What are the responsibilities and job description for the Operation Manager position at Patronus AI?
About Patronus AI, Inc.
Patronus AI’s mission is to provide the security and risk management layer for AI. We are solving the problem of scalable oversight - how can humans continue to supervise AI systems when AI far outperforms them in many real world scenarios? Our vision is a world in which AI evaluates AI.
Our founding team comes from top applied ML and research backgrounds, including Facebook AI Research (FAIR), Airbnb, Meta Reality Labs, and quant finance. As a team, we have published research papers at top ML conferences (NeurIPS, EMNLP, ACL), designed and launched Airbnb’s first conversational AI assistant, pioneered causal inference at Meta Reality Labs, exited a quant hedge fund backed by Mark Cuban, and scaled 0→1 products at high growth startups. We are backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners and high profile operators like Amjad Masad, Gokul Rajaram, and Fortune 500 executives and board members. We are advised by Douwe Kiela, Adjunct Professor at Stanford University and former Head of Research at HuggingFace.
Benefits
As an Operations Manager at Patronus AI, you will support the operational backbone of the company. You will ensure that onboarding and offboarding run smoothly, expenses and hours are tracked cleanly, access is controlled, payroll is running smoothly and state compliance is handled on time, and our operations stay aligned with both internal policies and external regulations.
What You'll Do
Above All, We Look For a Proactive Mindset, Willingness To Learn, Relentless Drive, And Pride In Keeping Things Organized And Running Smoothly. You Are a Great Fit If You Have a Background In The Following
Patronus AI’s mission is to provide the security and risk management layer for AI. We are solving the problem of scalable oversight - how can humans continue to supervise AI systems when AI far outperforms them in many real world scenarios? Our vision is a world in which AI evaluates AI.
Our founding team comes from top applied ML and research backgrounds, including Facebook AI Research (FAIR), Airbnb, Meta Reality Labs, and quant finance. As a team, we have published research papers at top ML conferences (NeurIPS, EMNLP, ACL), designed and launched Airbnb’s first conversational AI assistant, pioneered causal inference at Meta Reality Labs, exited a quant hedge fund backed by Mark Cuban, and scaled 0→1 products at high growth startups. We are backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners and high profile operators like Amjad Masad, Gokul Rajaram, and Fortune 500 executives and board members. We are advised by Douwe Kiela, Adjunct Professor at Stanford University and former Head of Research at HuggingFace.
Benefits
- Competitive salary and equity packages
- Meal & Wellness stipends
- Health, dental, and vision insurance plans
- 401(k) plan
- 2 global offsites in a year!
- Private Chef in the SF office!
As an Operations Manager at Patronus AI, you will support the operational backbone of the company. You will ensure that onboarding and offboarding run smoothly, expenses and hours are tracked cleanly, access is controlled, payroll is running smoothly and state compliance is handled on time, and our operations stay aligned with both internal policies and external regulations.
What You'll Do
- Lead end-to-end onboarding and offboarding for employees and contractors (accounts, tools, access, documentation, checklists) including setting them up on payroll etc.
- Maintain clear, up-to-date records for employees, contractors, and vendors.
- Manage day-to-day expense processes, including card spend, reimbursements, and recurring subscriptions.
- Track and reconcile expenses on a regular cadence, flagging out-of-policy or unusual spend early.
- Own time and hours tracking (where applicable): ensure hours are submitted accurately and on time and are ready for payroll and invoicing.
- Keep a clear record of agreed daily/weekly hours for contractors and raise concerns if you see consistent mismatches between expected hours and actual activity.
- Manage access control: Maintain who has access to what (email, GitHub, AWS, internal tools), and add/remove or adjust access when people join, change roles, or leave.
- Coordinate state registrations and ongoing state compliance (e.g., payroll tax accounts, registrations, annual reports) with external partners.
- Prepare for compliance frameworks like SOC2, ISO:27001 etc.
- Ensure compliance with internal policies and external regulations across onboarding, offboarding, expenses, access, and state operations.
- Keep internal SOPs, checklists, and “how we do things” documentation for operations up to date and easy to follow.
- Work closely with management and cross-functional teams to keep day-to-day operations smooth and fix small problems before they become big ones.
Above All, We Look For a Proactive Mindset, Willingness To Learn, Relentless Drive, And Pride In Keeping Things Organized And Running Smoothly. You Are a Great Fit If You Have a Background In The Following
- 3 years of experience in Operations, Business Operations, People Operations, or a similar role, ideally at a startup or high-growth company.
- Hands-on experience with onboarding/offboarding, expense management, and operational processes.
- You love creating SOPs
- Great at figuring things out on your own!
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail; you are comfortable juggling multiple processes and deadlines.
- Experience working with tools like Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Drive), Slack, and common SaaS / project management tools.
- Ability to track and analyze budgets / operational costs and communicate insights in a clear, practical way.
- Experience with state registrations, payroll tax accounts, or multi-state compliance
- Clear written and verbal communication skills; you’re comfortable driving clarity and holding others accountable to processes.