About GovAI

GovAI was founded to help humanity navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI. Our researchers have provided knowledge and assistance to decision-makers in government, industry, and civil society. Our initial research agenda, published in 2018, helped define and shape the nascent field of AI governance. We made significant early contributions to the ongoing public discussions over the security implications of AI. More recently, we have made significant contributions to EU AI policy, with staff members vice-chairing the EU AI Act GPAI Code of Practice risk-management working group and sitting on the EU AI Office Scientific Panel and Advisory Forum.

Our researchers have published in leading journals and conferences, including Science, Nature, NeurIPS, FAccT, and ICML. We have published commentary in venues such as TIME, Foreign Affairs, War on the Rocks, and Lawfare. Our work has also been covered by publications such as The New York Times, Vox, and the Financial Times.

Our staff are based across the United Kingdom, United States, and European Union.

One of our main pathways for accomplishing our mission is developing new talent for the field; the Talent Development team leads that work, and this role sits within it.

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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 office, 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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Why You Might Be Interested in This Role

• You'll accelerate careers that matter. You'll coach 10–15 fellows per cohort – from recent graduates to senior government officials – through a project and, often, a career change, in a programme fellows consistently rate among the most valuable things they've done for their careers.

• You'll shape who enters the field. Our fellowships draw nearly 20,000 applications a year for around 100 places. Your grading, interviews, and decision-meeting recommendations decide who the field develops next.‍‍

• ‍You'll grow with the team. GovAI is growing quickly, with funding in place to keep doing so, and we expect new responsibilities to open up as we go. You'll have room to build the role around your own interests and strengths, and to grow it over time.

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Role Description

As Research Manager, your responsibilities will include:

• Research managing 10–15 Seasonal Fellows per cohort, which will include weekly meetings with each of them. You will have primary ownership of ensuring that fellows set clear goals and timelines, and that they are supported in 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 promote the fellowship.

• Contributing to the setup of the 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 the evaluation of the programme's impact.

• Suggesting and implementing changes to the fellowship to increase its impact.
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Beyond your responsibilities on the Seasonal Fellowship, there are other contributions you could make to our talent development efforts, depending on your capacity, skills, experience, and interests. These include:

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

• Providing ongoing career support to our alumni.

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Selection Criteria

For all candidates, we will look for:

• Impact motivation. You're 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 workstreams, requiring structured work habits, sharp prioritisation judgement, and meticulous execution.

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

• Strong professional judgement 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.

• A drive for 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. You will be responsible for providing feedback on fellows' research plans and outputs.

• (preferred but not required) Experience facilitating and hosting. You will run seminars and workshops, moderate expert Q&As, and host fellowship guests.

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Salary and Location

This position is full-time. We require the Research Manager to be based in London, UK, during fellowship periods (January–April and June–August). Outside of fellowship periods, short periods of remote work are possible. We are able to sponsor visas.‍

We expect that successful candidate's annual compensation will fall between £83,000 and £105,000. In some cases where salary considerations would prevent a candidate from accepting an offer, there may also be some flexibility in compensation.

Other benefits of the role include:

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• A 10% employer pension contribution
• A £5,000 annual wellbeing budget
• A £5,000 annual professional development budget
• A £5,000 annual childcare budget
• A £1,800 annual commuting allowance
• Flexible work hours
• Extended parental leave
• 33 days of annual leave (including public holidays)

Please contact 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 selection process has three stages:

1. Written application
2. Paid remote work test
3. Interviews and reference checks

Please feel free to reach out to recruitment@governance.ai if you 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 skill sets 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.