Operations Associate in Washington

The Institute for Law & AI (LawAI) is an independent think tank that researches and advises on the legal challenges posed by artificial intelligence. We believe that sound legal analysis will promote security, welfare, and the rule of law. We conduct research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, law, and policy and advise governments, research organizations, and private actors.

About the role

We are looking for a proactive and organized junior Operations Associate to support the day-to-day running of our organization. This is a hands‑on coordination and administrative role that sits within the operations function and covers a broad range of responsibilities—HR and people admin, fellowship logistics, visa support, finance coordination, and general ops triage—making it a generalist position rather than a narrow specialism. You will be a key point of contact for staff, fellows, and external partners on routine queries and requests, and you will take ownership of the processes and trackers that keep the team running. It’s a great entry point into operations at a growing organization, with real scope to develop across a wide range of functions and help shape how the ops team works as we scale. This role reports into the ops function and works closely with the wider team.

Your main responsibilities will include:

• General ops and triage
  • Being the first point of contact for ops support Slack channels: triaging requests, resolving what you can independently, and routing the rest appropriately
  • Processing routine invoices and coordinating with finance on contractor payments and expense queries
  • Reviewing corporate card transactions, classifying expenses within the correct categories, and uploading supporting receipts
  • Supporting IT system admin, mailboxes, shared drives, and group permissions
• HR and people admin
  • Day-to-day administration of the Oyster HR platform: expense approvals, reimbursements, invoice queries, and keeping employee records current
  • Owning onboarding and offboarding checklists for new hires, contractors, and fellows—including Asana setup, account provisioning, welcome communications, and account deactivation
  • Processing contract amendments and extensions as instructed
  • Being the first port of call for routine leave queries: PTO, parental leave logistics, and statutory entitlement questions
  • Keeping leave records current in Oyster and internal documents
  • Escalating anything ambiguous or jurisdiction‑specific upward
• Fellowship and event logistics
  • Coordinating offer letters, payment schedules, and supporting administration
  • Company retreat support, including planning and delivery
  • Ad hoc support on event operations when required, e.g., visa support, travel, and venues

About you

You are organized, dependable, and take pride in keeping things running smoothly. You’re the kind of person who maintains the tracker without being asked, spots the process that isn’t working and quietly fixes it, and makes sure nothing falls through the cracks. You’re comfortable sitting across multiple workstreams at once, working closely with colleagues at all levels, and being the person the team turns to when they need something sorted.

You might be a strong fit if:

• You’re highly organized and detail‑oriented—you keep trackers current, follow checklists properly, and don’t let things slip
• You’re service‑oriented by nature and take pride in being reliable and responsive to the people around you
• You’re a strong executor—you get things done without needing much chasing and follow through on what you say you will do
• You’re proactive and spot things that need doing without being asked
• You’re comfortable switching between tasks and managing a varied workload across different areas
• You communicate clearly in writing and know how to handle queries promptly and without fuss
• You’re discreet and trustworthy with sensitive information—pay, contracts, and immigration support will be a regular part of the role
• You have some experience in an ops, admin, or coordinator role
• You’re familiar with tools like Google Workspace, Slack, and Asana; experience with Oyster or Justworks is a bonus

This role may benefit from you having some of the following experience, though you could still be a highly competitive candidate without it:

• Supporting HR or people ops processes, such as onboarding, offboarding, or leave administration
• Coordinating logistics for events, in‑person programmes, or multi‑day gatherings
• Working in a think tank, or an academic, nonprofit, or high‑growth startup environment
• Exposure to basic finance admin, such as processing invoices or tracking expenses

All of the above said, there’s no such thing as a perfect candidate; we don’t expect a successful hire to excel in all of the dimensions here. If you are on the fence about applying because you are unsure whether you are qualified, we strongly encourage you to apply.

Compensation

The salary range for this role is $75,000 – $100,000 depending on experience. For exceptional candidates whose experience exceeds our expectations in terms of relevance and seniority, we may consider higher compensation. We are ideally looking for someone able to start immediately but are open to waiting for longer if the ideal candidate is not available immediately.

Time zones and location

This is a full‑time, permanent position. We encourage in‑person work from Washington, DC, or from our office in Cambridge, UK, but we have staff working from many different countries and support flexibility where needed.

Visas: We may be able to support visa applications in some instances for this role, though individual eligibility is not within our control.

Benefits

• 5 weeks of PTO recommended per year, plus public holidays
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave that can be taken prior to birth or adoption and during the first year, with the option to take additional unpaid leave
• Employer pension or matching 401(k) contribution up to 4% of your salary
• Health insurance for employees residing in countries without nationalized healthcare
• An annual reimbursement fund of $5,000 for productivity and professional development
• An annual reimbursement fund of $5,000 for mental health support
• An annual reimbursement fund of $2,500 for equipment and office supplies
• A friendly, open work culture that encourages feedback and close collaboration, and a team that appreciates the contributions of all team members

Diversity

We aim to employ people with many different experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds who share our mission. We are committed to creating an environment where all employees have the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their race, religion, disability, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation.

Requests for accommodation

If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability or incompatible assistive technology, please contact hiring@law-ai.org to request reasonable accommodations.