About the Team

GovAI was founded to help humanity navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI. Our first research agenda, published in 2018, helped define and shape the nascent field of AI governance. Our team and affiliate community possess expertise in a wide variety of domains, including AI regulation, responsible development practices, compute governance, AI company corporate governance, US-China relations, and AI progress forecasting.

GovAI researchers have closely advised decision makers in government, industry, and civil society. Our researchers have also published in top peer-reviewed journals and conferences, including International Organization, NeurIPS, and Science. Our alumni have gone on to roles in government, in both the US and UK; top AI companies, including DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic; top think tanks, including the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology and RAND; and top universities, including the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.

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Role Description 

As Research Manager, you will be responsible for managing and continually improving the systems that underlie our research pipeline. 

Responsibilities will include: 

• Building, overseeing, and refining systems for project selection, feedback, publication, and dissemination.
  

• Providing operational support to researchers, for instance facilitating the selection of research assistants and managing copy-editing.
  

• Improving the intellectual environment at GovAI by coming up with helpful events with internal and external guests, as well as designing other measures that facilitate intellectual engagement (e.g. the structure of our physical and virtual spaces).
  

• Serving as an additional source of individual support and accountability for some researchers.
  

• Helping researchers communicate their work to relevant audiences, by identifying appropriate channels, unlocking those channels, and helping researchers shape their work to fit those channels. This also includes being responsible for our quarterly newsletter and other organisational communication mostly focused on research.
  

• Being the point person for requests for collaboration, speaking opportunities, and other researcher interactions with outside stakeholders. Potentially proactively identifying such opportunities and pitching them to researchers.
  

• For candidates with sufficiently strong writing skills, writing or helping researchers to write summaries of their work for the GovAI blog or other venues.

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Selection Criteria

We’re selecting candidates who are:

• Excited by the opportunity to use their careers to positively influence the lasting impact of artificial intelligence, in line with our organisation’s mission.

• Organised and competent at project management. This role will require the ability to manage concurrent work streams, and we need someone who can demonstrate highly structured work habits, confidence in prioritising between tasks, and a conscientious approach to organisation.

• Driven by a desire to produce excellent work and achieve valuable results. Successful candidates will actively seek out feedback and opportunities to improve their skills.

• Highly autonomous and proactive. Successful candidates will proactively identify pain points and inefficiencies in GovAI’s research process and set out to fix them.

• Able to support our researchers in overcoming challenges in their work and to hold them accountable for their projects. Experience with research or research management is a strong plus.

• Ideally, knowledgeable about the field of AI governance and GovAI’s work. While not a fixed requirement, a solid understanding of current topics in the field – like responsible scaling policies, capabilities evaluations, and compute governance – will be a strong plus.

• Excellent at oral and written communication. This role will require clear and prompt communication with a wide range of stakeholders, both over email and in person.

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Salary and Location

This position is full-time. Our offices are located in Oxford, UK, and we strongly prefer team members to be based here, although we are open to hiring individuals who require short periods of remote work. We are able to sponsor visas. 

The Research Manager will be compensated in line with our salary principles. As such, the salary for this role will depend on the successful applicant’s experience, but we expect the range to be between £60,000 (~$75,000) and £75,000 (~$94,000). In rare cases where salary considerations would prevent a candidate from accepting an offer, there may also be some flexibility in compensation. 

Benefits associated with the role include health, dental, and vision insurance, a £5,000 annual wellbeing budget, an annual commuting budget, flexible work hours, extended parental leave, ergonomic equipment, a 10% pension contribution, and 33 days of paid vacation (including Bank Holidays).

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How to Apply‍ and What to Expect

The application process consists of a written submission in the first round, a paid remote work test in the second round, and an interview in the final round. We also conduct reference checks for all candidates we interview. Please apply using the form linked below.

GovAI is committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and we encourage individuals with underrepresented perspectives and backgrounds to apply. We especially encourage applications from women, gender minorities, people of colour, and people from regions other than North America and Western Europe who are excited about contributing to our mission. We are an equal opportunity employer and want to make it as easy as possible for everyone who joins our team to thrive in our workplace. 

If you would need a decision communicated by a particular date, need assistance with the application due to a disability, or have any other questions about applying, please email recruitment@governance.ai.