Generalist (groups)

Join Kairos’s university groups team to support AI safety group organizers through the Pathfinder Fellowship and shape what Kairos does for university groups next.

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.

Applications are due by September 25, 2026. We’ll review applications after the deadline and get back to everyone shortly after.

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: The largest AI safety research fellowship, with 400+ mentees per round mentored by researchers from Anthropic, Redwood Research, RAND, MIT, the UK AI Security Institute, and others.
• Generator Residency: 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: 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: Helping grow the global network of AI safety university groups from a few dozen to nearly 100, with $1.4M+ in funding 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

University groups are where many people first get involved in AI safety, and Kairos runs some of the ecosystem’s core infrastructure for them. Through the Pathfinder Fellowship, we provide mentorship and funding to organizers of AI safety university groups around the world, and through OASIS we bring top organizers together for in-person workshops. Over the past year, this work has grown from a fraction of our time to one of our core priorities, and we’re now growing the team behind it.

We’re looking for a generalist to work across the whole area, including helping run the Pathfinder Fellowship, organizing in-person events, seeding new groups at universities we’re not yet reaching, and helping strong organizers transition into full-time work in AI safety. The exact shape of the role will evolve with your strengths and where we most need capacity.

We’re also weighing more ambitious bets for the program, like hiring full-time organizers at top groups, funding ambitious student-run events (symposiums, summer intensives), experimenting with radically different group formats, overhauling our organizer resource center, and giving the strongest groups much more hands-on support. You’d help shape which of these we pursue.

What You’ll Do

• Help run the Pathfinder Fellowship. You’ll help onboard new groups and organizers, coordinate mentorship, handle communications with organizers and mentors, and process the grants that fund groups’ work.
• Help run in-person events. You’ll support the planning and logistics of OASIS, our workshop for top organizers at Constellation in Berkeley, and other events for organizers and students.
• Seed new groups. You’ll find and support founders at strong universities that don’t yet have an AI safety group.
• Help organizers go full-time. You’ll support the strongest organizers in moving into full-time work in AI safety, whether that’s continuing to organize or heading into research, policy, or operations.
• Build the systems behind the program. You’ll improve the infrastructure the Pathfinder Fellowship runs on (applications, grants, communications) and automate the work that shouldn’t be done by hand.
• Pitch in on broader Kairos work as capacity allows. You’ll help on active programs like SPAR, Generator, and the Global Challenges Project, build relationships across the AI safety ecosystem, and ship small cross-team projects.

Who You Are

• A past university AI safety group organizer. You’ve started or helped run an AI safety university group, and you know what organizers need because you’ve been one.
• Mission-aligned with context on AI safety. You care deeply about making advanced AI go well, and you have enough context on the ecosystem to make good judgments about which groups and organizers are promising and where to focus our support.
• High agency and able to figure things out. Much of this work won’t have a playbook. You’ll be designing processes as you run them and adjusting our approach as we learn what works.
• People-oriented. Most of the role is supporting organizers. You should be someone they enjoy working with, trust with hard questions, and come to when they’re stuck.
• Organized and on top of things. You keep careful track of to-dos and information. When you drop a ball, it’s on purpose.
• Strong writer and communicator. You’re clear and concise, and you think through your messaging from the reader’s perspective.

While not required, we especially value:

• Familiarity with Kairos’s university groups programs (for example, as a participant in the Pathfinder Fellowship or OASIS)
• Experience with event planning or community building
• A track record of starting and shipping things independently

Why Work With Us

You’ll be working toward reducing risks from advanced AI, potentially the most important challenge of our time. The groups you support are where many future AI safety and policy professionals get their start.

University groups are a central part of Kairos’s strategy over the coming years, and you’d be joining the small team shaping how we scale that work.

You’ll get to shape the role around your interests, with a say in which parts of the university groups portfolio you take on.

We’re building a world-class team, so you’ll be in good company. Work alongside people who’ve come to Kairos from METR, Coefficient Giving, Rethink Priorities, the UK AI Security Institute, and CEA who share your commitment to impact.

Collaborate regularly with leading AI safety researchers, policy professionals, funders, and organizers.

What We Offer

• Salary: $105,000–$145,000 (baseline), $130,000–$180,000 (supported hubs, like London, DC, Boston, and NYC), or $145,000–$200,000 (San Francisco Bay Area), depending on experience, with potential for additional compensation for exceptional candidates
• Location: This is a remote role. We provide access to office space in San Francisco, Berkeley, London, or Boston, with optional coworking elsewhere. If you work from an AI safety office in one of these cities, we cover food, lunches, and office expenses.
• Benefits: Flexible working hours, highly competitive health insurance, dental and vision coverage, generous vacation policy, and professional development budget
• Team retreats: We host all-team retreats three times a year to connect in person, collaborate, and build team culture.
• Travel: Work-related travel and expenses covered.

Logistics

Start date: Ideally by October or early November 2026, with flexibility for the right candidate

Remote, with expected travel 3–6 times a year for conferences and events, predominantly in the US

We’d also be happy for you to work out of any of the AI safety hubs in San Francisco, Berkeley, London, or Boston.

We prefer candidates who can attend meetings in the ET time zone (though our team currently spans GMT-8 to GMT+1).

Visa sponsorship (particularly O-1) may be possible depending on circumstances, but we can’t guarantee it

Our Culture

We’re a small, high-trust team motivated by the urgent challenge of making advanced AI go well. We try hard to figure out where we’re wrong, which means we say uncomfortable things to each other and change our minds fairly often. We value collaborative truth-seeking, a scout mindset, agility, and an alliance mindset with the broader ecosystem.

We also believe meaningful work should be enjoyable. We support each other’s well-being, celebrate wins, and maintain a healthy sense of humor even when the work is hard.

Application Process

Applications are due by September 25, 2026. We’ll review applications after the deadline and get back to everyone shortly after.

• Application form (10–20 mins)
• Screening call (15 mins)
• Take-home assignment (1.5–3 hours, paid)
• Interview (45 mins)
• Reference checks
• Work trial (3 days, paid)
• Offer

If you’re excited about this role but unsure whether you meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway. If you’re interested in multiple roles, apply to the one that best fits your skills and interests, and note in your application the other roles that you’d like to be considered for.

Questions? Reach out at careers@kairos-project.org.

Know someone who might be a good fit? If your referral gets hired and completes 6 months with us, we’ll pay you a $5,000 referral bonus. Learn more here.