Remote Director of AI Safety Special Projects

Kairos Project; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible hours

Health insurance

Dental & Vision

Generous vacation

Professional development budget

Team retreats

Travel coverage

Job summary

Kairos Project is hiring a Special Projects lead to pursue high‑ impact opportunities in the AI safety ecosystem. You’ll own a portfolio of 1–3 new projects, from idea to launched pilot, and decide which bets to pursue or sunset.

You’ll grow the team and help shape cross‑cutting strategy, with a portfolio that may become new Kairos programs. The role is remote with hub offices in San Francisco, London, Boston, and DC; travel is occasional.

Qualifications

• Experience starting things. You’ve taken a program, an organization, a product, or a community from an idea to something up and running.
• Quick to execute. Many of these opportunities are time-bound. You’re comfortable shipping in weeks rather than quarters and making calls with incomplete information.
• AI safety context. Choosing which bets deserve Kairos’s time requires a clear picture of what the ecosystem is missing. You should come with views of your own about what’s worth building.
• Comfortable with an evolving mandate. Your portfolio will change under you as projects launch, hand off, or wind down, and you should be happy working that way.
• Mission-aligned. You care deeply about reducing risks from advanced AI, and you see new programs like these as one of the most promising ways to fill the ecosystem’s gaps.

Responsibilities

• Own a small portfolio of early-stage bets. You’ll run one to three new projects at a time, taking each from concept to something operating in the world.
• Decide what we pursue. You’ll evaluate opportunities from across the team and the ecosystem, including your own ideas, make the case for which ones are worth attempting, and move fast when a window is closing.
• Scale what works, wind down what doesn’t. When a pilot succeeds, you’ll build the systems it needs to run reliably, then keep owning it or hand it to a long-term owner. When a project has run its course, you’ll close it out cleanly and carry the lessons into the next one.
• Grow the team around the work. As projects mature, you’ll likely hire people to run them and manage them as a small team.
• Contribute to Kairos more broadly. As bandwidth allows, you’ll help shape org-wide strategy, weigh in on new programs, and participate in cross-cutting work.

Job description

Kairos Project is hiring a Special Projects lead to pursue high‑ impact opportunities in the AI safety ecosystem. You’ll own a portfolio of 1–3 new projects, from idea to launched pilot, and decide which bets to pursue or sunset.

You’ll grow the team and help shape cross‑cutting strategy, with a portfolio that may become new Kairos programs. The role is remote with hub offices in San Francisco, London, Boston, and DC; travel is occasional.