Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Epoch AI is a research institute investigating trends in machine learning and the economic consequences of AI. The People Operations Associate or Manager will support and grow the team by managing onboarding, offboarding, staff support, HR service providers, contracts, visa sponsorship, performance reviews, and compliance, with expanded strategic and management responsibilities at the Manager level.
Responsibilities
- Own employee & contractor onboarding and offboarding processes
- Serve as a main point of contact for staff support: benefits, payroll, policies, and other concerns
- Help maintain the internal handbook containing staff guidance, policies, and processes
- Manage relationships with PEOs, EORs, and other HR service providers
- Track employee and contractor contracts and amend them as required
- Manage employment visa sponsorship processes
- Coordinate performance reviews
- Track compliance requirements across jurisdictions where we employ staff
- Own the HR and staff support functions end-to-end, including designing (not just executing) processes and policies
- Drive strategic decisions on HR providers, benefits design, and compliance approach as we scale
- Shape organizational culture and staff experience initiatives proactively
- Mentor our current people operations associate and provide supporting management capacity until we hire a Head of People
Skills
- **An operations mindset**: identifying issues, tracking many fast-moving tasks, prioritizing, and implementing solutions efficiently
- **Systems-orientation**: passionate about optimizing processes and eliminating inefficiencies
- **Ownership**: taking initiative, proactively identifying issues and solutions, voicing concerns unaddressed by the team
- **Great communication skills** and comfort with open, direct feedback
- **2+ years of experience** in people operations or HR (Manager level: 5+ years of experience in operations, including people management experience)
- Strong organization and attention to detail
- Comfort with remote work
- Prior familiarity with and interest in Epoch's mission
- Please submit all of your application materials in **English** and note that we require professional level English proficiency
- While we welcome applicants from all time zones, we prefer candidates who can overlap with UTC–8 (Pacific Time) and UTC (Greenwich Mean Time), as most of our staff work in this range of time zones
- We also prefer candidates who can travel: we hold three retreats per year, during which we record podcast episodes and other communication efforts
Benefits
- Fully remote environment, including flexible work hours.
- Competitive global benefits program, including a comprehensive health insurance program—including supplemental benefits specific to a local country, as available and mandated by local law—and life insurance and a pension plan, if applicable in your country.
- Generous paid time off (PTO), including no specific annual limit, with 30 days PTO per year protected, unlimited personal and sick leave, and 4 months paid parental leave for permanent staff with at least 12 months of tenure (prorated parental leave if less than 12 months).
- A flexible and generous expense policy for you to spend on equipment and a large range of productivity tools or learning/development opportunities, including unlimited spending on AI tools, subject to regulations and manager approval.
- Paid work trips, including 3 staff retreats per year and relevant conferences.
- Access to our very well-equipped offices in Berkeley, California, including paid meals, snacks, gym, and more. All staff, independently of where they are based, have access to the office for at least 20 days each year.
Company Overview