Operations Associate

OpenAlex User's Group; United States; On-site; USD 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAlex is hiring an entry-level operations role reporting to the COO. You will own forms, onboarding paperwork, vendor registration, procurement systems, security and compliance questionnaires, tax and exemption paperwork, and purchase orders.

You’ll also manage team logistics and event registrations, ensuring everyone has what they need to get there. This is a first job where your work genuinely matters.

Job description

The role

We\'re growing quickly, and as we grow, handling operations is becoming a full-time job. This is that job.

In specific terms, here\'s what you\'ll own:

• Forms, portals, and questionnaires. Vendor registration, procurement systems, security and compliance questionnaires, tax and exemption paperwork, purchase orders.


• Member paperwork. Contracts out for signature, invoices raised and chased, records kept straight across our systems so nobody has to ask \"did that one ever get paid?\"


• Team logistics. Conference travel, event registrations, speaking logistics, team gatherings. Making sure the people going somewhere have what they need to get there.


• The small things that unblock everyone else. A surprising amount of this job is noticing that something has been stuck for three weeks, and unsticking it.

You\'ll report to our COO. Finance, HR, and legal stay with our CEO and COO; you\'ll support that work, not carry it.

This is an entry-level role. We\'re not looking for someone who has done this before. We\'re looking for someone who will be very good at it, quickly, and who wants a first job where the work visibly matters.

It\'s also a genuine foot in the door: you\'ll be at a well-respected organization in an exciting field, and you\'ll get to know practically everyone in open science. Whether that leads to a bigger role here as we grow or a great job somewhere else, we\'ll help you get there.

About us

Inspired by the ancient Library of Alexandria, we\'re building a universal research library. And by making it open to humans and machines, we\'re supporting a new scientific revolution. We\'d love your help.

As a nonprofit, we\'re driven by mission. As a tech company, we\'re working at scale: a billion API calls monthly, and millions of users across enterprise, government, and academia. Your favorite AI company probably uses OpenAlex; your favorite university definitely does.

Our small-team culture values trust, agency, and impact. The tempo\'s relentless, nothing\'s ever really done, and no\'s holding your hand. But the work stays interesting, we have creative autonomy, and we ship. Every day.

You play jazz, not classical: you\'re confident in your skills, love improvising with a team, and can embrace ambiguity and imperfection in service of emergent, collaborative creativity.

You believe in our mission and you care about openness and open culture. That extends to how you communicate: with skill, empathy, and clarity.

And for this role specifically:

• You\'re organized and self-managing, and you sweat the details. You get a real kick out of an empty inbox, a tracker with nothing overdue, and a form that\'s right the first time — and you\'re the one who notices when two numbers don\'t match.


• You write clearly and professionally to people you\'ve never met — including when the answer is \"not yet\" or \"we can\'t.\"


• You\'re comfortable working with AI all day, including managing AI agents. You\'re always finding new ways to streamline your processes with it — and you know when something needs the human touch.


• You love a new challenge and you love to learn. You\'ll ask the question rather than guess, and you\'ll only need to ask it once.

You don\'t need a degree in anything particular, experience in scholarly publishing, or to have held a job before this one.

The process

Our hiring process has five steps:

1. Application


2. Screening interview


3. In-depth interview


4. Offer