About the job
FAR.AI is hiring a Research Lead to develop and lead a research agenda that reduces catastrophic risks from advanced AI. You'll build and lead a team executing this agenda — setting research direction, mentoring Members of Technical Staff to scale your vision, and remaining hands-on enough to write code and run experiments yourself. What counts is whether AI labs and governments actually change how they act; publications are useful but aren't the measure. Beyond your team, you can shape FAR.AI's broader work by directing millions of dollars in grants to external researchers extending your agenda, convening the people who can act on it, and influencing our independent testing and advising of AI companies and governments. This role suits you if you want high autonomy in an impact-driven environment, pursuing empirically grounded, scalable ML safety work.
Responsibilities
Articulate a research agenda with a clear theory of change for mitigating catastrophic risks from human-level or superhuman AI systems, and/or vastly increasing the upside of such systems.
Grow and lead a team of technical staff in pursuit of this agenda, either directly or in partnership with an engineering co-lead.
Lead novel research projects where there may be unclear markers of progress or success.
Share your research findings through written content (e.g. academic publications, blog posts) and presentations (e.g. ML conferences, policymaker briefings) to drive adoption and change.
Mentor and coach junior team members in research skills and ML engineering.
Contribute to the FAR.AI intellectual environment, for example by giving feedback on early-stage proposals.
Build a research field around your agenda through FAR.AI's grantmaking and events, and connect it to real-world deployments through our independent testing and government advising.
Qualifications
Minimum
Have a strong existing research track record in AI or another highly technical subject (e.g. CS, math, physics).
Have a clear view of which safety research directions are likely to matter most over the next few years, and why.
Have either (a) a clear research agenda you'd pursue at FAR.AI, with a theory of change explaining why it's valuable, or (b) a strong track record and a research space you'd sharpen into an agenda over your first months. We assess both paths against the same bar — depth of articulation at application is itself a signal about expected runway.
Have led a team, mentored graduate students, or supported early-career researchers through fellowship programs. Informal leadership in flatter organizations counts, as we’re more interested in experience than job titles.
Can effectively communicate novel methods and solutions to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Are not a new entrant to AI safety. We don't require a PhD or specific years of experience, but you should have engaged subs
Preferred
No preferred qualifications listed.