Kairos is a nonprofit accelerating talent into AI safety and policy. Its flagship programs include SPAR, the largest AI safety research fellowship, with 800+ mentees and 250+ mentors per round. Many SPAR mentors are early-career researchers leading a team for the first time. The Research Manager acts as a mentor to these mentors, helping them run their teams well, handle difficult situations, and share their work with the right audiences. The role works closely with SPAR's program lead and has room to take on broader ownership of how SPAR supports its mentors.
Responsibilities:
- Support mentors across the round. Act as the main point of contact for a portfolio of mentors, checking in regularly and helping them scope projects, set expectations with mentees, and keep their teams on track.
- Help first-time mentors become strong research leads by coaching them on running effective meetings, giving feedback, and managing mentees with very different levels of experience.
- Handle sensitive team situations such as conflict, a mentee who stops showing up, or a breakdown in the mentor relationship.
- Advise on research outputs, including which publications, workshops, and conference venues suit a team's results.
- Help shape how SPAR recruits, onboards, and supports mentors, and help raise the bar on research quality as the program grows.
Requirements:
- Solid research experience, such as a PhD, a research role, or several completed projects.
- Strong interpersonal judgment and tact in delicate conversations.
- Clear written and spoken communication, including direct, actionable feedback.
- Organized, able to support many mentors at once against hard deadlines.
- Familiarity with the AI safety ecosystem and its major research agendas, technical and policy.
- Alignment with the mission.
Preferred: experience mentoring or managing junior researchers; publications at ML conferences or AI policy venues; research experience in AI safety or AI governance.
Compensation: $105,000-$145,000 baseline; $130,000-$180,000 in London, DC, Boston, NYC; $145,000-$200,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Benefits include flexible hours, health, dental and vision coverage, generous vacation, a professional development budget, team retreats three times a year, and covered work-related travel. The role is remote, with travel 3-6 times a year, mostly in the US. Visa sponsorship is available for the US.
HOW TO APPLY:
Apply via the Ashby application form (10-20 mins). The process then includes a paid take-home assignment (2-4 hours), a 45-minute interview, reference checks, a paid 3-day work trial, and an offer. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Questions can be sent to careers@kairos-project.org.
https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kairos-project/a07069d7-03de-4d75-b9af-64be6210172b/application