recording here.