We're looking for a strong research manager to support our AI safety programmes. This is a high-trust, technically-grounded role: you'll work directly with researchers to scope projects, provide mentorship, and find the best path to impact on AI risk. There’s also plenty of room to grow and take on new initiatives as Meridian evolves.

You'll need technical depth, judgement on research directions, strong organisation, and a real commitment to creating impact and helping researchers flourish.

About Meridian

Meridian is a research hub and community for AI safety researchers based in Cambridge, UK. We host a strong community of full-time researchers, run structured research fellowships for early- and mid-career researchers, and convene the local AI safety community through workshops, reading groups, and events.

We’ve incubated Geodesic Research, a new technical AI safety research lab focused on alignment priors before RL, and ERA, a world-class research fellowship. Our own programmes - including MARS (Mentorship for Alignment Research Students), and our Research Accelerator Weeks (RAW) and Visiting Researchers Programme (VRP) - have supported over 300 researchers and contributed to NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, and the UK government AI agenda.

What you’ll do

Research management and support (the core of the role)

Scope and review research projects for MARS fellows and Visiting Researchers
Provide technical feedback on proposals, drafts, and research plans
Run regular check-ins with researchers; identify and unblock obstacles
Connect researchers with relevant people, papers, and opportunities
Some minimal ops, ensuring that incoming VRs have a friendly point of contact and the resources they need

Using your technical background and research taste

Help to shape impactful research proposals during our Research Accelerator Weeks
Choose our cohorts for RAW, and help review candidates for MARS
Run red-teaming and proposal development sessions, lab meetings and journal clubs

What we’re looking for

We're looking for someone with:

A strong commitment to acting on the most serious risks from advanced AI
Experience on a top fellowship, such as LASR, ERA, MATS, or Astra, or equivalent research experience in AI safety
Publications in AI safety or machine learning
Strong familiarity with the AI safety research landscape: current debates, agendas, who's working on what
The judgement to distinguish promising research directions from dead ends, and solid ToCs from wishful thinking
Strong empathy, and a desire to help other researchers flourish.

Strong candidates may also have:

Experience leading, mentoring or supervising researchers
Experience managing research programmes or collaborations across multiple institutions
A network in the AI safety community

Additional Details

Salary: £65,000 – £100,000 depending on experience

Benefits:

Unlimited PTO
Pension scheme with employer matching up to 4%
£1,000 annual professional development fund
Conference travel budget
Tech stipend
Daily lunch and snacks
Visa sponsorship available

Logistics

Location: In-person in Cambridge, UK
Contract: Full-time (40 hours/week), initial 12-month contract; strong intention to renew
Start date: Flexible; from summer 2026

What a week
might look like

Monday: Check-ins with the current MARS cohort - one group is stuck on how to frame their AI control project; another needs help narrowing scope. Review weekly updates from visiting researchers. Skim a new paper on activation oracles that's getting attention.

Tuesday: 1:1s with two VRP researchers. One is making good progress; the other is going down a rabbit hole that probably won't pan out - you help them see it before they've sunk another month. Office hours in the afternoon; a few people drop by with half-formed ideas they want to stress-test.

Wednesday: Run the weekly lab meeting - this week it's a visiting researcher from MATS presenting early results. Afterwards, a call with a mentor at Anthropic about a fellow who might be a good fit for their team.

Thursday: Deep work day. You're reviewing three research proposals for the next MARS cohort and giving detailed written feedback on a draft that's almost ready for submission. Block out time to read a paper on evaluation awareness.

Friday: Journal club on a recent ICML paper. Grab coffee with a biosecurity researcher who's thinking about pivoting to AI safety and wants your read on the landscape. Then a conversation with leadership about how Meridian's programmes are evolving and where research can have the most impact on AI risk.

How to apply

Submit an application through the form below. Successful applicants will be invited to interview with the team and complete a work test. For full consideration, please apply by 23:59 AoE on Sunday 19th July. We review on a rolling basis, so earlier is better.

If you’re excited by this role but unsure whether you’re a perfect fit, we encourage you to err on the side of applying.

Apply now

If you have further questions about the role please reach out to us - we’d love to hear from you.

Senior Technical AI Safety Research Manager

Help shape the future of AI safety research