Founders Associate

adaption • San Francisco, CA

2d

About The Position

As Founders Associate at Adaption, you will be a right hand and force multiplier for the founding team, helping make the founders’ day lighter so they can focus on high-leverage decisions and accelerating the company’s early-stage growth. The role suits someone comfortable working across operations, team strategy, logistics, and live execution in an intense, fast-moving environment with constant ambiguity, frequent context-switching, and short-notice needs.

You will support the founders and the wider team across both strategic initiatives and critical day-to-day operations. This includes anticipating operational needs, building systems and infrastructure, owning ambiguous cross-functional projects from first principles, and traveling with the founders for important meetings and events.

Adaption is building efficient AI systems that adapt in real time and aims to make intelligence flexible, personalized, and accessible. The company emphasizes talent density and seeks driven builders and creative thinkers.

Requirements

• 1–6+ years of experience in operations, a founder’s office, or special projects; experience in a fast-paced, early-stage startup is ideal.
• Comfort with irregular hours, fast turnarounds, short-notice availability, and last-minute travel demands during critical build phases.
• Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities, switch contexts seamlessly, and keep initiatives moving without losing details.
• Low ego, high agency, willingness to take on small tasks, and ownership of high-stakes projects.
• Strong organizational and logistical instincts, exceptional attention to detail, proactive anticipation of needs, and reliable administrative follow-through.
• Adaptability and strong teamwork; candidates are encouraged to apply even if they do not meet every qualification.

Nice To Haves

• Former founder experience.
• Experience in a fast-paced, early-stage startup environment.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a central point of leverage for the founders by removing operational friction, acting as a trusted intermediary for key requests, anticipating needs, and coordinating next steps.
• Handle a broad range of operational tasks, including procurement and team logistics.
• Build internal rituals, communication channels, and operational infrastructure to align and support a fast-growing, distributed team.
• Switch between strategic problem-solving and tactical work according to founder priorities and urgent operational needs.
• Travel with founders for investor meetings, conferences, key hires, and strategic offsites; manage door-to-door travel logistics, schedule changes, and live operational needs.
• Own high-priority, cross-functional special projects end-to-end, turning ambiguous problems into working systems.

Benefits

• Flexible work, including in-person collaboration in the Bay Area, a distributed global-first team, and team offsites.
• Annual travel stipend to explore a country the employee has never visited.
• Weekly meal allowance for take-out or grocery delivery.
• Comprehensive medical benefits.
• Generous paid time off.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed