Research Manager (Talent Development Team)

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 team and affiliate community possess expertise in a wide variety of domains, including AI development best practices, risk analysis, the economics of AI, US-China relations, AI regulation, and AI progress forecasting. Since publishing our first research agenda in 2018, we have helped define and shape the field of AI governance.

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About the Fellowship

Seasonal Fellowships are three-month opportunities designed to launch or accelerate impactful careers in AI governance and policy. GovAI runs two fellowships a year in our London offices, which each bring together cohorts of about 40-50 people.

Our fellowships are extremely competitive, with an acceptance rate of only 0.5%. Our fellows come from a wide range of backgrounds. While we aim to admit a good proportion of early-career individuals, our cohorts have also included senior government officials; senior academics; and accomplished professionals such as software engineers, lawyers, journalists, a New York Times bestselling author, and a Nobel peace prize nominee. Our fellowship 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, TBI), and leading universities. Our fellowships are consistently rated very highly by participants, with around 90% reporting that they are very likely to recommend the fellowship to friends or colleagues, and that – from the perspective of their long-term career – the fellowship was much more valuable relative to what they would have otherwise done. In our last alumni survey, respondents reported that their time at GovAI increased the impact they will have in the AI governance space by around 40%. 

During their time at GovAI, Seasonal Fellows work on projects of their choice. Participants in the “Research Track” conduct a research project, while participants in the “Applied Track” work on projects in areas other than traditional research. Each fellow is paired with a supervisor from the GovAI team or network. They spend the first two weeks of the fellowship exploring what project(s) would be most valuable for them to work on, with input from their supervisor, their Research Manager, and the broader GovAI community; and the following ten weeks executing on them. Alongside their projects, fellows also invest time in upskilling on AI governance and widening their professional network. GovAI organises a series of Q&A sessions with AI governance experts, weekly seminars aimed at developing subject-matter knowledge, workshops for building relevant skills, work-in-progress meetings that facilitate peer-to-peer feedback, and social events. Fellows are also encouraged to discuss follow-on career opportunities with our team and network.

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Role Description

As Research Manager, your core responsibility will be the Seasonal Fellowships in London, UK – our flagship talent development programme. Your responsibilities will include:

• Research managing around 15 Seasonal Fellows per cohort, which will include weekly meetings with each of them. You will have primary ownership of ensuring that your fellows set clear goals and timelines, and that they are supported on executing both their projects and their career search successfully. To achieve this, you will also liaise with the fellows’ supervisors, who have primary responsibility for providing feedback on the fellows’ work.

• Contributing to the selection of fellowship cohorts. This will include application grading, conducting interviews, making candidate recommendations, and providing input on the design of the selection process. It may also include input on our outreach strategy, and attending or organising events to conduct outreach for the fellowship.

• Contributing to the setup of fellowships. This will include soliciting project suggestions from our team and network, recruiting supervisors and pairing them with incoming fellows, engaging guest speakers and arranging events with them, and developing pedagogical materials for seminars and workshops. 

• Contributing to the day-to-day running of the fellowship. Beyond your research management responsibilities, this will also include running events and workshops, moderating expert Q&As and discussion sessions, and generally taking responsibility for the experience of the Fellows while at GovAI.

• Contributing to evaluating the programme’s impact.

• Suggesting and implementing changes to the fellowship to increase its impact.

Beyond your responsibilities on the Seasonal Fellowship, there are other contributions you could make to our talent development efforts, depending on your skills, experience, and interests. These include:

• Taking the lead on the design and execution of new talent development programmes.

• Contributing to the management of our talent databases and providing candidate recommendations for external roles on request. 

• Providing ongoing career support to our alumni.

It may be possible for candidates to dedicate some proportion of their time to their own research agenda during fellowship off-periods.

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Selection Criteria

For all candidates, we will look for:

• Impact motivation. Someone excited by GovAI’s mission and the opportunity to make our programmes as impactful as they can be.

• Excellent project management skills and attention to detail. You will concurrently manage multiple complex work streams, requiring structured work habits, sharp prioritization judgment, and meticulous execution.

• Strong interpersonal skills and a coaching mindset. You should be able support our Seasonal Fellows in overcoming challenges in their work and career search, while holding them accountable for meeting their goals.

• Strong professional judgment and communication skills. You will represent GovAI to Fellows, a range of stakeholders (including internal and external supervisors), and Fellowship guests, so it is important that you are adept at communicating clearly and professionally across diverse audiences.

• Proactivity and collaborativeness. You should be able to both drive your own work forward independently and to partner effectively with colleagues.

• A drive to excellence. You should demonstrate a strong commitment to self-improvement and receptiveness to feedback, since these are core components of GovAI’s culture.

• (preferred but not required) Research experience, or research management experience, is a strong plus, since you will be responsible for providing feedback on Fellows’ research plans and outputs.

• (preferred but not required) Teaching experience would be valuable, since you will both contribute to developing, and deliver, some of the taught components of the fellowship.

• (preferred but not required) We expect that the strongest candidates will have prior familiarity with the field of AI governance, since this will increase the value of your strategic input for both programme design, and the Fellows’ research and career plans.

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Salary and Location

This position is full-time. We require candidates to be based in London, UK, during Fellowship periods, although we are open to hiring individuals who require short periods of remote work. We are able to sponsor visas. 

We expect that successful candidates’ annual compensation will typically fall between £75,000 (~$100,000) and £95,000 (~$130,000). In some 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 (~$6,000) annual wellbeing budget, commuting allowance, flexible work hours, extended parental leave, a 10% employer pension contribution, and 33 days of paid vacation (including public holidays).

Please inquire with recruitment@governance.ai if questions or concerns regarding compensation or benefits might affect your decision to apply.

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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 interviews in the final round. We also conduct reference checks for all candidates we interview. Please apply using the form linked below. 

Please feel free to reach out to recruitment@governance.ai if you would need a decision communicated by a particular date, if you need assistance with the application due to a disability, or if you have questions about the application process.

Addressing complex AI governance challenges requires many different skillsets and perspectives. We welcome applicants from a wide range of backgrounds. If our mission excites you, we encourage you to apply, even if your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification listed. Your unique combination of experience and motivation might be exactly what we're looking for.

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