Job description
RAND Corporation • Washington, DC
Draft job description for candidate sourcing. A final version will be posted on RAND's website. Job title may differ to align with RAND policy.
Chief of Staff to CAST’s Director, Sella Nevo
RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology (CAST)
Function: Research
Start date: December 2026
Status: Full-Time
Compensation: $120,000 to $170,000
Work location: San Francisco, CA
About RAND and CAST
RAND is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution founded in 1948 to advise the U.S. government on matters of national security. RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology (CAST) is an 80+ person center at the forefront of transformative AI and biotechnology policy and their implications for global competition and security.
Our teams work on verification frameworks for international agreements on AI, creating AI data centers that are secure, unlocking energy for AI production, developing models for public-private partnerships between frontier labs and government, and conducting AIxBio evaluations and mitigations. The people we hire directly shape that work.
Position Description
CAST is seeking a Chief of Staff to serve as a thought partner and force multiplier to Sella Nevo, CAST's Director. Sella leads one of the most consequential centers working at the intersection of AI and national security, and represents CAST across the White House, frontier labs, Congress, and international governance forums.
This high-trust, high-visibility role exists to sharpen the Director's priorities, extend his reach, and increase the impact of a rapidly growing 80+ person center.
Responsibilities
Strategic Partner
- Analyze and help shape CAST’s strategy by acting as a thought partner to the Director.
- Help the Director prioritize across a research portfolio that spans AI security, AI policy, and biosecurity.
- Manage the Director's weekly priorities and their daily execution, ensuring his time is spent on the highest-leverage work.
- Lead or support select special projects across CAST.
Communications and External Engagement
- Write across internal and external channels, calibrating to audiences from junior staff to cabinet officials and frontier lab leadership.
- Prepare the Director for high-stakes meetings, briefings, presentations, and DC trips.
- Own recurring organizational communications and reporting.
Team Management
- Manage the Director's Support Office, including the Executive Operations Manager and Administrative Assistants.
- Serve as an extension of center leadership and a cultural steward across CAST.
Qualifications
Required
- At least 3 years of relevant experience, which may include work at research organizations, philanthropy, government, frontier labs, or fieldbuilding programs.
- Discretion and sound judgment handling confidential information, including personal information, internal deliberations, and details from sensitive meetings.
- Substantive familiarity with the AI security, AI policy, or biosecurity ecosystem, demonstrated through professional experience, research, publications, community involvement, or sustained engagement.
- A cultural steward who knows and embodies CAST's operating values.
Preferred
- A track record of clear writing on AI security, AI policy, or biosecurity topics, whether through publications, memos, briefs, or public writing (blog, forums, Substack).
Application Process
- Submit an expression of interest by October 23, 2026
- Screening call
- Submit full application with resume and cover letter
- Work task (2-4 hours)
- Interview with hiring team and CAST leadership
- References and offer
Chief of Staff to CAST’s Associate Director and Head of AI Policy, Bill Zito
RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology (CAST)
Function: Research
Start date: December 2026
Status: Full-Time
Compensation: $120,000 to $170,000
Work location: Washington, DC preferred
About RAND and CAST
RAND is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution founded in 1948 to advise the U.S. government on matters of national security. RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology (CAST) is an 80+ person center at the forefront of transformative AI and biotechnology policy and their implications for global competition and security.
Our teams work on verification frameworks for international agreements on AI, creating AI data centers that are secure, unlocking energy for AI production, developing models for public-private partnerships between frontier labs and government, and conducting AIxBio evaluations and mitigations. The people we hire directly shape that work.
Position Description
CAST is seeking a Chief of Staff to serve as a thought partner and force multiplier to Bill Zito, CAST's Associate Director and Head of AI Policy. This high-trust, high-visibility role exists to sharpen the Associate Director's priorities, extend his reach, and increase the impact of a rapidly growing 80+ person center.
Responsibilities
Strategic Partner
- Support the Associate Director on cross-cutting strategic priorities, including coordination across teams, tracking key deliverables, and managing internal and external engagements.
- Manage the Associate Director's weekly priorities and their daily execution, ensuring his time is spent on the highest-leverage work.
- Lead or support select special projects across CAST.
Communications and External Engagement
- Write across internal and external channels, calibrating to audiences from junior staff to cabinet officials and frontier lab leadership.
- Prepare the Associate Director for high-stakes meetings, briefings, and presentations.
- Own recurring organizational communications and reporting.
- Serve as an extension of center leadership and a cultural steward across CAST.
AI Policy Research Contribution
- Draft and contribute to policy briefs, research memos, report content, and other written products for technical and senior policy audiences.
Qualifications
Required
- At least 3 years of relevant experience, which may include work at research organizations, philanthropy, government, frontier labs, or fieldbuilding programs.
- Discretion and sound judgment handling confidential information, including personal information, internal deliberations, and details from sensitive meetings.
- Substantive familiarity with the AI policy ecosystem, demonstrated through professional experience, research, publications, community involvement, or sustained engagement.
- A cultural steward who knows and embodies CAST's operating values.
Preferred
- A track record of clear writing on AI policy topics, whether through publications, memos, briefs, or public writing (blog, forums, Substack).
Application Process
- Submit an expression of interest by October 23, 2026
- Screening call
- Submit full application with resume and cover letter
- Work task (2-4 hours)
- Interview with hiring team and CAST leadership
- References and offer
Executive Operations Manager to CAST’s Director, Sella Nevo
RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology (CAST)
Function: Research and Operations
Start date: November 2026
Status: Full-Time
Compensation: $100,000 to $140,000
Work location: San Francisco, CA
About RAND and CAST
RAND is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution founded in 1948 to advise the U.S. government on matters of national security. RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology (CAST) is an 80+ person center at the forefront of transformative AI and biotechnology policy and their implications for global competition and security.
Our teams work on verification frameworks for international agreements on AI, creating AI data centers that are secure, unlocking energy for AI production, developing models for public-private partnerships between frontier labs and government, and conducting AIxBio evaluations and mitigations. The people we hire directly shape that work.
Position Description
Reporting to the Chief of Staff, CAST is seeking an Executive Operations Manager to serve as a force multiplier to RAND CAST’s Director, Sella Nevo. Sella leads one of the most consequential centers working at the intersection of AI and national security, and represents CAST across the White House, frontier labs, Congress, and international governance forums.
Responsibilities
Executive Operations
- Own the Director's complex agenda and daily flow, ensuring he moves seamlessly from activity to activity with the right context, materials, and buffer at each step.
- Coordinate travel for roughly two trips per month with support from an Administrative Assistant who executes bookings and expense reports.
- Handle ad hoc requests that arise in the course of high-stakes work.
Relationship and Context Management
- Build and maintain a working CRM of the people the Director has met across a network that spans government, industry, and the AI security ecosystem.
- Conduct quarterly calendar reviews, surfacing meetings that could be delegated and time that could be reinvested in the Director's highest-leverage priorities.
Systems and Growth
- Support the Chief of Staff on select special projects.
- Gradually take on Chief of Staff-adjacent responsibilities, including drafting communications, meeting prep, and select cross-team coordination, calibrated to the person's development and interests.
Qualifications
Required
- At least 2 years of relevant professional experience, which may include work at research organizations, philanthropy, government, frontier labs, or fieldbuilding programs.
- Discretion and sound judgment handling confidential information, including personal information, internal deliberations, and details from sensitive meetings.
- A support-minded orientation and real enthusiasm for amplifying Sella’s work.
- Proactive execution across a high volume of small and time-sensitive tasks, with the reliability to maintain high throughput with near-zero errors.
- A cultural steward who knows and embodies CAST's operating values.
Preferred
- A documentation-minded operator who instinctively builds sustainable systems and processes.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to represent CAST and the Director externally and internally with clarity and precision.
- Interest in AI security, policy, and governance, and a desire to be close to the decisions that shape the trajectory of transformative technology.
Application Process
- Submit an expression of interest by September 30, 2026
- Screening call
- Submit full application with resume and cover letter
- Work task (2-4 hours)
- Interview with hiring team and CAST leadership
- References and offer
AI Talent and Special Projects Manager
RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology (CAST)
Function: Research and Operations
Start date: As soon as possible
Status: Full-Time
Compensation: $110,000 to $170,000
Work location: Washington, DC or remote
About RAND and CAST
RAND is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution founded in 1948 to advise the U.S. government on matters of national security. RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology (CAST) is an 80+ person center at the forefront of transformative AI and biotechnology policy and their implications for global competition and security.
Our teams work on verification frameworks for international agreements on AI, creating AI data centers that are secure, unlocking energy for AI production, developing models for public-private partnerships between frontier labs and government, and conducting AIxBio evaluations and mitigations. The people we hire directly shape that work.
Position Description
CAST is seeking an AI Talent and Special Projects Manager to own high priority hiring across the center's AI security, AI policy, and biosecurity research teams. This is a high-autonomy role for someone who wants to own the full recruiting cycle, from sourcing and outreach to candidate evaluation and closing, in a fast-moving environment where the talent pool is thin, relationships matter, and most of the strongest candidates aren't actively looking.
We're open to this person spending up to 50% of their time on special projects including field building, research, or policy work aligned with their expertise and CAST's mission.
Responsibilities
Talent Acquisition
- Own proactive sourcing and outreach for CAST's research hiring, with a focus on AI security, AI policy, biosecurity, or national security talent.
- Design and run role-specific assessments and interview frameworks and provide hiring recommendations to senior leadership.
- Build and maintain relationships across the AI security, national security, and frontier lab ecosystems to develop long-term talent pipelines.
- Serve as an ambassador for CAST and the broader AI security ecosystem educating candidates on the landscape and helping them understand why this work matters.
Field Building or Research Contribution (up to 50%)
- Support CAST leadership on cross-cutting strategic priorities, including coordination across teams, tracking key deliverables, and managing internal and external engagements.
- Contribute to key AI security research deliverables, including research design and methods, technical policy analysis, framework development, literature reviews, and stakeholder interviews.
- Draft policy briefs, research memos, report content, and other written products for technical and senior policy audiences.
Qualifications
Required:
- A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Engineering, Political Science, Public Policy, Philosophy, International Relations, National Security, China Studies, or a related technical or policy-focused discipline.
- Deep familiarity with the AI security, biosecurity, or national security landscape as demonstrated through professional experience, research, or sustained engagement.
- Ability to evaluate research and technical candidates on substance, not just credentials: understanding what strong AI policy analysis or AI security engineering looks like in practice.
- Clear and professional communicator with the ability to represent CAST credibly to senior researchers, government officials, and other external stakeholders.
Preferred:
- Ability to structure analysis clearly, synthesize evidence from diverse sources, and produce concise, well-argued written products for decisionmakers.
- Existing relationships across the AI security, biosecurity, or national security policy ecosystems.
Application process
- Submit an expression of interest by October 16, 2026
- Screening call with CAST Operations Lead
- Submit full application with resume and cover letter
- Work task (2-4 hours)
- Interview with hiring team and CAST leadership
- References and offer