[Hiring] AI Industry Associate/Lead @Future of Life Organizations

Role Description

The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is hiring an AI Industry Associate/Lead to develop a vision for a pro-human path for AI development, framed around controllable, verifiable, human-centered AI tools, as opposed to the development and adoption of maximally autonomous general AI systems. The AI Industry Associate/Lead will engage with policy makers on how AI innovation and safety regulation can go hand in hand.

This role will report to our Head of European Policy and Research.

As AI Industry Associate/Lead, you will:

• Strategy development (as Lead): Develop a rigorous argument that a credible AI strategy need not depend on building or adopting maximally general, autonomous AI systems.
• Tracking industry developments: Monitor and support non-hyperscaling technical paths, including:
  • Development of efficient/smaller models
  • Open-source and open-science AI
  • Physical AI/robotics
  • High-value industrial and scientific data applications
• Engage stakeholders and build coalitions: Interface with policymakers interested in exploring sovereign AI strategies including Brazil, Canada, EU Member States and its AI Office in Brussels.
• Translate strategy into concrete asks: Produce policy-ready recommendations for policymakers.

Qualifications

• Experienced technology strategist, ideally in AI policy, within industry, at a startup, or within the policy space.
• Sufficient technical fluency in advanced AI — capabilities trajectories, agentic systems, evaluation and verification methods — to engage credibly with technical experts.
• Experience engaging policymakers outside of the US and China, or a demonstrated capacity to do so.

Requirements

• Excellent written and spoken communication, able to produce policy-ready analysis and represent FLI in expert and/or high-level settings.
• Proven experience translating technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Stakeholder management and partnership building skills, ideally across institutions, industry, and international partners.
• Independence and initiative — comfortable owning a strategy line and moving quickly in a fast-changing field.
• Alignment with FLI's mission of mitigating catastrophic risk while advancing positive futures.

Preferred Qualifications, Skills and Qualities

• A graduate degree in a relevant field — economics, computer science, or a technical AI discipline.
• Previous experience at a tech startup, or similar experience of how things get done in the technology industry.
• Background in, or close knowledge of, a safety-sensitive industrial sector where reliability is a hard operational requirement rather than a preference.
• An existing network among frontier AI researchers and relevant policymakers.

Benefits

• €82,000 - €150,000 a year; exact compensation will vary depending on experience and geography.
• Typically includes 25 days of PTO per year, paid parental leave, and a work from home allowance for office supplies or equipment.
• Professional development budget.
• Location dependent, we may also cover health insurance and pension contributions.

Application Process

Apply by uploading your resume, alongside a short answer to the following questions:

• In 200 words or less, please describe a time when you successfully persuaded a group of people to change course. What was your strategy and what actions did you take concretely?
• In 200 words or less, how can and should states not exporting major AI models pursue "sovereign AI"?

Please apply via our website. Email applications are not accepted.

FLI aims to be an inclusive organization. We proactively seek job applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds. If you are passionate about FLI’s mission and think you have what it takes to be successful in this role even though you may not check all the boxes, please still apply.

Questions may be directed to [email protected] .