Business Operations Manager San Francisco, CA

Goodfire; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Market competitive salary

Equity

Competitive benefits

Job summary

A leading AI research firm based in San Francisco is looking for a Business Operations Manager to oversee operational processes and enhance efficiency. This hands-on role demands strong technical skills and a proactive mindset to tackle operational challenges in a fast-paced environment. Candidates should have 4-6 years of relevant experience, preferably in early-stage startups, and must excel in communication and organizational skills. Competitive salary and benefits offered, along with the chance to work on groundbreaking AI technology.

Qualifications

• 4-6+ years of experience in operations or business operations at an early-stage startup.
• Strong technical background in engineering or demonstrable fluency in technical environments.

Responsibilities

• Own operational problems from 0 to 1.
• Handle customer contracts, recruitment, immigration logistics, and vendor negotiation.
• Ensure minimal administrative overhead for the team.

Skills

Detail-oriented

Exceptional communication skills

Ability to work in fast-paced environments

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Job description

Behind our name: Like fire, AI holds the potential for both immense benefit and significant risk. Just as mastering fire transformed human history, we believe the safe and intentional development of AI will shape the future of our species. Our goal is to tame this new fire.

Goodfire is an AI interpretability research company focused on understanding and designing AI systems that people can trust. Our mission is to advance humanity's understanding of AI to build safe and powerful AI systems. We believe that deep research breakthroughs are necessary to make this possible.

Goodfire is a public benefit corporation headquartered in San Francisco with a team of the world’s top interpretability researchers and engineers from organizations like OpenAI and DeepMind. We’ve raised $59M from investors like Menlo, Lightspeed and Anthropic and work with customers including Arc Institute, Mayo Clinic, and Rakuten.

About the role

We’re hiring a Business Operations Manager to own the operational machinery at Goodfire. This is a hands‑on role where you will be expected to own any operational problem from 0 to 1. You’ll need a strong technical background to deeply immerse yourself in our business and the generalist adaptability to pick up anything and turn it into a solved problem. If you don’t have direct expertise in machine learning or interpretability you’ll be expected to develop a working understanding quickly.

Your work will split between recurring tasks that keep the business running (customer contracts, recruiting initiatives, immigration logistics, and vendor negotiation) and strategic projects that push the company forward. You will ensure there is near‑zero administrative overhead for the broader team, even if this requires thankless hours of invisible work on your end. You’ll be staffed against whatever matters most and be expected to deliver.

Who you are

• An experienced operator who’s been through rapid scaling before. You know what breaks when companies grow fast and how to pre‑empt issues.
• Detail‑oriented and fast‑paced. You can move extremely quickly without letting anything slip.
• Exceptional communication and organizational skills. You can translate between technical and non‑technical teams effortlessly.

What you’ll bring

Required experience

• 4-6+ years of experience in operations, business operations, or a generalist role at an early‑stage startup.
• Technical background strongly preferred. CS degree, engineering experience, or demonstrated fluency from working in technical environments.

Our values

Put mission and team first

All we do is in service of our mission. We trust each other, deeply care about the success of the organization, and choose to put our team above ourselves.

Improve constantly

We are constantly looking to improve every piece of the business. We proactively critique ourselves and others in a kind and thoughtful way that translates to practical improvements in the organization. We are pragmatic and consistently implement the obvious fixes that work.

Take ownership and initiative

There are no bystanders here. We proactively identify problems and take full responsibility over getting a strong result. We are self‑driven, own our mistakes, and feel deep responsibility over what we’re building.

Action today

We have a small amount of time to do something incredibly hard and meaningful. The pace and intensity of the organization is high. If we can take action today or tomorrow, we will choose to do it today.

What we offer

This role offers market competitive salary, equity, and competitive benefits.

Expected salary range: $175,000 - $300,000 USD.

Most importantly, you'll have the opportunity to join a vital mission at an important point in its trajectory — we are developing groundbreaking technology with a world‑class team on the critical path to ensuring a safe and beneficial future for humanity. If you want to do your life’s work with us, even if you believe you do not meet every single requirement, apply now.