Operations Assistant

Constellation is an independent research center that brings together people throughout the AI safety ecosystem to accelerate insight, research, and talent through better cooperation. Unlike a conference or summit, Constellation operates continuously, in the form of a physical workspace as well as conference-style talks, workshops, and training bootcamps. Continuous operation allows for relationships and conversations to develop over time, meaningfully fostering trust, collaboration, and shared insight. It also makes Constellation a natural field-building hub by rapidly inspiring, orienting, and connecting people who are newer to the field.

Based in Berkeley, CA, our shared workspace hosts over 100 people per week across dozens of AI safety organizations in nonprofits, academia, industry, and government. Hundreds of other researchers spend time at Constellation for shorter visits each year. We believe this is the strongest and highest-output network of AI safety researchers in the world; dozens of participants in past Constellation programs have gone on to safety-focused roles at companies such as METR, Redwood Research, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and the US and UK Safety Institutes.

For more information, see our research focus areas and selected publications from Constellation fellows.

About the role

The Operations Assistant role is focused on providing office, administrative, and user support to our operations team and the researchers hosted in our shared workspace. Together, our team manages everything from travel logistics to IT support to workshops for many of the world’s top AI safety experts. This position will report to the Director of Operations or to our future Facilities Lead.

The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, has excellent interpersonal skills, and is excited to support AI safety research in a fast-paced and friendly work environment. (The vibe and pace is much closer to a growing startup than a traditional nonprofit.) Ideally, you also have a few years of office management, customer support, or administrative experience. 

This is an in-person, full-time position. This role requires being onsite from 8am-4:30pm on weekdays. Occasional work is required on evenings and weekends when we are hosting special events or handling an urgent support issue.

Example responsibilities

Since we’re a growing team, your exact responsibilities will depend on your skills and interests. They are likely to include:

• Administrative support: Monitoring inventory and ordering supplies. Reserving offices and meeting rooms. Booking travel and lodging for visitors and guests, preparing desks and offices for new members, updating headcount estimates, etc.
• Member support: Welcoming visitors when they arrive, registering them in our systems, and giving orientation tours. Managing inbound support requests, solving the ones you can, and escalating tickets that require input from other team members.
• Event support: Staffing workshops and happy hours, identifying and responding to issues.
• Team support: Supporting other Operations team projects as needed. Over time, you can take on more responsibility and ownership of the work you find most interesting.

Skills & Experience

• Experience coordinating administrative tasks for a team
• Ability to be friendly, professional, and engaging with a wide range of people
• Clear, concise written communication
• Strong attention to detail
• High level of proficiency with Google Docs & Sheets
• Comfortable learning new web applications and technologies
• Experience managing customer support issues or user requests  (preferred, not required)
• Experience planning events or travel for groups (preferred, not required)
• Experience using Slack, Asana, and CRM tools (preferred, not required)

You might be a good fit for this role if you:

• Enjoy working in a fast-paced office environment
• Like creating spreadsheets to organize things
• Love creating to-do lists and crossing tasks off your list
• Can effectively prioritize and juggle a variety of competing requests
• Care a lot about improving the user/customer experience
• Are entrepreneurial and like learning new skills
• Like taking responsibility and owning your work
• Care about AI safety and improving researcher productivity

Compensation and Benefits

Compensation will depend on experience and will likely be $65,000-90,000/year.

Our benefits include:

• Generous vacation policy
• 401(k) with employer match
• Employer-paid commuter benefits
• PPO health, dental, and vision insurance
• Catered lunches and dinners, plus unlimited snacks & drinks
• Regular interaction with AI safety researchers and thought leaders
• A friendly, mission-driven team

Logistics

This is a full-time, on-site position at our Berkeley office, just steps from the nearest BART (metro) and bus stop. On-site parking is also available. We may be able to sponsor visas, depending on circumstances.

If you're excited about helping humanity safely navigate the development of transformative AI, we encourage you to apply—even if you’re unsure whether you meet every qualification.

‍We value diversity in all respects and base our hiring decisions on the needs of the organization and individual qualifications.  We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age or disability.

‍