---
title: 'Admin Operations Coordinator at Institute of Foundation Models'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/admin-operations-coordinator-institute-of-foundation-models-sunnyvale-299qtkyk8h27'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-14'
---

# Admin Operations Coordinator at Institute of Foundation Models

- **Company:** Institute of Foundation Models
- **Location:** Sunnyvale, CA
- **Compensation:** $40–$50/hr
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-04
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/ifm-us/51bb158c-d47f-4455-8ff1-d9ef0d79dfc2

## Job description

## About the Institute of Foundation Models

We are a dedicated research lab for building, understanding, using, and risk-managing foundation models. Our mandate is to advance research, nurture the next generation of AI builders, and drive transformative contributions to a knowledge-driven economy. As part of our team, you’ll have the opportunity to work on the core of cutting-edge foundation model training, alongside world-class researchers, data scientists, and engineers, tackling the most fundamental and impactful challenges in AI development. You will participate in the development of groundbreaking AI solutions that have the potential to reshape entire industries. Strategic and innovative problem-solving skills will be instrumental in establishing MBZUAI as a global hub for high-performance computing in deep learning, driving impactful discoveries that inspire the next generation of AI pioneers.

## The Role

We are seeking an Admin Operations Coordinator to manage front desk operations and provide administrative and recruiting support to our Operations and Talent Acquisition teams.  This role is evenly split: 50% of your time will be dedicated to front desk management and greeting guests, candidates, and employees at our Sunnyvale office. The remaining 50% will focus on candidate travel management, recruiting coordination, general administrative tasks, and collaborating with our Workplace Operations Coordinator on day-to-day office needs.  The ideal candidate is customer-service-driven, highly organized, and thrives in a fast-paced environment where attention to detail and a welcoming demeanor are essential.

## Key Responsibilities

1. Front Desk & Guest Experience (50%)

- Reception & Host: Serve as the primary onsite point of contact, managing the front desk during core business hours to greet employees, job candidates, visitors, and vendors.

- Visitor Access & Security: Manage visitor check-in procedures, issue guest passes, coordinate with internal hosts, and ensure compliance with building security guidelines.

- Front-of-House Maintenance: Keep the reception area, lobby, and primary candidate/guest spaces immaculate, organized, and welcoming.

- Deliveries & Mail: Receive, log, and distribute all incoming mail, packages, and deliveries; assist with outgoing shipments.

1. Candidate Travel, Recruiting & Admin Operations Support (50%)

- Candidate Travel Coordination: Book and coordinate candidate travel arrangements (flights, hotels, rental cars/ground transportation, and expense/reimbursement guidance) for onsite interview loops.

- Recruiting Logistics: Schedule candidate interviews, manage complex interviewing calendars, coordinate candidate communications, and host onsite interview loops.

- Candidate & Guest Onsite Experience: Coordinate candidate arrival logistics, escort candidates to interview rooms, and ensure an exceptional, high-touch interview experience.

- Office & Vendor Operations: Partner with the Workplace Operations Coordinator to order office supplies, coordinate catering/lunches, prep meeting spaces, and assist with vendor service visits.

- Process Improvement: Identify opportunities to continuously improve travel booking workflows, recruiting coordination, and front office operational efficiency.

- Cross-Functional Support: Provide administrative and operational support across Operations, Human Resources, Recruiting, Finance, IT, and Workplace Services as business needs arise. Assist with special projects and perform other duties as reasonably assigned.

## Requirements

- Experience: 2–4 years of experience in front desk reception, office administration, recruiting coordination, or customer service.

- Calendar & Travel Coordination: Demonstrated experience coordinating complex interview calendars and managing corporate travel bookings for candidates or team members.

- Customer Service Mindset: Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills with a polished, welcoming, and professional demeanor.

- Software Skills: Proficiency with Microsoft Office / Microsoft 365.

- ATS Experience: Hands-on experience with an applicant tracking system (Lever, Greenhouse, Ashby, or similar) preferred.

- Multi-tasking: Ability to balance front-desk duties with administrative and travel logistics in a fast-paced environment.

- Education: Bachelor's degree preferred.

## About Institute of Foundation Models

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: The Institute of Foundation Models (IFM) is a global AI research lab dedicated to the open and independent development of frontier-class foundation models, operating under the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI).
- **Entity Type**: Academic Research Institute (part of MBZUAI, a university)
- **Headquarters**: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (with labs in Sunnyvale, CA, USA and Paris, France)
- **Founded**: 2026 (launched with Silicon Valley lab)
- **Founders**: Part of MBZUAI, led by President Eric Xing

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Artificial Intelligence research, foundation model development, open-source AI
- **Target customers**: Researchers, academia, industry partners, and the global AI community (B2B/Research/Public sector)
- **Mission**: To produce the world’s leading models across modalities while ensuring responsible, open, and socially meaningful impact.

## Products & Services
For each major offering:
- **JAIS Series**: State-of-the-art open-source Arabic LLM covering Modern Standard Arabic and regional dialects, including Moroccan Arabic (Darija). Fully documented training lifecycle.
- **Vicuna**: Lightweight open chatbot surpassing 90% of ChatGPT and Bard quality.
- **K2 (K2-65B)**: Large language model with advanced reasoning capabilities, focusing on sustainable performance. Updated version soon to be released.
- **PAN World Model**: Next-gen foundation model for embodied reasoning and physical-world simulation, integrating multimodal inputs (language, video, spatial data, physical actions). Includes PAN-Agent for multimodal reasoning tasks.
- **FM For Bio – GET**: Domain-specific model for biology.
- **LLM360**: Open-source framework enhancing transparency and collaboration in LLM research, providing training code, datasets, and model checkpoints.
- **Research partnerships**: Collaboration with academia, startups, and enterprises via shared compute, co-publishing, and co-development.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not applicable (non-commercial research institute)
- **Key Metric**: Funded by MBZUAI; specific budget not publicly disclosed. Notable open-source model releases (JAIS, Vicuna, K2, PAN).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: MBZUAI, with international advisory boards and peer review processes. Partnerships with industry leaders, academic institutions, and public organizations.
- **Growth Signals**: Launch of Silicon Valley lab in Sunnyvale, CA (2026); expansion into Paris and Abu Dhabi nodes; active hiring for research interns, distributed ML engineers, HPC engineers; release of flagship models (PAN, K2 update).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Openness & transparency**: Full release of training code, datasets, and model checkpoints through LLM360 – one of the most transparent approaches in AI.
- **Global research network**: Three hubs (Abu Dhabi, Silicon Valley, Paris) combining academic rigor with startup agility.
- **Access to large-scale compute**: High-performance computing infrastructure for training frontier models.
- **Multilingual & cultural focus**: JAIS addresses underrepresentation of Arabic and other languages, preserving cultural authenticity.
- **World model innovation**: PAN differentiates from text-only models by predicting comprehensive world states for advanced reasoning and simulation.

## Strategic Focus
- Continue building open, powerful foundation models across language, vision, multimodal, and domain-specific systems.
- Expand global collaboration and talent acquisition, especially in Silicon Valley.
- Advance responsible AI with safety systems and international advisory boards.
- Drive real-world impact through partnerships in scientific discovery, human-AI interaction, and public good.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Collaborative, cutting-edge academic research environment with a mission to open-source AI for global benefit. Teams span Abu Dhabi, Paris, and Silicon Valley.
- **Remote/hybrid/office**: All listed roles are **on-site** (Sunnyvale, CA or Abu Dhabi). No remote policy indicated.
- **Notable perks**: Work with world-class researchers, access to large-scale compute, opportunity to publish and contribute to open-source models. The institute combines the agility of a startup with the resources of an established university.
- **Current openings**: AI Research Internship (LLM), Distributed Machine Learning Engineer, Eval360 Error Analysis Engineer, High Performance Computing Software Engineer (Supercomputing) – all on-site in Sunnyvale or Abu Dhabi.

## Sources
1. [ifm.ai](https://ifm.ai/)
2. [ifm.ai/about](https://ifm.ai/about/)
3. [jobs.lever.co/ifm-us](https://jobs.lever.co/ifm-us)
4. [LinkedIn – Institute of Foundation Models](https://www.linkedin.com/company/institute-of-foundation-models)
5. [MBZUAI News – Launch of IFM and Silicon Valley Lab](https://mbzuai.ac.ae/news/mbzuai-launches-institute-of-foundation-models-and-establishes-silicon-valley-ai-lab/)

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