SPAR Research Manager

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About the role

Help SPAR’s mentors become excellent research leads. Note: This role description is a first draft. Scope, salary, and responsibilities may evolve, and we’ll keep you in the loop about any changes if you apply. We’re reviewing applications on a rolling basis.   About Kairos Kairos is a nonprofit accelerating talent into AI safety and policy. In just over two years, we’ve trained 1,200+ people through our flagship programs: • SPAR : The largest AI safety research fellowship, with 800+ mentees per round mentored by researchers from Anthropic, Redwood Research, RAND, MIT, the UK AI Security Institute, and others. • Generator Residency : In partnership with Constellation, a platform for generalist talent to pitch, build, and ship projects that build capacity and infrastructure across the AI safety ecosystem, with advisors from OpenAI, AI Futures Project, METR, and more. • Global Challenges Project : A workshop series introducing promising students to careers in AI safety and biosecurity, run several times a year across Oxford, Boston, and Berkeley. • Pathfinder Fellowship : Helping grow the global network of AI safety university groups from a few dozen to nearly 100, with $9.5M in funding over the next two years to support their work. We see ourselves as a portfolio of highly impactful projects in a fast-evolving field. Over the next six months, we expect to double in size and launch several new initiatives addressing critical gaps in the ecosystem.   The Role SPAR is a remote, part-time fellowship that runs twice a year, with 800+ mentees, 250+ mentors, and 6,000+ applicants in the latest cohort. Many of our mentors are early-career researchers leading a team for the first time, and the quality of their mentorship shapes what hundreds of mentees learn and produce each round. We’re looking for a Research Manager to be a mentor to our mentors. You’ll work with the researchers leading SPAR projects, helping them run their teams well, handle difficult situations, and get their work in front of the right audiences. You’ll work closely with SPAR’s program lead, and there’s room to take on broader ownership of how SPAR supports its mentors.   What You’ll Do • Support mentors across the round. You’ll be the main point of contact for a portfolio of mentors. You’ll check in with them regularly and help them scope projects, set expectations with mentees, and keep their teams on track. • Help first-time mentors become strong research leads. Many SPAR mentors are leading a team for the first time. You’ll coach them on running effective meetings, giving feedback, and managing mentees with very different levels of experience. • Handle sensitive team situations. When a team runs into conflict, a mentee stops showing up, or a mentor relationship breaks down, you’ll step in, work out what’s going on, and help everyone find a way forward. • Advise on research outputs. You’ll help mentors and their teams decide where and how to share their work, including which publications, workshops, and conference venues suit their results. • Help shape how SPAR works with mentors. You’ll contribute to how we recruit, onboard, and support mentors, and help raise the bar on research quality across the program as SPAR grows. What you won’t do. With 250+ mentors and 800+ mentees per round, you won’t supervise individual projects in depth or co-author the research. Your impact comes from making mentors better at leading their teams, so more of their projects succeed.   Who You Are • Solid research experience. You’ve done substantial research yourself, such as a PhD, a research role, or several completed projects. You understand how research projects go well and badly, and mentors take your advice seriously. • Strong interpersonal judgment. You handle delicate

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