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Senior Operations Specialist
Lightning AINew York, New York, United States; San Francisco, California, United StatesSenior$140,000 - $160,0004+ years
Apply Who We Are
Lightning AI is the company behind PyTorch Lightning. Founded in 2019, we build an end-to-end platform for developing, training, and deploying AI systems—designed to take ideas from research to production with less friction.
Through our merger with Voltage Park, a neocloud and AI Factory, Lightning AI combines developer-first software with cost-efficient, large-scale compute. Teams get the tools they need for experimentation, training, and production inference, with security, observability, and control built in.
We serve solo researchers, startups, and large enterprises. Lightning AI operates globally with offices in New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and London, and is backed by Coatue, Index Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Firstminute.
The Way We Work
The people who thrive here are builders who move fast, communicate openly, take ownership, and continuously improve themselves, their teams, and our company. Here's what that looks like in practice:
- Move with Urgency: We move quickly, make thoughtful decisions, and keep momentum. We value action over perfection and learn by shipping.
- Take Ownership: We own outcomes, not just our individual work. We make decisions that move the company forward and follow through.
- Communicate Openly: We communicate directly, seek to understand, and create clarity for others. Honest conversations help us move faster together.
- Build Great Teams: We lead by example, empower others, and create healthy teams where people can do their best work.
- Raise the Bar: We're always improving ourselves. We learn from feedback, consistently challenge ourselves to grow, and focus on the work that matters most.
- Think Long-Term: We design for what's next. We create scalable systems, simplify complexity, and use AI and automation to amplify our impact.
What We’re Looking for
Lighting AI is looking for a Senior Operations Specialist to sit within our centralized Operations Team. The role of the Ops team at Lightning is to enable Lightning to operate with greater velocity, efficiency, connectivity, and context.
There are three motions this role will take:
- Classic operator: you will be asked to drop-in anywhere, understand a problem with both analytical rigor and empathy-driven intuition, and deliver high-impact solutions that unblock growth.
- Project owner: you will build plans, leverage EQ to align cross-functional teams, and drive results with a relentless combination of context sharing, impact tracking, and proactive communication.
- Solutions builder: you will code and build solutions from scratch, drive continuous iteration on those solutions based on real feedback signals, and ensure what you deliver is always future sustainable.
And whether operating, owning, or building, you’re putting AI at the heart of everything – agents, workflows, connections, and automation give your work leverage, speed, and sustainability.
Who You Are:
You are someone who thrives on high-agency and a bit of context to get you going. You are known for your ability to work cross-functionally and build relationships. You are relentlessly determined to get to the root of problems and solve them in sustainable ways. You operate with rock-solid reliability. You’re also low-ego; nothing is beneath you – whatever serves the mission, you’re in.
What You'll Do
- Take end-to-end ownership of projects that unblock company growth. Any team within the Lighting AI organization could be an internal customer for your ability to understand how teams work, identify friction, build practical solutions, and drive adoption.
- Embed and partner with teams across Lightning AI to understand their pain points and translate them into scalable AI-powered internal tools and products.
- Partner with other embedded operators within the company to augment their projects (e.g. PeopleOps, SalesOps, LegalOps) and build connective tissue back to the central Ops team.
- Assist the central Ops team with initiatives / programs that we own and operate (Business Health, Internal Communications, Company Event Planning).
- Own Internal Ops documentation to ensure the company has context as to what we do, what we’re working on, and how teams can best engage our support.
- We’re still in the very early stages of our company's growth and not a week will go by where you won’t be solving ambiguous, time-sensitive problems (aka fires!) – but, you’ll also be turning these fires into opportunities to build durable systems so they don’t come back again.
- Finally, you’ll take a data-driven approach to measuring the impact of what you ship and continuously iterate on what you own.
Required Qualifications
- 4+ years of experience in operations or consulting (or any high-agency, high-ownership experience that gave you a meaningful combination of both).
- Demonstrated end-to-end project ownership – from problem diagnosis and stakeholder alignment through build, launch, and adoption – with clear, self-reported metrics on impact delivered.
- Track record of diagnosing problems and driving change across multiple stakeholder groups (not just making recommendations).
- Demonstrated ability to build and deploy AI agents or multi-step automations end-to-end (not just configure a tool someone else architected). You can identify a manual workflow, map the steps, connect the right systems, build or prototype the automation, test it with users, and iterate.
- Meaningful experience with third-party APIs and SaaS platforms, workflow automation tools (Zapier, Make, n8n, Airflow), and AI coding tools (Claude, Cursor, etc.).
- Strong analytical thinking -- you can go from raw data to insight to action.
- Prior experience in a high-growth startup environment.
Nice to Haves
- Proficiency in SQL and/or Python for data extraction, analysis, and light scripting – you can get from a raw dataset to a clear, actionable insight without needing an analyst in the loop.
- Familiarity with the modern data stack (BigQuery, Looker, dbt, Fivetran, or similar)
- Experience in a product-led or developer-tool company
- Prior experience in a centralized Ops or Center of Excellence model (not just embedded ops roles)
We are committed to offering competitive compensation that reflects the value each team member brings to our mission. Final offers are based on factors such as experience, skills, geographic location, and role expectations. In addition to base salary, our total rewards package for eligible roles includes a discretionary bonus, a meaningful equity component, and comprehensive benefits.
The anticipated annual base salary range for this role is:
$140,000—$160,000 USD
Benefits and Perks
We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support our employees’ health, well-being, and long-term success:
- Comprehensive Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and eligible dependents.
- Meaningful Equity: RSUs that give employees a stake in the company's long-term success.
- Retirement Savings: 401(k) matching (U.S.) and pension contributions (U.K.).
- Flexible Time Off: Unlimited PTO, company holidays, and floating holidays to support work-life balance.
- Company-Wide Winter Break: Two weeks of company closure each winter to disconnect and recharge.
- Paid Parental & Family Leave: Paid leave to support you and your family through life's important moments.
- Professional Development: Annual learning and development allowance to support your professional growth.
- Wellness Benefits: Wellness and work-from-home stipends to support your physical and mental well-being.
- Sabbatical Program: Four weeks of paid sabbatical leave after four years of service.
- Flexible Work: Flexible schedules and a hybrid work model for our office-based teams.
- In-Office Meals: Complimentary meals at our office hubs.
Benefits may vary by location, team, and role.
At Lightning AI, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We believe that diverse teams drive innovation and create better products. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. We are dedicated to building a culture where everyone can thrive and contribute to their fullest potential.
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