Head of Kairos Labs

About this role

Design, launch, and lead our incubator for new AI safety organizations.

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.

Applications are due by September 25, 2026. We’ll review applications after the deadline and get back to everyone shortly after.

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 https://sparai.org: 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 https://generatorresidency.org/: 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 https://www.globalchallengesproject.org: 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 https://pathfinder.kairos-project.org: 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

We’re looking for a founding Head of Kairos Labs to design, launch, and lead Kairos Labs, our upcoming incubator for new AI safety projects and organizations. Kairos Labs will help founders take promising ideas from concept to independent organization, with hands-on advising and operational support. Where our Generator Residency gives generalists a platform to build projects within the ecosystem, Kairos Labs is aimed at people setting out to start something new.

Kairos Labs is at an early stage, and it’s one of the biggest bets we’re making with our new funding. The program is fully funded for its first two years, but most decisions about its shape haven’t been made yet, so you’d be building the program from the ground up. We hope to design it in late 2026 and launch in early 2027.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

- Design the program. The plan is an incubator for new AI safety organizations, but there are still many open questions. You’ll help decide which kinds of organizations we take on, whether projects join in cohorts or on a rolling basis, how long they stay, what support they get, and when they’re ready to operate on their own.

- Own the launch. You’ll build the application and selection process, recruit the first projects, and set up the program’s operations.

- Support incubated projects. You’ll be the main advisor to Kairos Labs founders, helping them with strategy, fundraising, and hiring, and making sure their operational needs are met.

- Own Kairos Labs’ strategic direction. You’ll decide how the program grows, including how many projects to take on, what kinds of organizations the ecosystem most needs, and how Kairos Labs relates to our other programs.

- Contribute to Kairos more broadly. As bandwidth allows, you’ll help shape org-wide strategy, weigh in on new programs, and participate in cross-cutting work.

WHO YOU ARE

- Experience building organizations. You’ve founded something yourself, or run a comparable incubator, accelerator, fellowship, or fiscal-sponsorship program, and you’ve seen firsthand what early-stage organizations need.

- AI safety context. Kairos Labs’ theory of change depends on a clear picture of what the ecosystem is missing. You should have views on which organizations are worth starting, which gaps matter most, and who is positioned to fill them.

- Strong judgment about projects and people. You’ll make calls about which founders to back and which ideas are worth turning into organizations, often with limited evidence.

- High agency. Because you’re owning Kairos Labs from the beginning, you should be comfortable building a vision from scratch, executing on it autonomously, and answering big open questions about the program as they come up.

- Mission-aligned. You care deeply about making advanced AI go well, and you believe getting new AI safety organizations off the ground is one of the most promising ways to help.

- Operationally fluent. Incubating organizations comes with serious legal, financial, and compliance work, likely including fiscal sponsorship. You don’t need to be a lawyer or accountant, but you should be comfortable handling that side of the work with expert help.

WHY WORK WITH US

- You’ll be working toward reducing risks from advanced AI, potentially the most important challenge of our time. Kairos Labs will shape which new organizations get built in AI safety. If you do this well, several new AI safety organizations will exist because of you.

- You’ll get to design and own the program from scratch, with the backing of an established, funded organization.

- We’re building a world-class team, so you’ll be in good company. Work alongside people who’ve come to Kairos from METR, Coefficient Giving, Rethink Priorities, the UK AI Security Institute, and CEA who share your commitment to impact.

- Collaborate regularly with leading AI safety researchers, policy professionals, funders, and organizers.

WHAT WE OFFER

- Salary: $140,000–$195,000 (baseline), $175,000–$245,000 (supported hubs, like London, DC, Boston, and NYC), or $195,000–$270,000 (San Francisco Bay Area), depending on experience, with potential for additional compensation for exceptional candidates

- Location: This is a remote role. We provide access to…