Senior Strategist, AI Governance Field Coordination

About Future Matters and our AI governance work

Future Matters exists to make sure the best ideas for reducing catastrophic and existential risks are turned into action.

Good ideas that could make a difference on serious issues like AI governance, biosecurity and climate protection are relatively common. The best ones, however, are often overlooked, and even the right idea goes nowhere without enough support behind it.

We work out which promising ideas are both realistic and not yet getting the attention they deserve, then map the landscape and create the strategy and coordination forums they need to be acted on.

About this role

For years, Future Matters has helped organizations working on the world's most serious risks figure out what actually makes a difference. Our strategic coordination work grew out of that, and it has become some of the most valuable work we do. We are now expanding this strategic coordination and coalition-building, grounded in rigorous strategy craft, into a dedicated program, and this is the first hire of this new chapter.

Concretely, this role involves finding the people and organizations who can move the key questions in AI governance forward, build and own the relationships that bring them to the table, and help a fragmented field act with shared strategy and foresight, so it builds support for key ideas systematically and makes the most of windows of opportunity that open and close fast. Done well, a fragmented field starts acting together, and the odds of a safer future rise.

Responsibilities of the role

• Gain a working command of Future Matters' impact maximization and strategy methodology.

• Grow and deepen the existing U.S. coordination infrastructure by deepening relationships, facilitating more candid exchange, and stand up new, responsive forums based on the developing needs.

• Build and lead new US AI governance coordination initiatives. Identify and bring together the right players, establish coalition priorities different stakeholders support, lead the group to alignment on shared priorities and into taking action on these priorities.

• Keep the work and the stakeholders moving forward by being the engine behind winning conditions: you will be responsible for bottleneck diagnosis, backward-chaining, and sequencing the work to ensure barriers and sticking points are identified and ameliorated as quickly as possible.

• Build joint foresight, increasing our collective rapid-response capability by prototyping and running a shared horizon-scanning practice so foreseeable developments get surfaced early, allowing for better chances to anticipate windows of opportunity and capitalize upon them. Build coalition members’ capacity so groups can act quickly and effectively when a sudden window opens.

• Understanding coordination challenges and finding opportunities. Develop a credible, peer-supported answer as to where the AI governance field could be better coordinated and how to achieve this, including a list of what our team could offer specifically that would add the most value.

• Adapt as things change: treat plans as provisional, with a bias to action and a "safe enough to try" instinct. Be excited to revise your strategy and sequencing as political and technical developments disrupt assumptions and change the landscape.

• Contribute to strategy craft and capacity-building outputs. Feed insights back into Future Matters' guides and workshops, helping partners across the field work more strategically.

• Support fundraising for this work. Contribute case studies of recent wins, surface intelligence on funding opportunities, and add expert knowledge to grant applications, working with our Partnerships team.

You will work most closely with Managing Director, Justus Baumann, who is leading Future Matters' AI work. We also expect to expand the AI team in the first months after your start. You will also occasionally support colleagues from our Partnerships team and other members of the team.

Bonus qualities

You do not need these in order to apply, but we are especially interested in candidates who also bring some of the following:

• Being connected in and known across the US AI governance ecosystem, with warm relationships that let you open doors

• AI-governance domain knowledge: already conversant in key areas and interventions and up to date on current status

• Direct experience on major frontier-AI legislation (e.g. SB 53, RAISE Act) or on carrying a contested horizontal tech bill through real legislative process

• Experience designing or applying a structured methodology (strategy consulting, evaluation, or structured prioritisation in any sector)

• Capacity-building or training-delivery experience (workshop design, structured advisory engagements)

Application

Instead of a cover letter, please answer the short-answer questions below. Please keep answers to 150 to 200 words and don't spend too long editing or formatting. https://careers.future-matters.org/40653#apply

Application

Q1: About you

Please share with us how your background and experience are relevant to the skills and qualities listed in the job description. Take this opportunity to highlight accomplishments, experience, and interests that may not be clearly evident in your resume, that you feel are important or would be useful in this role. Where success was achieved by a team, make your specific contributions clear. (200-300 words)

Q2:

Tell us about a time you brought together experts and were able to accomplish something difficult on a quick timeline. What was the greatest barrier you faced and how did you overcome it? Who did you involve and why? What would you do differently next time?

(150–250 words)