People Operations Specialist

Constellation Institute; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) with employer match

Health insurance

On-site parking

Healthy meals & snacks

Job summary

Constellation Institute in Berkeley, CA seeks a People Operations Specialist to shape and run our People function, from onboarding to advocacy, ensuring data integrity and compliant processes.

You will own immigration case management, recruiting operations, ATS hygiene, and policy design, working with a mission-driven team in a dynamic, on-site environment.

Qualifications

• Meaningful experience in People Operations or HR, with end-to-end ownership of complex processes.
• Strong judgment in ambiguous or sensitive situations; trusted to handle important matters.
• Highly organized with meticulous attention to detail and reliable follow-through.
• Self-starter who communicates transparently and is curious about the mission.
• Strong written and verbal communication, with warmth and professionalism.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end onboarding and offboarding, including continuously improving the experience as the org evolves.
• Lead HRIS management, identify gaps, manage integrations, ensure data integrity.

Skills

People Ops

HR policies

Data integrity

Organization

Ambiguity handling

Policy design

Communication

Tools

HRIS systems

ATS platforms

Rippling

Job description

About Constellation

Constellation is an independent research center that brings together people throughout the AI safety ecosystem to accelerate insight, research, and talent through better cooperation. Unlike a conference or summit, Constellation operates continuously, in the form of a physical workspace as well as conference-style talks, workshops, and training bootcamps. Continuous operation allows for relationships and conversations to develop over time, meaningfully fostering trust, collaboration, and shared insight. It also makes Constellation a natural field-building hub by rapidly inspiring, orienting, and connecting people who are newer to the field.

About Constellation

Constellation is an independent research center that brings together people throughout the AI safety ecosystem to accelerate insight, research, and talent through better cooperation. Unlike a conference or summit, Constellation operates continuously, in the form of a physical workspace as well as conference-style talks, workshops, and training bootcamps. Continuous operation allows for relationships and conversations to develop over time, meaningfully fostering trust, collaboration, and shared insight. It also makes Constellation a natural field-building hub by rapidly inspiring, orienting, and connecting people who are newer to the field. Based in Berkeley, CA, our shared workspace hosts over 300 people per week across dozens of AI safety organizations in nonprofits, academia, industry, and government. Hundreds of other researchers spend time at Constellation for shorter visits each year. We believe this is the strongest and highest-output network of AI safety researchers in the world; dozens of participants in past Constellation programs have gone on to safety-focused roles at companies such as METR, Redwood Research, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and the US and UK Safety Institutes.

About The Role

Constellation works with the individuals and organizations trying to make sure AI goes well for humanity. That only happens if we're running well internally, and a well-run Constellation means more capacity, capability, and coordination across the AI safety ecosystem.

We're looking for a People Operations Specialist to join our People team. The people who thrive here have strong judgment in ambiguous situations, know how to prioritize without being told, and are as comfortable designing a process as running one. You won't just be maintaining the People function — you'll be shaping it, and acting as a thought partner on how it should evolve.

Key responsibilities

Core People Operations

• Own end-to-end onboarding and offboarding, including continuously improving the experience as the org evolves.
• Own and improve our HRIS, including identifying gaps, managing integrations, and ensuring data integrity.
• Lead benefits administration and serve as the primary point of contact for employee questions and vendor relationships.
• Take ownership of compliance, proactively identifying risk and driving resolution rather than flagging up.
• Design and maintain People Ops policies, programs, and internal resources — and build new ones from scratch as the org's needs change.
• Make prioritization calls independently and communicate tradeoffs clearly to leadership

Immigration & Legal Administration

• Own immigration case management end-to-end, coordinating with outside counsel and keeping employees informed throughout.
• Exercise judgment on process and timeline questions, escalating to counsel only when genuinely necessary.
• Own contract and compliance administration, including identifying gaps in tracking or policy and closing them.

Recruiting & Talent Operations Support

• Run recruiting operations independently when needed, including scheduling, candidate communications, and onsite coordination.
• Own ATS hygiene and recruiting data, and identify improvements to how the function operates.
• Help shape the candidate experience, not just execute it.

Skills & Experience

• Meaningful experience in People Operations or HR, with a track record of owning complex processes and programs end-to‑end.
• Strong judgment in ambiguous or sensitive situations; you make good calls when there's no playbook and people trust you with things that matter.
• Highly organized with meticulous attention to detail; you notice what others miss and follow through reliably.
• A self‑starter who takes initiative, communicates with transparency, and is intellectually curious about the work and the mission.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with warmth and professionalism in every employee and candidate interaction.
• Comfortable designing systems and policies from scratch, not just maintaining existing ones.
• Solid familiarity with HRIS systems, ATS platforms, or similar tools.
• Some experience managing immigration cases or complex compliance matters.

Nice-to-Have

• Experience designing or restructuring People Ops processes and systems.
• Exposure to multi-state or multi-country employment compliance.
• Experience administering an HRIS, e.g. Rippling.

You Might Be a Good Fit If You

• Care about AI safety and want your work to have a real multiplier effect on the ecosystem.
• Are energized by ambiguity rather than slowed down by it.
• Hold yourself to a high standard, especially when no one is watching.
• Like figuring out what the right thing to do is, not just being told what to do.

Compensation & Benefits

The base pay range for this role is $100,000 – $120,000 per year.

Our benefits are hard to beat! They include:

• Healthy lunches and dinners catered by our amazing kitchen team
• Unlimited snacks & drinks
• Generous vacation policy
• 401(k) with employer match
• Employer-paid commuter benefits
• High-quality health, dental, and vision insurance
• Friendly and supportive team
• Regular interaction with AI safety researchers and thought leaders

Additional Information

This is a full time, on‑site role. Our Berkeley office is a few steps from the nearest BART (metro) and bus stop. On‑site parking is also available.

The ideal candidate for this role will have some combination of the skills and experiences described above. If you are not sure if you are qualified, we strongly encourage you to apply anyway. Beyond the qualifications outlined, our priority is building a team that will help humanity safely navigate the development of transformative AI. If you would be excited to do this work, we’d love to consider you.

We value diversity in all respects and base our hiring decisions on the needs of the organization and individual qualifications. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age or disability.