GovAI was founded to help humanity navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI. To succeed with that mission, we need an excellent operations team supporting our programmes and our people. We are looking for someone to shape and lead that team.
Our researchers have provided knowledge and assistance to decision makers in government, industry, and civil society. Our alumni have gone on to policy roles in government; top AI labs, including Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic; and think-tanks such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Center for Security and Emerging Technology, and the Tony Blair Institute. Our initial research agenda, published in 2018, helped define and shape the nascent field of AI governance. Our research developing the framework of “cooperative AI” led to the creation of a $15 million philanthropic foundation. We made significant early contributions to the ongoing public discussions over the security implications of AI.
Our researchers have published in leading journals and conferences, including Science and NeurIPS. We have published commentary in venues such as War on the Rocks, The Washington Post, and Lawfare. Our work has also been covered by publications such as The New York Times, MIT Technology Review, and the BBC.
Our staff are based across the United Kingdom, United States, and European Union.
As GovAI’s People Operations Manager, you’ll ensure staff have an excellent experience working at GovAI, design and improve the systems they rely on day to day, and lead the team that delivers them.
The People Operations Manager is an especially important role on our operations team. People operations shapes how much work we can get done at any given size: when employment at GovAI is smooth, our staff spend their time on advancing our mission rather than on admin. You’ll also be among the first team leads hired into our operations team, so you’ll help shape how the team’s structure adapts as it grows this additional layer. Throughout, you’ll keep people operations enabling rather than gatekeeping.
Key roles and responsibilities
You’ll be the person directly responsible for ensuring GovAI’s people operations supports our mission, gives staff an excellent experience, and runs smoothly and efficiently. You’ll report to the Director of Operations.
A lot is in motion right now: we’re scaling quickly, we’re introducing more managers who need support, and we have staff in the US, UK, and other countries. Today the Director of Operations is still involved in day-to-day execution. Within your first year, we’d expect you to take that off their plate and run people operations as a coherent function rather than a collection of tasks. You’ll also be a trusted partner for staff and managers in sensitive and difficult situations.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Owning the systems behind day-to-day staff experience: You’ll design and keep improving onboarding, offboarding, payroll, benefits, policies, and request handling, running them with the lowest bureaucracy compatible with keeping GovAI safe and compliant. When staff need a bespoke solution, you’ll look for creative solutions rather than defaulting to “no”.
- Leading and developing the people ops team: You’ll manage the people ops team (expected to be 3 to 5 members when you join, including you). You’ll set team and individual goals in coordination with the Director of Operations, run a regular check-in cadence, give feedback and mentorship, and hold the team to GovAI’s standards.
- Improving and scaling the function: You’ll identify what isn’t working and fix it, reducing friction for staff rather than simply adding process: overhauling outdated processes, adding automation where possible, and documenting core processes as SOPs to make the team more resilient.
- Handling sensitive and difficult situations: You’ll be a trusted partner for staff. You’ll help manage conflict between staff, performance issues, and other complex situations, including supporting middle managers as they develop.
- Keeping us compliant: You’ll keep our policies and practices in line with US and UK employment law, knowing when to bring in specialist advice.
Experience and skills expected of the post holder
We’re selecting candidates who:
- Are driven to reduce friction and enable GovAI to do more. You treat people operations as enabling, not gatekeeping, and your instinct is to make things lighter, not to add structure for its own sake.
- Are strong people managers, able to set goals, give feedback, develop reports, and hold them to high standards.
- Build systems, not just run them. You see the systemic cause behind recurring issues and design processes that hold at the next scale without quietly adding bureaucracy. You’re comfortable with technology and happy to automate or use AI tools where they help.
- Handle sensitive personnel, salary, and performance information with discretion and judgement.
- Have strong attention to detail (payroll, contracts, comms) and reliable follow-through: things get done, on time, without chasing.
- Communicate clearly in writing and in person, and can deliver uncomfortable messages directly without becoming defensive or avoidant.
- Have a working knowledge of US and UK employment law, or can come up to speed quickly. We don’t expect deep expertise on day one.
- Are excited to use their career to positively influence the lasting impact of AI, in line with our mission.
- Experience managing people operations in a research or think tank context is preferred but not required.
Some profiles that might be an especially good fit for this role include:
- A people operations team lead or ambitious specialist at an organisation in AI governance or related fields.
- Someone who has built or scaled a people operations function within a fast-growing research organisation, think tank, or startup.
- An early employee at a startup or a generalist at a larger organization who has picked up a basic understanding of people operations and wants to specialise in it.
Salary & application
£84,000-£93,000 + pension contribution + private medical cover
The selection process has three stages:
- Written application
- A paid remote work test.
- An interview and reference checks.
- Potentially, a one-day in-person work trial.