National Security Partnerships Lead, Intelligence and International Security

United States Digital Space LLC; United States; Hybrid; USD 295,000 - 345,000; Full time

Job summary

United States Digital Space LLC is seeking a National Security Partnerships Lead to grow and manage relationships with the U.S. Intelligence Community and allied partners.

You will report to the Head of National Security Policy and advise leadership on intelligence and partner matters. You will own a portfolio of government partnerships end to end, structuring agreements and channels, aligning partner requirements with policy, product, research, and safeguards, while collaborating with public

Qualifications

• Substantial experience in national security, including work in or with the Intelligence Community.
• Direct experience managing relationships with foreign partner governments or services.
• Active TS/SCI clearance, or one held within the last two years, and the ability to obtain and maintain it.
• Experience negotiating formal government or government–industry partnerships.
• Working understanding of how intelligence organizations operate, classification, liaison relationships, and technology adoption constraints.
• Ability to brief senior policymakers clearly and explain technical subjects without overstating them.
• Experience working with cross‑functional teams (technical, sales, policy, trust & safety, legal, security, product, research, communications).
• Demonstrated interest/experience in complex technical subjects, ideally AI, or defense tech.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic engagement with U.S. Intelligence Community elements and allied services.
• Develop policies and governance enabling rapid, high‑impact adoption of frontier AI and safe deployments.
• Identify high‑leverage national security deployments with partners and support public sector sales.
• Brief senior government security officials on frontier AI capabilities, risks, and safety approach.
• Advise leadership on partner equities in deployment decisions for international distribution of models.
• Collaborate with federal affairs, international policy, communications, and marketing on national security matters.
• Travel regularly within the U.S. and to allied countries.

Skills

National security

Intelligence Community

TS/SCI clearance

Policy briefing

Cross-functional collaboration

Negotiation

Public sector engagement

Strategic partnerships

Communication

Adaptability

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Policy/National security coursework

Job description

About the company

the company’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.

About the role

We are hiring a National Security Partnerships Lead to grow and manage our relationships with the U.S. Intelligence Community and with allied intelligence and security services. You will report to the Head of National Security Policy and advise company leadership on intelligence and allied-partner matters.

You will help partner security organizations build policies that let them adopt frontier AI quickly and for high-impact missions, while deploying it safely and avoiding incidents. You will also engage U.S. and foreign government officials on the policy frameworks that guide the international distribution and deployment of the company's models.

You will own a portfolio of government partnerships end to end: setting the agenda with senior counterparts, structuring the agreements and channels that govern each relationship, and bringing partner requirements and concerns back into the company's policy, product, research, and safeguards decisions. You will work closely with our public sector sales, legal, security, and threat intelligence teams.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the company's strategic engagement with U.S. Intelligence Community elements and allied intelligence and security services.
• Help partner security organizations develop the policies and governance that enable rapid, high-impact adoption of frontier AI and safe deployments that avoid incidents.
• Identify high-leverage national security deployments with partners, and support our public sector sales team in delivering them.
• Brief senior government security officials in the U.S. and allied capitals on frontier AI capabilities, risks, and the company's approach to safety.
• Engage U.S. and foreign government officials on the national security implications of the international distribution and deployment of the company's models, and advise company leadership on partner equities in those decisions.
• Partner with federal affairs, international policy, communications, and marketing on national security matters, including engagement with the Executive Branch and Congress.
• Travel regularly within the U.S. and to allied countries.

Minimum qualifications

• Substantial experience in national security, including work in or with the Intelligence Community.
• Direct experience managing relationships with foreign partner governments or services.
• An active TS/SCI clearance, or one held within the last two years, and the ability to obtain and maintain it.
• Experience negotiating formal agreements or partnerships between governments, or between government and industry.
• A working understanding of how intelligence organizations operate, including classification, liaison relationships, and how they adopt new technology, and the ability to get things done within those constraints.
• The ability to brief senior policymakers and officials clearly, and to explain technical subjects without overstating them.
• Experience working effectively with cross-functional teams, including technical, sales, policy, trust and safety, legal, security, product, research, and communications.
• Demonstrated interest and experience in a complex technical subject, ideally AI, though defense technology, cybersecurity, or similar fields also count.
• The ability to build structure where little exists and to manage competing priorities without waiting for perfect clarity.

Preferred qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in national security, including substantial work in or with the Intelligence Community.
• Experience in a liaison, foreign partnership, or foreign disclosure role.
• Experience in related private-sector roles, such as at technology, cybersecurity, or defense companies.
• Regional expertise or language skills relevant to allied partners.
• Hands-on familiarity with large language models and how they can be misused.

Annual compensation range for this role is listed below.

For sales roles, the range provided is the role’s On Target Earnings ("OTE") range, meaning that the range includes both the sales commissions/sales bonuses target and annual base salary for the role.

Annual Salary

$295,000—$345,000 USD

LogisticsMinimum education

Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience

Required field of study

A field relevant to the role as demonstrated through coursework, training, or professional experience

Minimum years of experience

Years of experience required will correlate with the internal job level requirements for the position

Location-based hybrid policy

Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.

Visa sponsorship

We do sponsor visas! However, we aren't able to successfully sponsor visas for every role and every candidate. But if we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa, and we retain an immigration lawyer to help with this.

We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification. Not all strong candidates will meet every single qualification as listed. Research shows that people who identify as being from underrepresented groups are more prone to experiencing imposter syndrome and doubting the strength of their candidacy, so we urge you not to exclude yourself prematurely and to submit an application if you're interested in this work. We think AI systems like the ones we're building have enormous social and ethical implications. We think this makes representation even more important, and we strive to include a range of diverse perspectives on our team.

How we're different

We believe that the highest-impact AI research will be big science.