Join CIP as our Operations Lead (and first hire)!
The Opportunity
The Collective Intelligence Project (CIP) is an R&D lab building new governance models for transformative technology (read our whitepaper). Our current focus is on research and experiments that inform LLM development, and our partners include OpenAI, Anthropic, Taiwan’s Digital Ministry, the UK Frontier AI Task Force, and others. We believe that the world can be much better, that technology can be a part of this change, but that there is no reason to believe this will happen by default: our work is to steer transformative technology towards the collective good, for the benefit of real people.
We are seeking an exceptional Operations Lead to join us as our first hire and third full-time team member. This person will not only drive CIP’s day-to-day operations, but also help co-create the organization’s future as we begin to scale. This role is an opportunity to build CIP from the ground up, and affect the direction of transformative technology development broadly.
<Fill out this interest form to apply>
Our Story
The seeds of CIP were planted when Divya was a political economist in Microsoft’s Office of the CTO and Saffron was a Research Engineer at DeepMind. We previously worked on AI governance or socio-technical research from within our organizations, and wanted to do more – to build bigger, more ambitious projects that were fully aligned with the world we wanted to see. In February, we launched CIP. In the past eight months, we’ve run some of the world’s first democratic input processes into AI, produced pioneering research, and worked with nonprofits and policymakers around the world. And we’re just getting started.
For example, we plan on expanding Alignment Assemblies towards greater public presence, and enabling more folks to run and iterate on these processes, and are in talks with some state actors, civil society & companies about it. There’s lots of interest in this space, and significant opportunities to shape it. We also plan to strengthen our workstream on “remaking technology institutions”.
Everything CIP does is based on collaboration, so working with us means working with our community. This means our broader network of community advisors, board members, and affiliates – but also the whole ecosystem of efforts that is building towards ensuring transformative technologies improve collective outcomes.
The Role
Your immediate focus will be running operations: You will drive the day-to-day operational success of CIP (build up CIP’s programs by planning and executing projects, and create internal processes). This is a crucial investment for us to begin growing a strong operational foundation upon which we can scale. Specifics include:
Build up CIP’s programs. You will build and run systems for effectively executing CIP’s programs, from research projects to running pilots with governments. For example, you may devise and execute a plan for the next phase of Alignment Assemblies, or our next AI for Institutions workshop.
Lead community engagement and field-building. One of CIP’s superpowers is the variety of extremely capable and well connected members of the ecosystem who want to support CIP in what we do. You will help grow this community, direct their energy to contribute to CIP projects (e.g. participate in research, help seed collaborations, etc.), and seed collaborations that support our broader mission.
Design and implement internal processes to achieve the operational excellence we need to have a big impact as a small lean org, including non-profit admin needs, HR tasks like accounting and onboarding, prioritization and planning for our distributed team across projects, and knowledge management.
Our ambition is for you to help co-create CIP. We are looking for more than just an operator. If we’re going to bring a third person on board, we need them to believe in our mission. You will define and drive new projects on your own, and values and dreams will directly contribute to CIP’s strategy and define our impact on the AI ecosystem.
Who we’re looking for
After reading this, you should have a good sense of what would make you a great fit!
You have experience in running complex operations. This could mean you have 4+ years of experience in program / product management or equivalent experience; you have experience in high-agency environments with multiple stakeholders, such as building and leading an operations function at a high-growth organization.
You can break down complicated problems into clear insights and turn a vision or prompt into an actionable and efficient plan.
You can execute on your own, and when things change you can learn what you need and adapt on the fly.
As a bonus, you have experience in community-building, communications, tech policy and/or event planning.
You enjoy operating independently within a team; we need someone we can count on to make things happen autonomously, but will loop others in when needed
You can operate independently but know how to get direction that’s an efficient use of time for your teammates.
You’re not afraid to do tedious work if it gets the job done, and you can do it fast, independently, and with high quality. You like to “tie a bow” on things.
You’re a great communicator; you are a clear writer and confident speaker who can coordinate stakeholders, communicate key messages, and get folks aligned quickly.
You have clear and compelling writing and speaking skills.
When needed you are positive and persistent, e.g. you can be tenacious but kind with follow-up emails, and can jump on a call with a smile.
You can represent CIP in a knowledgeable, professional manner even if you’re not a domain expert yet.
You believe in our mission, are conversant in the space, and can and want to bring your own ideas.
You should recognize many of the organizations and ideas in our orbit, and have a strong sense of how they interrelate.
You’re not afraid to debate decisions/ideas, and do so in a truth-seeking way.
You approach work with humility, high integrity, respect and a beginner’s mindset.
You do what you say you will do, and you’re not afraid to say when you don’t know.
You are driven to make decisions based on what would be the best thing for the organization / the world.
You’re excited by feedback in all directions and always looking for ways you can improve and learn new things.
Logistics
Contract: We would start with a 6 month contract, to assess mutual fit, with the goal of permanent employment afterwards.
Location: We are located between San Francisco and London, and strongly prefer candidates in the Bay Area. However, we may consider remote work or other convenient locations in exceptional cases.
Compensation: We expect salaries offered to be $85-100k USD, and will account for relevant experience. A successful candidate should also expect their salary to increase with time spent in this role.
Benefits: we are brand new and still getting these systems off the ground. You will play a key role in building our employment and benefits systems, e.g. healthcare, retirement, quarterly retreats, and coworking spaces.
Application Process
Fill out this interest form with your resume and some answers to a few background questions.
Deadline is rolling until filled, so please send your application as soon as possible. The process starts with two phone screens, followed by a take-home assessment and technical interview to discuss. If you progress past that stage, we’ll schedule a few longer conversations with the team, and reach out to references.
Due to capacity, we won’t be able to respond to every applicant, but we are grateful for your interest!
