Deadline:
25th October 2026
Arcadia Impact is looking for a Programme Operations Associate for LASR Labs to build and improve the systems that allow us to deliver a high-quality programme as we scale. As LASR’s first dedicated operations hire, this is a varied role, spanning visas and immigration, scheduling and logistics, events, internal systems, data analysis, and communications support. You'll take on increasing ownership over time, with room to shape what operations at LASR look like as we grow.
Applications close on October 25th, 2026 (anywhere on earth), but are assessed on a rolling basis. We may close applications early if we find a strong candidate, so we encourage you to apply soon.
Summary
Salary: £45,000 to £50,000, per year, based on experience
Location: London (primarily in person from the Impact First and LISA offices)
Start date: November 2026 (flexible)
Visas: We are able to sponsor visas
About Arcadia Impact
Arcadia Impact is a registered charity working to empower people and organisations to contribute to addressing pressing global problems, with a focus on AI safety. Our core training programmes are LASR Labs and the AI Governance Taskforce, which upskill people for careers in technical AI safety and AI governance. We also run an alignment research group, launched in May 2026 with a grant from the UK AI Security Institute's Alignment Project. Beyond our own programmes, we support two sponsored projects: Orion AI Governance Initiative and Impact First.
Some highlights include:
Through LASR Labs, papers from our Spring and Summer 2025 cohorts have been accepted at top ML venues, including NeurIPS, ICLR, and ICML workshops. This includes "Detecting High-Stakes Interactions with Activation Probes" and "CoT Red-Handed: Stress Testing Chain-of-Thought Monitoring", both accepted to NeurIPS 2025.
Participants from our two most recent cohorts have already gone on to work at Apollo Research, Australian AISI, BlueDot Impact, Geodesic Research, the Arcadia Alignment Team, and the Center for Long-Term Risk.
We launched the Alignment Team, having confirmed a grant from the UK AI Security Institute’s Alignment Project.
We concluded our first full cohort of our AI Governance Taskforce, supporting 16 experienced professionals to produce 4 papers on AI governance.
The Orion AI Governance Initiative supported 57 participants across its programmes and placed 2 people into AI policy roles at think tanks and AI governance organisations.
We recently re-branded our work to support students and professionals in London to launch high-impact careers as Impact First, and running our coworking office (previously LEAH).
Team and role
You will report to Brandon Riggs (Programme Manager, LASR Labs).
You would work directly on LASR Labs. Fellows work in small teams on supervised research projects over 13 weeks, and our alumni have gone on to roles at organisations including UK AISI, Apollo Research, and OpenAI. LASR is in a significant period of growth. We intend to more than double our cohort size and run three cohorts a year, up from two.
Today, operations at LASR are handled partly in-house by programme staff and partly with support from dedicated operations staff at Arcadia. You'd be the first hire focused on operations full-time. Initially, you would work alongside both programme staff and Arcadia's operations team, taking over operational work from each. Your remit would then grow as you build context and as LASR scales.
Responsibilities
Your responsibilities will include:
Programme support: absorbing operational work from programme staff, supporting application and screening processes, helping participants with issues as they arise, and providing extra capacity during recruitment rounds, cohort launches, and events.
Assisting Arcadia’s operations team with tasks including visa applications, tracking finances, and other administrative tasks.
Communications support: executing on publicity and outreach work, including paid marketing, website improvements, and content such as alumni testimonials.
Scheduling and logistics: coordinating programme schedules and room bookings, interfacing with LISA, and helping run events across the programme calendar.
Internal systems: managing shared inboxes and Slack channels, and building automations where they help.
Data and analysis: running analyses on programme data, such as application funnels, participant outcomes, and operational metrics.
AI adoption: leading AI adoption in our day-to-day operations by testing tools, building automations for recurring tasks, and coordinating with the Arcadia team.
The exact split will be shaped based on your strengths and interests, and we expect a meaningful part of the work to be one-off projects that arise as we grow. Across all areas, we expect the work to involve a combination of directly implementing processes, creating systems, reacting to new situations, and identifying opportunities to automate.
What we hope you get out of it
We think this is a strong opportunity for someone looking to build a career in operations in AI safety field-building.
Growing ownership. As our first dedicated ops hire, you'll start by running core processes and, as you build context, we expect you to take on full ownership of functions (e.g. visas, scheduling, internal systems) and shape how they work.
Breadth. You'll gain experience across logistics, immigration, events, data analysis, AI tooling, and communications, rather than specialising narrowly.
Excellent exposure to the London AI safety ecosystem. LASR is based at the London Initiative for Safe AI (LISA), alongside organisations including Apollo Research, Arcadia's own alignment team, IAPS, Tarbell, SAIF, SaferAI, BlueDot's London team, and more. The density of AI safety talent makes it an excellent environment for quickly building context and relationships with important players in the field. LISA is moving from their current space in Shoreditch to King's Cross in 2027, and the new space will host even more organisations. You'll also build relationships through the programme itself, with our fellows, supervisors, and partner organisations.
In terms of career development, we could see the role going in a few directions:
Growth with the organisation. We're scaling, and roles here are not rigidly defined. If you're excellent at part of the role, such as data analysis, communications strategy, or systems design, there's scope to move in that direction over time.
Gaining valuable skills, context, and network at LASR, then moving to a more senior or specialised role in another organisation in the AI safety space. We're supportive of staff moving on to more impactful opportunities after around a year or more in the role, and happy to help with this, for example by giving time off for work trials.
About you
This is an entry-level role. It could suit an excellent new graduate, or someone with 0–2 years' relevant experience.
We expect successful candidates to have:
Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple projects and tasks in parallel and prioritise between them.
Attention to detail, especially in work like visas and finance admin where mistakes are costly.
Ownership and follow-through. When you take something on, you finish it, including chasing details, following up with others, and solving problems as they come up.
Comfort operating in a small, growing team with autonomy and some ambiguity. A lot of this work is routine, and you're happy doing routine tasks well alongside more interesting ones.
Willingness to learn. Much of this role involves picking up things you haven't done before, whether a new tool, an unfamiliar process, or context on how something works. You get up to speed quickly and independently.
Clear written communication. Much of our coordination happens in writing, through docs and Slack.
Motivation to contribute to LASR Labs and Arcadia Impact's mission of reducing risks from advanced AI.
You will be a great fit if you have some of:
Experience in an operational role or managing complex projects (paid, volunteer, or independent), especially in a small or fast-growing organisation. This includes running a student society, community group, or volunteer project
Experience organising events or handling logistics-heavy processes (e.g. immigration, travel, scheduling).
Experience with finance admin, such as managing budgets, expenses, or reimbursements.
Experience with communications or marketing work, such as writing content, running social media, or maintaining a website.
Experience working with AI tools or platforms like Airtable to automate and improve everyday work
Familiarity with the AI safety ecosystem, or related research or EA-adjacent communities.
We're open to a range of applicants and encourage you to apply even if you don't meet all of the "great fit" list.
Compensation and benefits
We expect to offer a successful candidate between £45,000 and £50,000 per year, depending on previous experience and performance during the application process. We pay 3% employer pension contributions.
We provide a £5k per year professional development budget to help you work at your best.
Our annual leave allocation is 25 days of paid leave plus UK bank holidays.
The role is based in London, at the Impact First and LISA offices, where catering, snacks and drinks are provided.
Timeline
The expected application stages are:
A brief application form with your CV and a couple of short questions.
A work test.
An interview.
Reference checks for final candidates.
If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact tamkeen@arcadiaimpact.org.
We are an equal opportunity employer and are eager to consider candidates from a variety of backgrounds.