Chief of Staff

About Goodfire

Goodfire is an AI interpretability research lab. We build interpretability agents and infrastructure to understand, monitor, and align AI models.

We believe that AI is the most consequential technology of our time. Yet AI models are trained by trial and error today, with limited understanding of what drives their behavior. Our goal is to advance the research and technology needed to fully understand and align AI so humanity can trust superintelligence.

Goodfire is a public benefit corporation founded by researchers who helped pioneer the field of interpretability at OpenAI and Google DeepMind. We are headquartered in San Francisco and have raised over $200M from leading investors including Lightspeed, Menlo, and B Capital.

About the role

I (Eric) am looking for a chief of staff. This role is incredibly intensive, and your main goal will be to make me and the leadership team more effective, however you possibly can. You will do ridiculously high volumes of unglamorous work (e.g., high volume follow-ups, drafting internal/external comms, recruiting coordination, logistics, and driving projects that don’t fit neatly anywhere else). You will wear many hats, including recruiting, hosting events, supporting fundraising, planning offsites, new customer outreach, and goals planning. You’ll need great leadership ability, communication skills, and be able to absorb new information very quickly. You’ll need excellent judgment and discretion, and the ability to represent me and the company internally and externally.

You should have a technical background because you will be expected to understand and gain intuition for the latest developments in AI and mechanistic interpretability. You don’t need to be a researcher, but you should be technically fluent enough to engage deeply with AI/product discussions, learn interpretability concepts quickly, and build real intuition over time.

What you’ll bring

Required experience

• Jack of all trades
• Exceptional verbal and written communication; able to produce crisp, executive-ready materials
• Strong work ethic and high output
• Strong leadership and people management experience
• Learns fast

Preferred qualifications

• Former founder or exec at high performing VC-backed startup (Series A or later)
• Experience working in a fast-paced, early-stage startup environment
• Experience with interpretability techniques and tooling for AI models
• Strong understanding of the field of AI and mechanistic interpretability

Our values

Goodfire is looking for individuals who embody our values and share our deep commitment to making interpretability accessible. We are building a team first and foremost.

Put mission and team first

All we do is in service of our mission. We trust each other, deeply care about the success of the organization, and choose to put our team above ourselves.

Improve constantly

We are constantly looking to improve every piece of the business. We proactively critique ourselves and others in a kind and thoughtful way that translates to practical improvements in the organization. We are pragmatic and consistently implement the obvious fixes that work.

Take ownership and initiative

There are no bystanders here. We proactively identify problems and take full responsibility over getting a strong result. We are self-driven, own our mistakes, and feel deep responsibility over what we’re building.

Action today

We have a small amount of time to do something incredibly hard and meaningful. The pace and intensity of the organization is high. If we can take action today or tomorrow, we will choose to do it today.

Where we work

We are hiring for this position in our San Francisco HQ. We are in person 5 days a week, with one company-wide remote week per month.

What we offer

This role offers market competitive salary, equity, and competitive benefits.

The expected salary range for this position is $300,000 - $500,000 USD

Most importantly, you'll have the opportunity to join a vital mission at an important point in its trajectory — we are developing groundbreaking technology with a world-class team on the critical path to ensuring a safe and beneficial future for humanity. If you want to do your life’s work with us, even if you believe you do not meet every single requirement, apply now.