Compliance & Operations Manager

Principles of Intelligence (PrincInt) is hiring a Senior Compliance & Legal Operations Manager to own legal and regulatory compliance across our US and UK charities and the AI safety projects we fiscally sponsor. The work is split roughly across the US (50%), the UK (40%), and elsewhere (10%).

You will draft and negotiate our agreements, build our policy framework, run our data protection program, and make sure that money from our funders, including government and institutional grants, is used exactly as agreed. You will report to the Executive Director of Operations, with direct access to our board and UK trustees on compliance matters, manage a junior compliance and operations associate, and have a budget to instruct external counsel and advisers when a matter needs regulated advice.

Position Details Location: Remote, overlapping with both US West Coast and Europe time zones at least 2h. In-person onboarding in Belgrade, Serbia for two weeks at the beginning of employment. We cover travel and accommodation and will discuss adjustments for caring responsibilities or accessibility needs. Visa / Work authorization: We may be able to sponsor a UK Skilled Worker visa for London-based candidates, subject to UK sponsor licence status. US sponsorship is assessed case by case. Type: Full-time employment, directly or through our employer of record, depending on your country. Start date: 15 November 2026 Salary range: London: £100,000-£125,000 — Other locations: benchmarked locally. Deadline to apply: Please submit the application form by 30 October. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

About Principles of Intelligence and Why This Role Exists Principles of Intelligence (PrincInt) is a nonprofit research organization building scientific foundations for AI safety. We operate through two charities, a US 501(c)(3) and a UK charitable incorporated organisation, run the PIBBSS research fellowship, and act as fiscal sponsor to some AI safety projects, including AFFINE and AIXI Labs. As a fiscal sponsor, we carry legal responsibility for the projects we host: their staff, contracts, spending, and reporting are, in law, largely ours. Our funding comes from philanthropic funders and government grant programs, each with its own conditions. That structure works only if someone owns end-to-end compliance, which this role requires.

What You Will Own Fiscal sponsorship and grant compliance Run intake due diligence on prospective sponsored projects and recommend the sponsorship model and terms Draft and maintain fiscal sponsorship agreements, and manage project onboarding, changes, and exit or spin-out Translate funder and government grant conditions into operating rules (eligible costs, restricted fund tracking, reporting, audit and publicity requirements) and check compliance before money moves Oversee time and cost allocation where staff or resources are shared between Principles of Intelligence and sponsored projects Own compliance for grants to individuals, including fellowship stipends: worker status, tax documentation and sanctions screening, working with our accountant and advisers Contracts and legal documentation Choose the right instrument for each relationship, then draft, review and negotiate it: grant and sub-grant agreements, fellowship award terms, services and consultancy agreements, employment and contractor terms, event and venue contracts, partnership MOUs, NDAs and data processing agreements Maintain intra-group agreements between our US and UK entities (grants, shared services and cost sharing, data sharing) Run our contract lifecycle system: one register of active agreements, key dates, deliverables and payments, with templates and playbooks so that routine agreements do not need you Administer execution within a board-approved delegation of authority Policy framework Draft, maintain and train staff on our core policies across both entities and sponsored projects, including gift acceptance and donor due diligence; conflicts of interest; anti-fraud, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering and sanctions screening; expenses, travel and payments; political activity and lobbying; and code of conduct, safeguarding and whistleblowing Keep a policy register with owners and review dates Data protection Own our privacy program under UK GDPR and EU GDPR: records of processing, DPIA screening and DPIAs, legitimate interest assessments, privacy notices, data subject requests, breach response, vendor data processing agreements, and international transfer mechanisms and assessments Tell sponsored projects what they need from us, and where needed, escalate high-risk processing to external specialists People compliance Oversee onboarding and offboarding through Deel (PEO in the US, EOR elsewhere), employee records and country-specific employment terms Determine worker status for staff, contractors and fellows, and coordinate right-to-work checks and visa processes with immigration advisers Entity governance, filings and regulatory change With our accountant, support US federal and state filings and UK Charity Commission returns and accounts Prepare compliance reporting for our board and trustees, and maintain a compliance calendar for both entities Track legal and regulatory changes that affect our entities and sponsored projects, and brief the team on what they mean in practice External advisers and team Build and manage a panel of external counsel and advisers (US exempt organizations, UK charity law, employment, immigration, privacy), scope their work and manage the budget Manage and develop a junior compliance and operations associate Requirements This role is fully remote, so we’re looking for people who can thrive in an async environment and are genuinely excited to work on AI safety. You are ideal for the role if: You are excited to take a rapidly growing organization through the professionalization of HR and compliance, setting up processes such that scientists can do their good work while we take care of the rest. You are proactive in pointing out problems and want to create systems that can work through the growth. You enjoy making a friendly environment rather than a restrictive one, while making sure everything is above board. You know how both the US and UK systems work well enough to check the documents if they need to be passed on to lawyers or can be approved internally. You prioritize impact over “how things were done before” and have an understanding of the needs of a rapidly growing org that cares about impact instead of profits. Ideally, you worry about AI risks but know how to use AI responsibly to make systems work better, or are interested in learning this skill. Essential Significant experience in compliance, legal operations, or in-house legal work, including direct responsibility for a charity, grantmaker, or fiscal sponsor in the US or UK Hands-on experience with charitable tax-exemption compliance and restricted grant compliance A track record of drafting and negotiating contracts and policies yourself Deep knowledge of either the US or UK nonprofit framework, working fluency in the other, and experience instructing counsel across jurisdictions Working knowledge of employment compliance in more than one country, including worker classification and onboarding through an EOR or PEO Practical experience running data protection compliance: you have maintained a record of processing, carried out DPIAs or legitimate interest assessments, and drafted privacy notices Risk-based judgment: you can tell which issues need a lawyer this week and which need a template, and you can explain the difference to colleagues in other departments Desirable Legal qualification (practicing or eligible to practice) in the US, the UK or another jurisdiction Experience with fiscal sponsorship specifically, with government grant funding, or with grants to individuals across borders Experience with Deel, and with knowledge management tools such as Notion, Airtable or similar Familiarity with AI safety or research organizations, and with EU regulatory frameworks This is not a box-ticking function, and it is not our only source of regulated legal advice. You will not act as counsel to sponsored projects as separate clients. When a matter needs a qualified opinion in a particular jurisdiction, you will scope it and instruct the right adviser, and we will pay for it. Benefits and Salary Salary is set by location; see the bands under Position Details. Our benefits include: Time off: 4 weeks of paid holiday per year, plus additional personal time off. Flexible working hours: Flexible working hours with an emphasis on outcomes and reliable coordination with teammates. High ownership & autonomy: A high-trust environment where you’ll own your work end-to-end, with meaningful responsibility and room to improve systems. Team meetups: We get together in person 3-4 times a year for focused work time, great conversations, and the kind of momentum you only get when the whole team is in the same room. Application Process Application: Submit an application by 30 October. Screening call: Attend a brief screening call, where you’ll have the chance to ask questions about the role. Interview: Attend a remote interview to assess strategic thinking and team fit. Work trial: Attend a paid, remote work trial where you’ll spend the day meeting the team and completing a set of realistic tasks drawn from our day-to-day compliance work. Team interviews: Attend one/two additional interviews with the team. References: Share references who can comment on your aptitudes. Good references can notably strengthen your application.