Office Manager

Job description

Role Office Manager Reports to CBAI Director of Operations Location In-person, Cambridge, MA Employment type Full-time Compensation $84,000-$90,000 per year Start date September 2026 Applications Reviewed on a rolling basis. ABOUT CBAI The Cambridge Boston Alignment Initiative ("CBAI") is a nonprofit research organization working to advance research and education directed towards ensuring that society navigates a safe and beneficial transition to advanced AI systems. Our work takes the form of producing original research efforts and accelerating AI safety research through fellowship programs. CBAI has been the anchor organization for AI safety in Cambridge since late 2022. We serve as the connective tissue between the AI safety research community across Harvard, MIT, and Northeastern, running workshops, convenings, and networking events that bring together researchers, students, and practitioners working on the most important problems in the field. CBAI serves as the fiscal sponsor for the AI Safety Student Team (AISST) in Harvard Square and MIT AI Alignment in Kendall Square. CBAI also runs regular research fellowships throughout the year, as well as other upskilling programs that directly strengthen the AI safety talent pipeline. THE ROLE You will serve as the point person for CBAI's three Harvard Square office locations, taking the lead on keeping every site set up for success and running smoothly. The role combines three things in roughly equal measure: hands-on facilities and technical competency (you'll often function as the closest thing to on-site IT), operational systems thinking (inventory, budgets, vendors, and playbooks), and an eye for detail and design (curating warm, inviting spaces that people enjoy working in). On any given day, you might diagnose a WiFi issue, rethink and restock the snack setup, coordinate with a co-tenant on shared space use, and source new furniture. You'll anticipate issues before they arise, move quickly when they do, and work cross-functionally with program staff, leadership, and external partners to keep friction as low as possible for staff and program participants. This is a role for someone who takes real pride in spaces that work. When you do it well, the offices simply run, and the people in them get to focus entirely on their work. RESPONSIBILITIES - Facilities & Technical Troubleshooting: Serve as the first line of defense for anything that breaks, from WiFi and printers to AV and fixtures. Diagnose and fix what you can on your own, arrange quick workarounds, and coordinate with vendors, contractors, and building management on longer-term repairs. - Food, Beverage & Supply Management: Own the ordering, stocking, and curation of snacks, beverages, and office supplies across all three sites, iterating based on feedback and observed consumption and building scalable procurement systems as CBAI grows. - Space Stewardship & Asset Management: Keep every office warm, clean, and productive, from plant care to layout. Regularly assess furniture and equipment, manage replacements end to end, and continuously improve shared spaces based on user feedback. - Co-tenancy & Building Coordination: Manage relationships with co-tenants and building management through regular communication, coordinating shared space use and amiably resolving any points of tension. - Onboarding & Offboarding Support: Act as the office point of contact for arriving staff and program participants, ensuring workspaces, access credentials, supplies, and building logistics are ready from day one, and run the matching offboarding checklist to keep assets and access current. - Budget Tracking & Reporting: Maintain accurate records of facilities and operations spending across all three locations, track expenditures against budget, flag variances proactively, and provide regular summaries to CBAI leadership. - Health & Safety: Establish and own health and safety practices across all offices, including first aid supply maintenance, emergency procedure documentation, and coordination with building management on fire, security, and accessibility requirements. ABOUT YOU We expect you to be characterized by most of the qualities listed below. A hands-on troubleshooter. You think fast on your feet when something breaks, whether it's a printer, the WiFi, or a jammed door. You don't need deep technical expertise on day one, but you're comfortable figuring things out yourself, and you know when to bring in a professional. A natural operator. You have a bias toward action and get things done reliably. Supplies stay stocked, vendors show up, and nothing falls through the cracks across three sites. You anticipate problems before they happen and follow through on everything you commit to. An eye for space. When you look at a room, you see how to make it warmer, cleaner, and more inviting. You care about the details that make an office not just functional but enjoyable to be in, and you're energized by spaces that keep evolving. You take ownership seriously. When something is your responsibility, you treat it as yours, genuinely caring that the outcome is good. You don't wait to be told something is broken; you notice it and fix it. Warm and clear with people. You're direct with vendors, responsive with staff, and proactive when you spot a potential issue. You build easy relationships with co-tenants, program participants, and colleagues, and you understand that a big part of this role is making people feel taken care of. Organized and resourceful. You keep clear systems, document what you do, and build playbooks others can follow. You find good solutions that don't require spending more than necessary, and you stay grounded when priorities shift in a growing organization. Mission-motivated. You are aligned with CBAI's mission and care about contributing to an organization working on one of the most important problems of our time, in an operational capacity. The ideal candidate will have meaningful experience in office management, facilities, or a similar operations role, ideally in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment, and will be comfortable managing vendors and contractors. What matters most is that you take genuine pride in making physical spaces run smoothly and feel great to work in. NICE TO HAVES - Hands-on facilities, sites, or office management experience - Comfort troubleshooting everyday office technology (WiFi and networking, printers, AV), or the ability to pick it up quickly - An eye for interior design, space planning, or hospitality - Experience with procurement, inventory, or budget tracking systems - Familiarity with the AI safety landscape, or strong motivation to build it quickly PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS This role requires the ability to perform regular, moderate lifting as part of routine office management duties, including receiving and stocking delivery orders. Candidates must be able to lift (and briefly carry) items weighing up to 40 lbs occasionally, such as bulk beverage packs or supply shipments. The role also involves frequent movement between office locations, including regular walking between sites (two of which are located within the same building, and one approximately 0.1 miles away). Reasonable accommodations will be made for qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable law. WHY THIS ROLE MAY NOT BE THE RIGHT FIT This is not a research role. You'll be embedded in the Cambridge AI safety community, but your job is to make the spaces work, not to participate in the research. The work is physical and on-site. This is a fully in-person role across three locations, with regular lifting, moving, and hands-on fixing. If you're looking for a desk-based or hybrid position, this isn't it. Your impact is mostly invisible when done well. Success looks like offices that simply work and people who never have to think about facilities. If you need visible, attributable outputs to feel satisfied, this role will be frustrating. The role is interrupt-driven. Things break on their own schedule. You'll balance planned projects against a steady stream of unpredictable issues, and your day will often get rearranged. If you prefer a fixed routine with few surprises, this may be challenging. ROLE COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS Team: You'll report primarily to the Director of Operations. Salary: $84,000 – $90,000 per year, full-time We also provide: - 5% 403(b) match contribution - Comprehensive health insurance - Generous PTO policy - Employer-paid commuter benefits - Reimbursement for work-related technology and/or home office expenses U.S. work authorization required. Location: This position is in-person and based in Cambridge, MA. Start date: September 2026 SELECTION PROCESS We review applications on a rolling basis. 1. Initial Application: A short application form plus your resume. Every application is reviewed in detail by a member of our team. 2. Working Interview (~1 hour): A brief real-world task drawn from the actual work of the role, completed live or asynchronously with a tight turnaround. Unpaid, and designed to take no more than an hour. 3. Short Interview (~30 minutes): A conversation about your background, motivation for the role, and any questions you have for us. 4. Paid Work Test (3–5 hours): A scoped task mirroring the role's real responsibilities, paid at market rate. 5. Team Interviews: Structured conversations with CBAI team members, tied to the role's responsibilities. 6. Reference Checks: Conducted for finalists, followed by a final conversation to ensure mutual fit before an offer. CBAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, national origin, veteran status, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. In acknowledgement of the research that suggests that women, gender minorities, and other marginalized groups may be less likely to apply for roles where they don't meet every criterion, we especially encourage people in these categories to apply. Refer us candidates https://airtable.com/app4zWdbexhJgyBwp/pagLKlt1Zh0RV163y/form, and receive $5,000 if we hire them.