Research Program Associate

About Abaka AI

Abaka AI is built on one mission: to be the world’s most trusted data partner for AI companies. More than 1,000 industry leaders across Generative AI, Embodied AI, and Automotive AI rely on us to power their data pipelines. With our headquarters in Silicon Valley—and teams in Paris, Singapore, and Tokyo—we support global partners with fast, reliable, and scalable data solutions. Our offerings include a diverse catalog of off-the-shelf datasets (image, video, multimodal, reasoning, 3D, and beyond) as well as comprehensive data collection and annotation services. Whether teams need raw data, curated datasets, or full-cycle data engineering, Abaka AI provides the foundation for building high-performance AI systems.

About The Role

As a Research Program Associate at Abaka AI, you will support the operational coordination and day-to-day execution of research initiatives across the broader Abaka AI and 2077AI Foundation ecosystem. This role is focused on helping research leadership and contributors maintain organization, communication, and operational efficiency across fast-moving AI research projects and collaborations. You will work closely with research leaders, engineers, contributors, and external collaborators to support GitHub management, meeting coordination, documentation, and internal research operations. This role is ideal for someone who is highly organized, detail-oriented, proactive, and interested in supporting frontier AI research communities from an operational and execution perspective. This is a high-ownership role at the intersection of research operations, open-source coordination, and technical program support.

Responsibilities

• Support operational coordination across ongoing research initiatives and collaborations
• Manage and maintain GitHub repositories, contributor workflows, issue tracking, and documentation organization
• Track and manage API credit usage across multiple research projects, tools, and contributors
• Take detailed notes and maintain organized documentation for weekly 2077AI meetings and internal discussions
• Support meeting coordination and note-taking for academic, research, and collaborator meetings
• Track action items, follow-ups, and ongoing project updates across research teams
• Maintain internal organization across research operations, documentation, and communication workflows
• Cook up with research, engineering, and operations teams to support smooth project execution
• Aid with lightweight operational and administrative support for research programs and open-source initiatives
• Help improve internal workflows and operational processes for distributed research contributors

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience
• Strong organizational skills and exceptional attention to detail
• Strong written communication and note-taking abilities
• Comfortable managing multiple projects and priorities in fast-paced environments
• Familiarity with GitHub, technical documentation, or open-source workflows is preferred
• Interest in AI, machine learning, research ecosystems, or open-source communities
• Ability to operate independently with a high ownership mindset
• Strong problem-solving skills and proactive communication style
• Experience supporting technical teams, startups, academic labs, or research organizations is preferred

Compensation & Benefits

The base salary range for this position is $100,000 - $150,000 USD annually. Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work at Abaka AI. This role is eligible for equity, as well as a comprehensive benefits package (health, dental, vision, PTO, flexible work schedule).