Building the Operating System for Continuous Ownership
Ciph Lab® is building Intelligence Resources™ (IR™) — the permanent operating system for AI readiness and continuous ownership in high-stakes knowledge work. We turn static ownership into a live system requirement so AI-assisted work can actually reach production.
Headquartered in West Oakland, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Read our origin story →
The Founder
Founder-Market Fit for Continuous Ownership
Juanita Alvarez has spent 13+ years where legal, operations, and the business meet, from a patent law firm to Amazon Lab126, Apple, Okta, and Figma. Ciph Lab turns that vantage point into operational accountability for AI.
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Juanita Alvarez LinkedIn
Founder & CEO · Originator of Intelligence Resources™
13+ years bridging legal operations, enterprise transformation, and AI systems.
Founder-Market Fit
Six years at HG Law (Ropes & Gray spinoff) managing 500+ global patent filings for clients including Google. At Amazon Lab126, managed ~1,400 patent applications a year and an estimated $100M+ in outside counsel spend across 10+ firms. 5,500+ patent applications managed in total.
IP Systems Lead at Figma. Delivered a 70% reduction in contract turnaround time at Okta. Privacy & compliance roles at Apple. Practice Leader at Legal.io.
UC Berkeley BASIS AI Safety Policy Fellowship alum. Brings an AI safety policy lens to how Ciph Lab designs for accountability.
Experience
The Team
Vinod Vairavaraj LinkedIn
Advisor, AI Security & Governance Systems at Ciph Lab. Advises on AI security and governance and helps build Ciph Lab's products. A Cyber & AI Risk practitioner with 4+ years across cyber risk, security compliance, and AI governance in nonprofit, startup, and enterprise environments. He has helped nonprofits build foundational security programs without a dedicated IT team and enterprise teams mature their programs for the AI era. He has also taught cybersecurity, helping students build practical skills and grow into the field.
- → Public speaker on AI security & safety for nonprofits
- → B.S. Computer Science, UC San Diego
- → Master of Information and Cybersecurity (in progress), UC Berkeley
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Kilikina Casey LinkedIn
Technical Lead at Ciph Lab. Kilikina guides technical implementation for Ciph Lab’s tools and built the first version of the Access Tax™ diagnostic. She previously supported technical systems at Credit Karma.
- → Built the Access Tax™ diagnostic
- → B.S. Communication Arts, SF State
Past Advisors
Enterprise Experience
Team and advisor experience at industry leaders including:
Internal R&D Core
IR Insight Circle™
A specialized five-discipline research core establishing the alignment between proprietary governance logic, regulatory law, software engineering, technical execution, and enterprise risk management.
We are the research engine behind Intelligence Resources™, translating abstract compliance requirements into concrete, deployable frameworks that enterprises can actually use.
The IR Insight Circle™ is also our living demonstration. We don't just build Intelligence Resources™—we embody it. Our team structure demonstrates the exact principles we help enterprises implement: breaking down silos between Legal, Tech, and Business; cultivating multidimensional fluency across disciplines; and building adaptive systems that evolve as the regulatory and technical landscape shifts.
Juanita Alvarez
Framework Originator of Intelligence Resources™. Leading the Governance Logic Track. Translating regulatory intent into proprietary business rules and operational methodology.
Technical Co-Founder
Open Position — Actively Recruiting. Co-leading the Product Architecture Track. Owning the technical vision and architecture of IR™ Continuous Ownership alongside the founder, from working prototype to scale.
→ Inquire: founder@ciph-lab.comCore Researcher (Lawyer)
Open Position — Actively Recruiting. Leading the Regulatory Synthesis Track. JD required. Legal validation of governance logic tracks across AI regulatory frameworks.
→ Inquire: founder@ciph-lab.comCore Engineer
Open Position — Actively Recruiting. Leading the Technical Build Track. Building and shipping Ciph Lab's products, starting with IR™ Continuous Ownership. Hands-on engineering with a bias toward execution and delivery.
→ Inquire: founder@ciph-lab.comVinod Vairavaraj
Advisor, AI Security & Governance Systems at Ciph Lab. Advises on AI security and governance and helps build Ciph Lab's products. 4+ years in cyber risk, security compliance, and AI governance.
Kilikina Casey
Technical Lead at Ciph Lab. Kilikina guides technical implementation for Ciph Lab’s tools and built the first version of the Access Tax™ diagnostic. She previously supported technical systems at Credit Karma.
Select a role on the circle to see its track.
Research Inquiries Welcome: founder@ciph-lab.com
Living Proof of Concept
Multidimensional Fluency Matrix™
Coming Soon ▾
We are building a full picture of the multidimensional backgrounds that make Intelligence Resources™ work. Not just job titles — the actual disciplines, experiences, and ways of thinking each person on this team brings to the table.
Legacy hiring is too narrow for the AI era. Most organizations hire deep into one lane and hope the rest works itself out. That is exactly why we are also the living demonstration. AI literacy is not a checkbox — real AI literacy requires multidimensional fluency. You cannot fully understand how to work with AI if you only know one lane. The people who grasp it deepest are the ones who bring creativity alongside technical knowledge and can see across disciplines at the same time.
The Multidimensional Fluency Matrix™ will show what that looks like in practice — and why the backgrounds you might not expect are often the ones that matter most.
Get Involved
Work With Ciph Lab®
Technical Co-Founder
You'd own the technical vision for Ciph Lab: turn a patent-pending ownership framework and a working prototype into a product companies can run. High equity, full technical autonomy, and a founder who brings the domain, the IP, and the go-to-market.
Email the founderWe help companies manage their AI, and we're building the team to do it. Whether you build, sell, research, or tell the story, we want to hear from you.
No personal identifying information required at this stage.