---
title: 'Chief of Staff Intern at Human Computer Lab'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/chief-of-staff-intern-human-computer-lab-san-francisco-58qfcr722pah'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-16'
---

# Chief of Staff Intern at Human Computer Lab

- **Company:** Human Computer Lab
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-09-28
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-16
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/human-computer-lab/3c90a785-f886-4b51-9546-f10da1d21445

## Job description

Human Computer Lab is a research lab building character robots that feel alive and responsive. Our first robot, LeLamp, explores a new category of consumer robotics where everyday objects become interactive and help us reshape our attachment to technology.

Our goal is to push the frontier of human-robot interaction by making technology more legible, emotionally intuitive, and human-centered. We are building the foundation for a new generation of robots designed for everyday environments.

What to Expect The Chief of Staff Intern works directly with our CEO and Chief of Staff during one of the highest-leverage stretches in the company's life — the run-up to our first ~1,000-unit production run. This is not a shadowing internship. You will own real workstreams: hiring pipeline hygiene, investor and partner communication drafts, vendor and manufacturing coordination, event and content execution. If you need a lot of structure to know what to do next, this isn't the right fit. If you can take a half-formed task and come back with a plan, it is.

Scope of responsibilities CEO/Chief of Staff support

- Draft first passes on memos, investor update sections, and partner communications that get edited, not originated from scratch.
- Own scheduling logistics and meeting prep for key external conversations.

Hiring

- Keep the Ashby pipeline clean: candidate tracking, scheduling, re-engaging strong passes.
- Support sourcing outreach (LinkedIn, email sequences) for open roles.

Ops and vendor coordination

- Track manufacturing logistics as we scale toward 1,000 units — BOM tracking, freight/customs paperwork, vendor follow-ups.
- Coordinate
contract
execution
(NDAs,
services
agreements,
IP
assignments,
 advisor
agreements);
run
first-pass
redlines
and
escalate
substantive
 negotiations.

- Maintain
the
cap
table
and
board
materials.

Growth and content

- Turn technical milestones and pilot progress into content — photos, short-form video, social posts.
- Drive
partnerships
with
universities,
companies,
and
labs.

- Support event logistics: hosting, attending, post-event follow-through.

Special projects

- Whatever the company needs that week. At this size, scope moves fast.

Who We're Looking For The strongest candidates will have:

- Built something real, even at student scale — a project, a club, a piece of research, a hack you shipped. We'll ask what you built and what broke.
- Comfort with unglamorous work. Chasing a vendor invoice and drafting an investor update in the same afternoon.
- Sharp writing. You'll draft things that go out under someone else's name.
- Genuine curiosity about robotics and what we're building — not startups as an abstraction.
- Enough organizational instinct to keep several threads moving without being reminded.
- A specific strength beyond generalist COS work that you'd bring to the team — technical, creative, analytical, whatever it is. Tell us what it is and show us evidence of it.

The early team becomes the DNA of the company. We set ourselves and others to a high standard, and we respond with kindness when things get hard but keep everyone accountable. This requires us to be curious, creative, and diverse in our thinking and approach.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer and consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. Even if you don’t meet every single requirement, we encourage you to apply. Studies show that women and underrepresented groups often hold back unless they meet 100% of the criteria - we don’t want that to be the reason we miss out on great talent.

## About Human Computer Lab

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Human Computer Lab is a research and experimentation lab focused on researching and building expressive robots that reshape human attachment to technology.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Pre-seed stage)
- **Headquarters**: Newark, Delaware, United States (with presence in Canada)
- **Founded**: Not publicly available
- **Founders**: Shahvir Sarkary (Founder, CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Robotics, Human-Computer Interaction, Research Services
- **Target customers**: B2C (early adopters, hobbyists, artists, roboticists) and potentially B2B (research partners)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "Human–computer research and experimentation lab, focused on researching and building expressive robots."

## Products & Services
- **[LeLamp](https://www.lelamp.com/)**: An emotional and expressive robot designed to reshape human attachment to technology. Pre-orders are currently open. The product aims to make building a robot feel like assembling IKEA furniture.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding – Pre-seed round led by FR8 and South Park Commons (announced September 2025)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: FR8, South Park Commons
- **Growth Signals**: Active hiring for multiple roles (Controls Engineer, ML Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Interns); growing social media presence and hosting community events (Demo Faires, artist-roboticist collectives); monthly LinkedIn follower growth of ~7.8%

## Competitive Advantages
- **Unique focus on emotional expressiveness**: LeLamp is positioned as a robot that conveys emotion and personality, differentiating it from utilitarian or industrial robots.
- **Research-driven approach**: The lab conducts human-computer research to inform robot design, blending art and engineering.
- **Accessibility ethos**: They aim to make robot building as simple as assembling IKEA furniture, lowering the barrier for entry.

## Strategic Focus
- **Current priorities**: Scaling LeLamp from pilot to production; building a community around expressive robotics; expanding the team with engineering and growth talent.
- **Direction for growth**: Continued research into springiness, damping, and life-like movement; hosting events to foster a collective of artists and roboticists.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture highlights**: Small, tight-knit team (5–6 employees) with a strong emphasis on creativity, experimentation, and joy in building robots. The lab hosts science-fair style Demo Faires and encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration.
- **Remote/hybrid/office policy**: Hybrid workspace – employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work. Offices in Newark, Delaware (US) and likely Toronto (Canada).
- **Notable perks or engineering culture**: Hands-on work with expressive robotics, opportunity to shape early product direction, exposure to cutting-edge HCI research, and a culture that values “taste” and wholesome robot interactions.

## Sources
1. [humancomputerlab.com](https://www.humancomputerlab.com/)
2. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/human-computer-lab](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/human-computer-lab)
3. [builtin.com/company/human-computer-lab](https://builtin.com/company/human-computer-lab)
4. [linkedin.com/company/humancomputerlab](https://www.linkedin.com/company/humancomputerlab)
5. [research.humancomputerlab.com](https://research.humancomputerlab.com/)

## Other roles at Human Computer Lab

- [Research Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/research-engineer-human-computer-lab-toronto-jtbwspbh56te) — Toronto, Canada
- [Intern - Mechatronics Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/intern-mechatronics-engineer-human-computer-lab-toronto-4yysd8r84v0y) — Toronto, Canada
- [Intern - Industrial Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/intern-industrial-designer-human-computer-lab-san-francisco-sah410f831c9) — San Francisco, CA
- [Supply Chain Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/supply-chain-engineer-human-computer-lab-san-francisco-q0nk1qctstc9) — San Francisco, CA
- [Perception Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/perception-engineer-human-computer-lab-san-francisco-4cbh6w64pvp5) — San Francisco, CA
- [Intern - Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/intern-mechanical-engineer-human-computer-lab-san-francisco-4dq9hpk53nre) — San Francisco, CA
- [Intern - Controls Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/intern-controls-engineer-human-computer-lab-san-francisco-w4wm7p7md9s4) — San Francisco, CA
- [Intern - Electrical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/intern-electrical-engineer-human-computer-lab-san-francisco-g3ajckdcyn50) — San Francisco, CA
- [Electrical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineer-human-computer-lab-san-francisco-kp72qewd6www) — San Francisco, CA
- [Controls Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-engineer-human-computer-lab-san-francisco-yptemacde2jv) — San Francisco, CA