Operations Specialist

Role Overview

We are looking for an operations generalist who can keep the lab running. This role is ideally for someone with 2 to 5 years of relevant experience. You will own the day to day running of the lab, and you will make sure things do not fall through when the rest of the team is travelling, fundraising, or heads down in research. You should be able to take a loosely defined goal and turn it into a plan, a system, and a result. This role sits between operations and technical work. You will work closely with us, drive execution, and take initiative to improve our systems and processes.

This role is open to strong operations generalists with sharp attention to detail who are willing to do the unglamorous work. You do not need to be an engineer. You do need to be fluent with AI tools, and comfortable building simple things yourself with low-code and no-code tools, or with AI coding assistants. If you can already write code, that is a clear advantage, and the good to have section below covers it.

For people with significant relevant experience, we can also hire for a senior version of this role. We also encourage exceptional people who do not have this experience to apply.

SAFL is in a field that moves quickly. The work is demanding, and we mean that plainly. You will own problems from end to end, often with no clear precedent to follow. Priorities will change as the field changes, and you will need to change with them. Much of what you build will be seen by funders, government partners, and researchers outside the lab, so the standard is high. If you want a role with a fixed scope and a settled routine, this is not that role. If you want to test yourself on hard problems and grow quickly, you will find that here.

About SAFL

The Secure AI Futures Lab (SAFL) is South Asia's first research and capacity-building lab for navigating powerful AI. SAFL pursues parallel interventions in AI governance and impacts research, expert talent advancement, government engagement, and ecosystem support infrastructure. Our foundational work received support from Schmidt Sciences and the Future of Life Institute, among others.

Key Responsibilities

Running the Lab Day to Day

• Own the day to day running of the lab, so that work continues without interruption when others are away.
• Manage the day to day of one or two of our Secure AI Hubs, including the space itself, the people who use it, and the volunteers who help run it.
• Coordinate vendors, scheduling, travel, and administrative workflows.
• Spot what is about to break before it breaks, and fix it.

Systems, Tools, and Automation

• Turn repeated manual tasks into automations so the team spends less time on them. Low-code and no-code tools are a perfectly good way to do this.
• Build small internal tools quickly, such as dashboards and simple web pages, using coding tools that use AI, such as Claude and Cursor.
• Use AI tools well across your own work, including writing good prompts for more complex tasks.
• Support analysis work. For example, pull together the data for an economic or statistical study of AI's effects, or build a small app such as a tool that tracks AI policy across states.

Support for Programs and Fundraising

• Produce data and material for fundraising, such as evidence of the lab's track record and simple visualizations.
• Provide support for events, such as sign-up pages, registration systems, and data collection.

Internal Operations and Documentation

• Keep clear records of how each tool and process works so others can use and maintain them.
• Build reusable templates, checklists, and documentation.
• Where useful, guide interns or junior contractors on their work.

Who We're Looking For

The ideal candidate may not have all of these. If you are on the fence, please apply.

Experience and Track Record

• Ideally 2 to 5 years of relevant experience in any mix of operations, program management, technical operations, automation, data, or software.
• We will also consider exceptional recent graduates through the internship track described below.
• A record of owning projects from start to finish and shipping them on time.
• Comfort working with research groups, academic institutions, or think tanks in India is a plus.

Working Style

• High agency. You can take a fuzzy goal, work out what needs to happen, and make it real.
• Sharp attention to detail. You notice the thing that is slightly off, and you do not let it pass.
• Willing to get your hands dirty. No task is beneath you, and no problem is someone else's.
• Reliable when plans change. You can juggle deadlines and tasks without dropping things.
• Comfortable with ambiguity, since this is a young lab in a fast-moving field.

Fluency with AI Tools

• Comfort using AI tools such as Claude to draft, research, and speed up your own work, while always checking the output for accuracy.
• Comfort using AI coding and prototyping tools such as Claude, Cursor, or Replit to build things quickly.
• Comfort using low-code and no-code tools to build automations and simple internal tools.

Good to Have

None of these are required. They will make you stand out.

Data and Technical Depth

• Python for scraping, data cleaning, and automation. Experience with Selenium, Playwright, or BeautifulSoup is a plus.
• Gathering data from the web using scripts, including from sites that try to block automated collection.
• Building and maintaining pipelines that clean, process, and organize the lab's data, such as program records, contacts, and knowledge bases.
• Checking large datasets by hand for accuracy, working with raw formats such as JSON, HTML, and XML.
• Building workflows that use commercial AI models, such as those from OpenAI and Anthropic, to enrich data. This includes retrieval setups, which let a model answer questions using the lab's own documents.
• Comfort working with raw data formats and basic databases. Experience with vector databases, which store text as numbers so a model can find related items, such as Pinecone or Weaviate, is a plus.

Context and Interests

• Some exposure to safe and trusted AI, AI governance, or nearby fields, even through reading or side projects.
• Familiarity with India's AI policy ecosystem, such as MeitY, NITI Aayog, or academic AI labs.
• Some design sense, for example building templates or presentable material.

Internship Track

This role has an internship track for applicants who do not yet have the experience above, including current students and recent graduates. If that is you, apply through the same form and mark that you would like to be considered for the internship track. It is a way to join the lab and grow into the full role. Interns are paid ₹50,000 to ₹1,00,000 per month, depending on the prior profile and performance in our assessments.

How to Apply

We review applications as they arrive, and we encourage you to apply early using the Apply Now button on this page.

Location

Hybrid. You will start remote for the first month. Eventually, we may require you to be located in one of our Secure AI Hubs, or elsewhere across India.

Type

Full-time fixed-term contractor role, initially for 3 to 6 months, with considerable autonomy. The first month is a probation period. Based on satisfactory or outstanding performance, there are reasonable prospects to renew the contract or to graduate into one of our core full-time roles. You will work closely with SAFL leadership, the team, external collaborators, and partners across different time zones.

Compensation (INR)

₹80,000 to ₹2,00,000 per month. Compensation is all-inclusive and will be based on your prior relevant work and your demonstrated ability to meet the needs of this role. For people with significant relevant experience, we can also hire for a senior version of this role.

Application Process Overview

Our process may change based on our needs, but here is what you can usually expect.

• Screening application. A short application to check basic fit.
• Skills test. An unpaid 2-hour work test to assess relevant skills.
• Video interview. A short automated video interview of about 5–7 minutes to help us understand you.
• Interviews. 1–2 short interviews. These go both ways. We learn more about you and you learn more about the role and about us.
• Paid work trial. A paid trial of 2–5 days where you work on real tasks with the team, in person or remote.
• Final call. A closing conversation before we decide.
• Reference checks. We will reach out to a couple of your references to wrap things up.

SAFL is committed to building a diverse, curious, and high-integrity team. We welcome applications from people of different backgrounds.

Questions? Write to us at hiring[AT]secureaifutureslab[DOT]com.