RESEARCH & OPERATIONS ASSISTANT

Job Description

Job Description

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Paid time off

RESEARCH & OPERATIONS ASSISTANT
Internal Role Description 

Reports to: Dr. Eris  Winans and Clayton Winans (both founders) Location: In person, Whitefish, Montana Type: Full time, 40 hours per week, hourly non-exempt Pay: $25.00 per hour · health insurance premium 100% employer paid Start: As soon as we find the right brain

1. WHY THIS ROLE EXISTS

Two founders are building an AI prototype product, running a therapy company, raising money, and managing outside vendors at the same time. Right now the knowledge lives in their heads and in a Drive that is growing faster than anyone can file it.

This role exists to hold the system so the founders can hold the vision. We are looking for the person who knows where everything is, what everyone owes us, and what is about to fall through a crack.

One sentence: Keep the build organized, the research honest, and the vendors moving.

2. THE FIVE LANES

LANE 1 — FILES AND KNOWLEDGE 

Own Google Drive end to end.

• Build and enforce one folder structure everybody uses
• Set and police naming rules — dates, versions, owners
• Kill duplicates and stale drafts. One current version of everything.
• Keep a master index so any file is findable in under ten seconds
• Maintain the project knowledge base so AI tools and new people can both read it
• Weekly: report what got filed, what got cleaned, what is still a mess

Done well looks like: A founder asks for a file and gets it without asking twice.

LANE 2 — RESEARCH AND SYNTHESIS 

We make evidence-based claims. Someone has to check them.

• Take a research question and come back with sources, not opinions
• Read papers, articles, competitor sites, market reports — summarize the top 20%
• Separate what is proven, what is likely, and what is a guess. Label each one.
• Flag weak claims before they land in a pitch deck. This is the most valuable thing you will do.
• Keep a running source library with links, dates, and one-line takeaways
• Track competitors and the market. Tell us what changed without being asked.

Done well looks like: Nothing goes into an investor deck that cannot survive a hard question.

LANE 3 — VENDORS AND OUTSIDE PARTNERS 

Web designers, video people, graphic designers, marketing, contractors, user zero.

• Write and send the emails. Clear ask, clear deadline, clear next step.
• Track every open item: who owes what, by when, what it costs
• Chase what is late before the founders notice it is late
• Collect deliverables, check them against what we asked for, file them
• Keep one live vendor tracker: contact, scope, rate, status, last touch
• Sit in on vendor calls, take the notes, own the follow-ups

Done well looks like: No vendor thread goes cold. No deliverable arrives and gets lost.

LANE 4 — GRAPHICS AND BRAND ASSETS 

• One home for every logo, deck, mockup, screenshot, video file, and font
• Current version marked clearly. Old versions archived, not deleted.
• Enforce the brand rules — colors, capitalization of four-letter terms, founder credit
• Build simple decks and one-pagers from templates when asked
• Make sure the right asset gets to the right vendor in the right format

Done well looks like: Nobody sends an old logo to a designer ever again.

LANE 5 — CORRESPONDENCE AND FOUNDER SUPPORT 

This lane is openly secretarial and we say so on purpose. It is not a step down. It is how the founders get their hours back.

Writing and correspondence

• Compose and send email on behalf of both founders — vendors, partners, investors, prospects, scheduling
• Learn each founder's voice and write in it. Eris and Clayton do not sound the same.
• Draft outreach, follow-ups, thank-yous, intros, and polite chases
• Manage the inbox: triage, sort, flag what needs a founder, answer what does not
• Draft and format letters, agreements, one-pagers, and simple contracts from templates
• Schedule and confirm meetings, handle calendar conflicts, send agendas ahead of time

Follow-through

• Take notes in working sessions on PLAUD. Turn talk into a list of owned actions.
• Maintain the master TO DO across all workstreams
• Prep materials before meetings so nobody walks in cold
• Track deadlines that matter: funding, legal, insurance, contracts
• Surface what is slipping. Early. Even when it is uncomfortable.

Done well looks like: A founder reads a draft, changes two words, and hits send. Decisions made in a meeting actually happen.

3. AI IS PART OF THE JOB, NOT A BONUS

You will use Claude and other AI models every day. This is not optional and it is not decoration.

Expected:

• Draft, summarize, restructure, and organize with AI, then edit the output
• Write clear prompts and know when a bad answer is the prompt's fault
• Verify everything. AI invents sources, numbers, and quotes. You catch it before we publish it.
• Build repeatable AI workflows for the tasks you do over and over
• Bring us better ways to use these tools. We expect you to teach us things.

Hard rule: No AI output goes out the door unchecked. Made-up facts are worse than no facts.

4. WHAT WE ARE ACTUALLY SCREENING FOR

Non-negotiable:

• Thinks in systems and logic. Structure is satisfying, not boring.
• Writes clearly and quickly in plain English
• Can write in someone else's voice and get the tone right
• Willing to do secretarial work without ego about it
• Already uses AI tools and is curious about them
• Catches errors other people miss
• Follows through on the date promised, without a reminder
• Holds six moving projects without dropping one
• Comfortable telling two founders their claim does not hold up

Helps but not required:

• Background in research, library science, journalism, paralegal work, or project management
• Has built a filing or knowledge system from scratch before
• Interest in psychology or mental health

Not required at all: A specific degree. Years in a seat. Startup experience.

5. DEAL-BREAKERS

• Needs a task list every morning
• Goes quiet when overloaded instead of flagging it
• Treats AI output as finished work
• Cannot take direct feedback
• Thinks admin and email are beneath them

6. TOOLS

Google Workspace (Drive, Docs, Sheets, Gmail, Calendar) · Claude and other AI models · a project tracker (TBD) · Canva or Figma · Zoom · basic PDF and file conversion