About Basis

Basis is a nonprofit applied AI research organization with two mutually reinforcing goals.

The first is to understand and build intelligence. This entails establishing the mathematical principles of reasoning, learning, decision-making, understanding, and explaining, and constructing software that embodies these principles.

The second is to advance society’s ability to solve intractable problems. This involves expanding the scale, complexity, and breadth of problems we can solve today and, more importantly, accelerating our ability to solve problems in the future.

To achieve these goals, we are building both a new technological foundation inspired by human reasoning, and a new type of collaborative organization that prioritizes human value.

About the Role

Operations Associates at Basis lead the research operations function, running the full lifecycle of grants and research administration while setting operating cadence for the organization. You will ensure Basis secures funding to pursue ambitious research while maintaining compliance, building relationships with program managers, and supporting researchers to focus on their highest-value work.

We are looking for people who combine meticulous process management with strategic thinking about research impact. The ideal candidate has experience with federal grant programs (NSF, DARPA, DOE) or foundation grants, understands academic research administration, and approaches operations with a “leave it better than you found it” mentality. You will coordinate across researchers for complex proposals, manage relationships with program officers, and partner with finance, legal, and HR on cross-functional operational needs.

This role requires balancing rigorous compliance standards with the flexibility needed in a fast-growing research organization. You will build systems and processes that scale as Basis grows.

Basis is a collaborative endeavor, both internally and with our external partners; we are looking for people who enjoy enabling others to accomplish work larger than what they could achieve alone.

We expect you to:

• Have demonstrated grant management expertise across the full lifecycle from identification through closeout. This could be evidenced by research administrator roles at universities, government agencies, research institutes, or foundations.
• Possess strong writing and communication skills for grant proposals, reports, and stakeholder correspondence. You can translate complex technical research into compelling narratives that resonate with diverse funding audiences.
• Understand research administration fundamentals including budget development, compliance requirements (federal regulations, IRS policies for private foundations), subaward management, and reporting obligations.
• Have experience with grants management systems such as Blackbaud Grantmaking, Instrumentl, or equivalent databases, along with advanced proficiency in Excel, project management tools (Airtable, Asana), and Microsoft 365.
• Be skilled at stakeholder coordination including managing relationships with program officers, coordinating across multiple researchers for complex submissions, and interfacing with finance, legal, and compliance teams.
• Bring process improvement mindset. You naturally identify inefficiencies, design better workflows, and implement systems that reduce manual work and increase reliability.
• Progress with autonomy and attention to detail. Grant work requires both strategic thinking about opportunity pipeline and meticulous execution on compliance details.
• Be excited about accelerating research impact by enabling scientists to focus on solving intractable problems while you handle the operational complexity of securing and managing funding.
• Ideally, you have technical ability and interest. Some coding experience or familiarity with technical development of operations projects is an advantage.

Responsibilities

• Identify and source grant opportunities aligned with Basis research priorities from federal agencies (NSF, DARPA, DOE, IARPA), private foundations, and corporate research programs.
• Lead grant writing and proposal coordination including developing compelling narratives, managing internal review processes, coordinating contributions from multiple researchers, and ensuring compliance with all submission requirements.
• Manage program officer and funder relationships including conducting discovery conversations before submissions, maintaining regular communication during active grants, and cultivating long-term partnerships.
• Oversee grant compliance and reporting including budget management, progress reports, financial reporting, continuation applications, and closeout procedures following federal and foundation requirements.
• Coordinate research administration support for publications, conference submissions, collaboration agreements with universities and corporations, and academic partnership management.
• Set and maintain organizational operating cadence by establishing rhythms for planning, review, and reporting that align research work with external commitments and internal objectives.
• Partner with Business Operations (finance, legal, HR, facilities) to ensure operational coordination across all functions as the organization scales.
• Support recruiting operations by managing hiring pipeline logistics including scheduling, candidate correspondence, interview coordination, and recruitment events.
• Build systems and documentation for grants and operations processes that enable scaling without proportional administrative overhead.
• Contribute to Basis culture and direction by modeling operational excellence, continuous improvement, and focus on enabling high-impact research.
• Manage operational tasks such as coordinating employee performance reviews, tracking spend, and planning travel/events as needed.
• (Ideally) Contribute to technical development of internal software products that improve our operational processes.

Role Details

Exceptional candidates who may not meet all of the following criteria are still encouraged to apply.

• FT/PT: Full-time
• In-person Policy: We are in the office four days a week. Be prepared to attend multi-day Basis-wide in-person events.
• Location: New York City.
• Salary range: Competitive salary.

In addition, the following would be an advantage:

• Experience with federal grant programs (NSF, DARPA, DOE) or major private foundations.
• Background in AI/ML research administration or technical research domains.
• Certified Research Administrator (CRA) credential or equivalent professional development.
• Experience at organizations that scaled rapidly.
• Familiarity with nonprofit operations and 990PF reporting.
• Some coding experience or technical interest.

Privacy Notice
By submitting your application, you grant Basis permission to use your materials for both hiring evaluation and recruitment-related research and development purposes. Your information may be processed in different countries, including the US. You retain copyright while providing Basis a license to use these materials for the stated purposes. Read our full Global Data Privacy Notice here.