Join Topos as a senior leader in finance and operations!
Topos is more than just a collection of researchers: we are a community pioneering a new, international, and interdisciplinary tech organisation. We do this in order to help create a future where the systems around us, large and small, allow every member of society to flourish. While our researchers study the fundamental nature of these ideas and how they inform construction of powerful and prosocial technologies, it’s our operations team that embodies this work day-in-day-out at Topos. And we’re excited that now, our second year, we’re looking to recruit an inaugural Director of Finance and Operations into our senior leadership. The position is based here in our Berkeley office, working directly with me as CEO, and is responsible for three portfolios: organizational leadership, financial management, and general operations.
In a research-focussed organisation, researchers often emerge as the stars. After all, they develop the breakthrough ideas, write the papers, prototype the technologies — and they are the most visible, meeting other experts and giving public talks. Topos, however, is more than just a collection of researchers: we are a community pioneering a new, international, and interdisciplinary tech organisation. We do this to help create a future where the systems around us, large and small, allow every member of society to flourish.
As we explore in our research, healthy systems require careful balancing of each part and the ways they fit together, communicate, and evolve. While our researchers study the fundamental nature of these ideas and how they inform construction of powerful and prosocial technologies, it’s our operations team that embodies this work day-in-day-out at Topos. And we’re excited that now, in our second year, we’re looking to recruit an inaugural Director of Finance and Operations into our senior leadership.
Call for Applications: Director of Finance and Operations
Topos is an amazing, talented team across all roles, and Topos wouldn’t be at this point without Tish Tanski signing up to head our operations at a critically early stage. The meeting was serendipitous: Tish and David bumped into each other at a wedding in early 2019. While Tish had not previously worked in maths or information technology, let alone heard of category theory, Tish grasped the substance and potential of the Topos mission, and has played a critical role in helping to define it. More than this, Tish has helped to build it, bringing immense experience in community building and launching nonprofit research institutes: before Topos, she ran the Maine Science and Technology Commission, launched an autism research program at Harvard Medical School, and was a former President of the Association of Independent Research Institutes. Grounded in this experience, Tish has brought new perspectives to what it means to build technology for public benefit.
More broadly, Tish has been a key part of an administrative team, including philosophy graduate Juliet Szatko and numerous accounting and legal experts, that continues to tackle complex, crucially important questions at Topos. How do we develop legal and accounting structures that support our research teams to focus on what matters most? How do we balance individual vision and independence with strong community ties and a team commitment to excellence? More generally, how do we embody a culture and values that allow us all to grow and flourish while serving the Topos mission? How do we co-create a workplace for outstanding innovation and creativity? What sorts of revenue streams will give us stability to focus on the long term mission, while retaining accountability to all those who are impacted by our work? How do we ensure our team hears the perspectives of the broadest cross-section of society possible, and is responsive to their input and needs?
The answers are works in progress, requiring observation and experimentation, and evolution as Topos grows. Again, while our output often features our research and researchers, we believe it’s important to acknowledge that there are amazing team members, like Tish, behind the scenes helping make this all possible. If these sorts of question interest you too, we invite you to bring your own perspectives and passion to tackle them with us.
In particular, as we grow, we find a need for operations leadership in our Berkeley office. (Tish is rooted in New England, but will remain actively involved as a consultant.) We’re thus looking for a Director of Finance and Operations, who can provide this additional leadership in building creative new answers to these questions—and others—at Topos. The position is based here in our Berkeley office, working directly with me as CEO, and is responsible for three portfolios: organizational leadership, financial management, and general operations. More details about the position, and what we’re looking for, are in the call for applications linked above.
If this sounds like you, please do reach out — we’d love to hear from you! If you know someone who might be interested, please spread the word! Our success at Topos depends on the strength of our community, and we’re excited about this opportunity to continue growing towards a future where the systems that surround us benefit us all.