Generalist (Special Projects)

Join Kairos’s new Special Projects team to help launch and run the tactical projects we take on.

Note: This role description is a first draft. Scope, salary, and responsibilities may evolve, and we’ll keep you in the loop about any changes if you apply.

We’re reviewing applications on a rolling basis.

ABOUT KAIROS

Kairos is a nonprofit accelerating talent into AI safety and policy. In just over two years, we’ve trained 1,200+ people through our flagship programs:

• SPAR https://sparai.org: The largest AI safety research fellowship, with 800+ mentees per round mentored by researchers from Anthropic, Redwood Research, RAND, MIT, the UK AI Security Institute, and others.

• Generator Residency https://generatorresidency.org/: In partnership with Constellation, a platform for generalist talent to pitch, build, and ship projects that build capacity and infrastructure across the AI safety ecosystem, with advisors from OpenAI, AI Futures Project, METR, and more.

• Global Challenges Project https://www.globalchallengesproject.org: A workshop series introducing promising students to careers in AI safety and biosecurity, run several times a year across Oxford, Boston, and Berkeley.

• Pathfinder Fellowship https://pathfinder.kairos-project.org: Helping grow the global network of AI safety university groups from a few dozen to nearly 100, with $9.5M in funding over the next two years to support their work.

We see ourselves as a portfolio of highly impactful projects in a fast-evolving field. Over the next six months, we expect to double in size and launch several new initiatives addressing critical gaps in the ecosystem.

THE ROLE

Kairos has historically made a small number of large, ongoing bets, like SPAR and Pathfinder. We’ve learned that a surprising number of time-bound opportunities are worth pursuing too, whether that’s an event, a one-off program, or a project that responds to a narrow window for impact. Our new Special Projects team exists to go after them, and we’re looking for a generalist to help get its projects off the ground.

Some of these projects will be short-lived by design. Others may become lasting programs. Generator went from an idea to a 27-resident cohort at Constellation in a matter of months, and Talent Commons, our shared talent database, will likely become a core part of how Kairos, and much of the AI safety ecosystem, routes talent.

You’d work closely with our Head of Special Projects, doing what each project’s stage needs most, whether that’s recruiting the first participants, running a pilot’s operations, building the systems behind it, or helping figure out whether the idea works at all.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Help launch new projects. You’ll work on one or two early-stage projects at a time, taking on whatever they need to get off the ground.

• Build the systems behind them. You’ll set up the infrastructure new projects run on, like applications, communications, and automations, so a pilot can grow into a program.

• Grow with the work. You’ll take on more ownership as projects mature, and the shape of the role will evolve with your strengths and interests.

• Pitch in on broader Kairos work as capacity allows. You’ll help on active programs like SPAR, Pathfinder, and Generator, build relationships across the AI safety ecosystem, and ship small cross-team projects.

WHO YOU ARE

• You want to do many things well, pick up new domains quickly, and work on whatever is most useful rather than settle into a fixed lane.

• High agency. Early-stage projects come with little structure. You figure out what needs doing and do it, without waiting to be asked.

• Fast and scrappy. You ship quickly, iterate as you learn, and are okay with unglamorous operational work along the way.

• Mission-aligned with context on AI safety. You care deeply about making advanced AI go well, and you’re familiar enough with the ecosystem to understand the gaps our new projects aim to fill.

WHY WORK WIT