AI Safety Mentor Selection Lead — Hybrid (Berkeley)

MATS Research, Inc.; Berkeley (CA); Hybrid; USD 146,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Lunches and dinners in office

Staff trips and conferences

Professional development funding

PTO 17 days for Berkeley employees

Hybrid work arrangement

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) retirement plans (Roth & Trad)

Job summary

MATS Research, Inc. in Berkeley, California, invites applications for a Senior Program Manager for Mentor Selection to own the end-to-end mentor assignment process across cohorts, coordinating sourcing, evaluations, and allocations with leadership.

You will build a strong network with major AI safety organizations, manage cross-functional committees, and guide research agendas while advancing a deliberate talent allocation strategy.

Qualifications

• High familiarity with the AI safety landscape, its organizations, and researchers.
• Excellent judgment about research quality and researcher potential ("research taste").
• Strong network in AI safety, or demonstrated ability to quickly build one.
• Clear, warm, proactive communication with senior stakeholders.
• Ability to weigh many qualitative and quantitative inputs into a defensible decision.
• Strong understanding of and alignment with our mission of reducing risk from the development of advanced AI.

Responsibilities

• Own the MATS mentor selection process, run once per cohort (3–4 times per year): sourcing, evaluation, allocation, and offers.
• Headhunt and conduct outreach to prospective mentors, drawing on your network and knowledge of the field.
• Design and run information collection from the Mentor Selection Committee and advisors, working with our systems team on the supporting interfaces.
• Evaluate returning mentors using data from past cohorts (fellow ratings, research and career outcomes, mentor engagement).
• Propose fellow allocations across mentors and research agendas, balancing mentor strength, agenda importance, portfolio strategy, and value of information; iterate with and secure approval from MATS leadership.
• Help manage mentor relationships through the cycle, including fellow capacity reallocation as mentors' plans change and our resource constraints evolve.
• Between cycles: engage with AI safety research directions, represent MATS at conferences, and contribute to impact analysis and talent-allocation strategy.
• Report to the Program Director (Juan Gil).
• We expect especially strong applicants to have deep experience in at least one of the following areas:
• - Grantmaking, program-officer, or research-funding prioritization experience
• - A PhD or comparable research experience in a field relevant to AI safety
• - Talent identification: headhunting, scouting, or selection for competitive technical programs
• - Project management of multi-stakeholder processes on fixed timelines

Skills

AI safety awareness

Judgment about research quality

Strong network in AI safety

Clear communication

Qualitative & quantitative decisioning

Mission alignment

Education

PhD or equivalent experience

Job description

MATS Research, Inc. in Berkeley, California, invites applications for a Senior Program Manager for Mentor Selection to own the end-to-end mentor assignment process across cohorts, coordinating sourcing, evaluations, and allocations with leadership.

You will build a strong network with major AI safety organizations, manage cross-functional committees, and guide research agendas while advancing a deliberate talent allocation strategy.