General Counsel

About GovAI

Our researchers have published in top venues, including Science and Nature, and work closely with decision-makers across government, industry, and civil society. Our alumni have gone on to influential roles in government (US, UK, EU), leading AI companies (e.g. DeepMind, OpenAI, Anthropic‍), top think tanks (e.g CSET, RAND), and leading universities (e.g. Oxford, Cambridge).

Our team and affiliate community possess expertise across risk management, threat modelling, frontier AI regulation, technical governance, agent governance, AI economics, international cooperation, US-China relations, and AI forecasting. Since publishing our first research agenda in 2018, we have helped define and shape the field of AI governance. 

Although most of our staff are based in the United Kingdom, we also have team members in the United States and European Union. We operate as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, with a UK Company Limited by Guarantee subsidiary.

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Why You Might Be Interested In This Role

• You'll build the legal infrastructure for a world-leading AI governance organization. As GovAI scales operations, you'll design and implement the governance systems that enable our expansion while mitigating legal risk. Your work will directly support research that shapes critical AI policy decisions worldwide.

• You'll handle complex, high-impact legal challenges. From navigating multinational tax questions to export control issues to managing compliance obligations for lobbying and advocacy work, we think some of our legal questions are genuinely interesting and challenging.

• You'll work autonomously on meaningful problems. As the sole counsel on staff, this role offers significant independence to solve complex legal and governance challenges. You'll advise on decisions that directly impact GovAI's ability to execute its mission effectively.

• You'll gain expertise across the full spectrum of nonprofit and international law. Working across US and UK jurisdictions on everything from visa processes to corporate governance, you'll develop expertise in managing complex multinational legal operations in the technology policy space.

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Role Description

GovAI was founded to help humanity navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI. As we scale our operations across multiple jurisdictions and explore new areas of research, we need robust legal and governance infrastructure to support our work. We are seeking a General Counsel to build and oversee the legal, compliance, and governance systems that will enable GovAI to operate effectively and compliantly as we grow.

As General Counsel, you will own the legal, compliance, and governance operations that enable GovAI to operate effectively across multiple jurisdictions while maintaining a strong understanding of and standard for legal compliance.

Core responsibilities will include:

Legal Operations:

• Fielding legal, compliance, and governance questions from across the organization
• Managing relationships with external counsel in both the US and UK
• Translating complex legal advice into actionable guidance for researchers and operations staff
• Proactively identifying compliance risks and implementing mitigation strategies

Visa and Immigration Operations:

• Managing the end-to-end visa application process in the UK and US for fellows, scholars, and staff — we process dozens of visas annually, and the General Counsel will directly project manage this process in coordination with external counsel and service providers
• Ensuring compliance with UK and US visa requirements and maintaining relationships with relevant government agencies

Regulatory Compliance:‍

• Managing US 501(c)3 compliance and charitable organization requirements
• Tracking and ensuring compliance with lobbying regulations across the US, UK, and EU
• Ensuring compliance with ongoing reporting requirements and regulatory filings (via tracking deadlines and coordinating with accountants and other vendors)
• Overseeing annual filings, audits, and regulatory reporting in the US and UK
• Managing the legal aspects of establishing and operating new corporate entities
• Coordinating tax compliance and tracking transfer pricing requirements between entities

Policy and Employee Support:

• Creating and reviewing organizational policies to ensure compliance and best practices
• Reviewing and approving key contracts and agreements
• Supporting employee onboarding and offboarding processes, especially for new countries or difficult situations
• Managing compliance aspects of secondments and external partnerships

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Selection Criteria

We're selecting candidates who are:

• Legally qualified. You must be qualified to practice law in either the US or UK, with preference given to US qualifications. Dual qualification or willingness to obtain it is highly preferred — GovAI is open to supporting a candidate pursuing dual qualification.

• Experienced with nonprofit organizations. Previous experience with nonprofit (especially 501(c)3) governance, compliance, and operations is preferred. Experience with think tanks, research organizations, or multinational entities is particularly valuable.
  

• Exceptionally organized and detail-oriented. This role requires managing multiple complex workstreams simultaneously while maintaining exacting standards for compliance and accuracy.

• Skilled at project management. We typically have 5-10 simultaneous ongoing legal projects, and a large number of prospective staff pursuing visas. You’ll project-manage these efforts and make sure we stay on top of all those legal workstreams.

• Autonomous and proactive. You'll work with minimal oversight and must be able to identify problems, develop solutions, and implement them independently while knowing when to seek input from external experts.

• Strong communicators. You must be able to explain complex legal concepts clearly to non-lawyers and maintain high standards of reasoning transparency in your decision-making.

• Nuanced in communicating about potential risks. You should be able to clearly communicate about both how likely risks are to occur and how serious the consequences could be, with reasoning that others can understand and evaluate.

• Creative problem-solver. We often want to achieve ambitious goals. We’re looking for proactive support to figure out how to achieve these goals, even if it means getting creative with how we approach hard legal problems.

• Aligned with our mission. You should be excited by the opportunity to use your legal expertise to support work that aims to ensure advanced AI benefits humanity.

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Salary and Location

This position is full-time and works closely with the Director of Operations, Abraham Rowe. Our offices are located in London, UK, but we are also excited for candidates based in the US to apply, particularly given our need for expertise in US nonprofit law. We are able to sponsor visas.

The General Counsel will be compensated in line with our salary principles. The salary for this role will depend on the successful applicant's experience and qualifications,  but we expect the range to be between $150,000 and $195,000 in a high cost of living city. In rare cases where salary considerations would prevent a candidate from accepting an offer, there may also be some flexibility in compensation.

We also offer competitive benefits, including pension/401k contributions and private medical coverage.

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How to Apply and What to Expect

Application Process

The selection process has three stages:

• Written application
• Paid work test
• Interviews with key stakeholders and reference checks

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How to Apply

Please submit your application including:

• CV/resume highlighting your legal qualifications and relevant experience
• Brief responses to a handful of prompts related to your experience and expertise

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Special Circumstances

Please contact recruitment@governance.ai if you:

• Need a decision communicated by a particular date
• Require assistance with the application due to a disability
• Have questions about the application process

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We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and are committed to building a team that reflects the global nature of AI governance challenges. If our mission excites you and you have relevant legal expertise, we encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement listed.

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