Office Manager

The way companies innovate is broken. The systems built to create and protect ideas can’t keep up with the pace of change. Today, 90% of S&P 500 company value is intangible (e.g., in intellectual property) - yet R&D and IP teams spend half their time buried in manual work, sifting through patents and paperwork instead of pushing the frontier forward. The tools of creating and protecting are stuck in the past. We’re here to fix that.

Ankar is building the AI operating system for innovation, reinventing how companies generate and protect their inventions. Our platform orchestrates how ideas become defensible IP with a suite of AI modules such as patent drafting, office action response, and infringement detection.

We’re at an inflection point:

• We’ve raised >$24M to date from Tier-1 VCs like Atomico, Index Ventures, Norrsken, Daphni, and angels like the Founder of Hugging Face, CEO from Datadog, and Leaders from DeepMind and OpenAI.

• We’re already working with the world’s most innovative companies including Fortune 500 company L’Oréal and global law firm Vorys

• Expanding our world-class team with alumni from Palantir, Amazon, and BCG to tackle the $1T+ innovation market. We’re just getting started.

We are growing our team and looking for people who take ownership of ambitious projects, solve complex & high-impact problems, and do the best work of their career.

What you’ll be doing

We're looking for an Office Manager to be at the heart of Ankar - you’ll be the person who makes sure Ankar operates day-to-day at peak performance - and makes our workplace feel like a place people genuinely want to be.

This is a high-ownership, high-impact role that sits at the centre of the company. You’ll own the office experience end-to-end, from our upcoming office move, to building a well-run and well-stocked HQ, the kind that people are excited to come into every day.

You will:

• Lead our upcoming office move, our most immediate priority. You'll own the project end-to-end: coordinating timelines, budgets, furniture, setup, and making sure the new space is set up and welcoming from day one.

• Run day-to-day office operations, keeping everything organised, well-stocked, and running smoothly, from supplies and equipment to vendor relationships and kitchen essentials.

• Create a workplace people love, a high-energy, thoughtful environment where the small details matter and the team has what they need before they need to ask.

• Bring the team together by coordinating lunches, offsites, internal events, and celebrations that strengthen culture as we scale.

• Support the leadership team with travel booking, expense tracking, invoice management, and general administrative workflows.

• Spot and solve problems proactively, whether it's a vendor issue, a last-minute team need, or an opportunity to make something work better.

• Over time, shape the role based explaining on your strengths - whether that means growing into finance/admin operations or leaning into events, community, and brand-building alongside our growth team.

This role is perfect for someone who thrives in a fast-moving environment, enjoys building structure where it’s needed most, and wants to grow with a company that’s scaling quickly.

What we are looking for
We’re looking for someone who is high urgency, highly reliable, and deeply proactive - someone who takes pride in making things work and in making the people around them feel supported. You're organised and dependable, but you're also personable and creative about how you approach problems.

You might be a great fit if you:

• Have experience in an Office Manager or EA-style role (startup experience is a plus but not required).

• Are extremely organized, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple priorities without dropping the ball.

• Take ownership naturally and notice what needs doing without being asked.

• Move with urgency and take pride in being the person who “makes things happen.”

• Helped run internal events, team culture, or community programming. You enjoy supporting a team and creating an environment where others can do their best work.

• Are resourceful and scrappy - you figure things out quickly, even when there isn’t a clear process.

• Are a strong communicator and comfortable coordinating across teams and leadership.

• Have great judgment and can anticipate needs before they become problems.

• Are excited by the idea that this role can grow into something bigger - whether that’s finance/admin ops or events/community leadership.

• [Bonus points] Have experience working in early-stage startups.

• [Bonus points] Led or supported an office move before.

Hiring process:

1. 30min introductory chat

2. 60min onsite

3. 30min co-founder meeting

The process can be as fast you want it to be.

What else you might want to know…

• Location: Hoxton Square, London (on-site role)

• Contract: Full-time

• Compensation: We pay competitive salaries and will reward you with a substantial equity package under the tax-efficient EMI scheme.

• Visa sponsorship: No

Learn more about our team and our ambitions here.