AI Compute Security & Governance Technical Program Manager

Remote
FLI /
Full-Time, Contract /
Remote
The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is seeking a technical program manager to support a multi-organizational initiative in AI compute governance, with a focus on mechanisms enabled by hardware security measures. FLI views Compute Security & Governance (CSG) as an integral component in ensuring the safety and control of next-generation frontier AI systems.

As the manager of this program, success in 9 months looks like:

    • You've led creation of a handbook / action plan on CSG, bridging the gap between this report and actionable recommendations for researchers, companies, and policymakers;
    • You're tracking and supporting complementary initiatives in CSG existing both in FLI and in other organizations; you're helping unblock them by match-making connections as well as financial and logistical support;
    • With these teams, you've build and are executing on strategies toward more widespread adoption of CSG;
    • You and your connections are trusted and regularly consulted by policymakers, industry leaders, and researchers, to explain and support adoption of CSG practices. 

Required qualifications and attributes:

    • Excellent project management experience (3+ years) and skills, including project and personnel evaluation, project oversight, and project evaluation.
    • Strong general hardware and software technical capacity. Being a hardware engineer or security expert is not required, but the successful candidate will be able to absorb and understand complex technical details regarding AI training and inference on AI-relevant hardware.
    • Basic familiarity with current large-scale AI training and inference methods.
    • Strong alignment with the mission of ensuring the safety of frontier AI systems.
    • Excellent skills at efficient communication and coordination among projects, people, and organizations.
    • Ability to travel regularly to the SF Bay Area, for remote candidates.

Additional desirable qualifications:

    • Degree in computer science, electrical engineering, or a related field.
    • Hands-on experience with AI model training.
    • Experience in hardware security.
    • Experience in systems integration.
    • Background or experience in AI policy research.
    • SF Bay Area location.

Position details:

    • Type: This would be a contract role of up to several years, based at the Future of Life Institute.
    • Start date: As soon as possible.
    • Location: SF Bay Area preferred. Remote is possible if you are able to regularly travel to the Bay Area.
    • Compensation: Competitive with Bay Area technical nonprofit salaries.
Application Deadline: June 1. Rolling applications may be considered after the application deadline if the position has not been filled.

Application Process: Apply by uploading your resume and optional cover letter, alongside a short answer to the following question:

- Why does this role interest you? (200 words maximum)

FLI aims to be an inclusive organization. We proactively seek job applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds. If you are passionate about FLI’s mission and think you have what it takes to be successful in this role even though you may not check all the boxes, please still apply. We would appreciate the opportunity to consider your application.

Questions may be directed to jobsadmin@futureoflife.org.

About the Future of Life Institute:

Founded in 2014, FLI is an independent non-profit working to steer transformative technology towards benefiting life and away from extreme large-scale risks. Our work includes grantmaking, research, educational outreach, and policy engagement.

Some of our achievements include:
- Pause Giant AI Experiments, an open letter calling for a 6 month pause on the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. The letter has been signed by more than 30,000 people, including Yoshua Bengio, Stuart Russell, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Yuval Noah Harari, and Andrew Yang.
- The Asilomar AI Principles, one of the earliest and most influential sets of AI governance principles. 
- Slaughterbots, a viral video campaign raising awareness about the dangers of autonomous weapons.
- The Future of Life Award, which retrospectively awards unsung heroes who made the world a better place. Past winners include individuals who prevented nuclear wars, helped to eradicate smallpox, and solved the ozone crisis.
- Worldbuild.ai, which imagines flourishing futures with strong AI and works out how to get there.

FLI has a team of 25 distributed across Europe and the US. We have offices in Campbell, California and in Brussels, Belgium.