The Role
The Communications Director and Staff Director will lead CARMA's communications strategy and provide executive support, ensuring effective operations and alignment across teams. Responsibilities include managing content for outreach, overseeing project workflows, and enhancing organizational efficiency while promoting AI safety initiatives.
Summary Generated by Built In
Position Overview
CARMA is seeking an exceptional combined Communications Director and Staff Director, in one person, to play a pivotal role in advancing our mission. This position combines both strategic leadership and hands-on execution of communications with high-level organizational support to ensure CARMA operates effectively while communicating its critical work with clarity and impact.
As a focused organization addressing complex challenges in AI safety, CARMA maintains a lean team structure where team members take on complementary responsibilities. Understanding this space is an important prerequisite to being able to do well in this role. This combined role reflects our strategic approach to organizational efficiency while ensuring critical communications and operational functions receive dedicated leadership.
You'll join our collaborative team dedicated to addressing one of humanity's most crucial technological challenges, with the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to AI safety and governance during this pivotal period. While the position is fully remote, occasional travel for team meetings and events is required (of course with expenses reimbursed).
About CARMA
The Center for AI Risk Management & Alignment (CARMA) works to help society navigate the complex and potentially catastrophic risks arising from increasingly powerful AI systems. Our mission is specifically to lower the risks to humanity and the biosphere from transformative AI.
We focus on grounding AI risk management in rigorous analysis, developing policy frameworks that squarely address AGI, advancing technical safety approaches, and fostering global perspectives on durable safety. Through these complementary approaches, CARMA aims to provide critical support to society for managing the outsized risks from advanced AI before they materialize.
CARMA is a fiscally-sponsored project of Social & Environmental Entrepreneurs, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation.
Key Responsibilities
Communications Leadership Functions
• Develop and implement CARMA's communications strategy across multiple channels
• Guide program staff in crafting compelling blog posts and social media research summaries that effectively translate complex concepts for various audiences
• Manage CARMA's social media presence with thoughtful content development and consistent cadence
• Ensure communications maintain scientific accuracy while being accessible and persuasive to key stakeholders
• Coordinate with researchers to develop compelling narratives around their work
Staff Director Functions
• Serve as a trusted right hand to the Executive Director, helping prioritize initiatives and manage organizational workflows
• Establish and maintain cross-organizational systems for tracking project progress and deliverables
• Facilitate information flow between teams and leadership to ensure alignment on priorities
• Lead special projects that require cross-functional coordination
• Draft and implement organizational policies and procedures that align with our fiscal sponsor requirements while meeting CARMA's specific needs
Operational Oversight Functions
• Liaise between CARMA team members and our fiscal sponsor (which handles many of our backoffice functions) to resolve administrative challenges, with the assistance of an EA
• Co-manage the Executive Assistant to ensure efficient administrative operations
• Ensure timely follow-through on operational matters such as HR processes, disbursements, and compliance requirements
• Develop and update organizational documentation including org charts, reporting processes, and internal protocols
Qualifications
Required
• 4+ years of progressive experience in communications, with demonstrated skill in translating complex concepts for diverse audiences
• Experience in an executive support role, preferably in a fast-paced research, policy, advocacy, or technology organization
• Exceptional writing and editing abilities
• Strong project management skills with attention to detail and follow-through
• Demonstrable familiarity with AI safety, AI governance, or adjacent fields
• Exceptional organizational abilities with a systems-thinking approach
• Adaptable and comfortable with ambiguity in a rapidly evolving field
• Strong interpersonal skills and diplomatic abilities
• Commitment to CARMA's mission of reducing catastrophic AI risk
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively across teams and facilitate collaboration
• Self-directed with excellent judgment and discretion
• Ability to maintain perspective on urgent short-term needs while advancing long-term objectives
Preferred
• Strong experience in AI safety, AI governance, or adjacent fields
• Background in science communication, particularly related to emerging technologies
• Experience working with fiscal sponsors or in nonprofit settings
• Familiarity with policy development processes
• Track record of building efficient organizational systems
CARMA/SEE is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We will not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, age, religion, gender reassignment, partnership status, maternity, or sexual orientation. We are, by policy and action, an inclusive organization and actively promote equal opportunities for all humans with the right mix of talent, knowledge, skills, attitude, and potential, so hiring is only based on individual merit for the job. Our organization operates through a fiscal sponsor whose infrastructure only supports persons authorized to work in the U.S. as employees. Candidates outside the U.S. would be engaged as independent contractors with project-focused responsibilities. Note that we are unable to sponsor visas at this time.
Skills Required
- 4+ years of progressive experience in communications
- Experience in an executive support role in research, policy, advocacy, or technology
- Exceptional writing and editing abilities
- Strong project management skills with attention to detail
- Demonstrable familiarity with AI safety or AI governance
- Exceptional organizational abilities with a systems-thinking approach
- Strong interpersonal skills and diplomatic abilities
- Ability to maintain perspective on urgent needs while advancing long-term objectives
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The Company
What We Do
The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to steering transformative technologies—such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and nuclear technology—away from extreme, large-scale risks and toward outcomes that benefit humanity. Through grantmaking, educational outreach, and policy advocacy, FLI works with governments and international institutions to ensure that powerful technological advancements are developed and deployed safely, responsibly, and in alignment with the long-term prospects for the future of life.
