We’re hiring for this role on a rolling basis.

If you have any issues applying, please email careers@iaps.ai.

Key Information

• Title: Senior Research Manager OR Director of Research (AI Compute Policy)

• Salary: $111,000 - $220,000 USD annually (pre-tax)

• Location: remote (we are able to hire in most countries), with a preference for candidates who are based or would be willing to relocate to Washington, D.C., or the San Francisco Bay Area (visa sponsorship available)

• Job type: Full-time preferred, permanent position

• Start date: as soon as possible, ideally between September and October. However, we welcome applications from candidates who may be available to start later in the year.

• Q&A webinar: Monday, July 21 at 6:00 PM ET. Click here to sign-up and submit your questions in advance. The webinar will be recorded and available on this application page following the event.

• Application deadline: Thursday, July 31, 2025, at the end of the day (23:59) Anywhere on Earth (UTC-12:00). This deadline applies to both Senior Research Manager roles (Frontier Security, and Compute Policy). However, we will process applications on a rolling basis until these positions are filled, and encourage you to apply as soon as you are able.

About IAPS

The Institute for AI Policy and Strategy (IAPS) is a nonpartisan think tank that engages experts across the U.S., allied, and partner nations to deliver concrete, technically sound policy research. We believe that AI and AGI are poised to bring transformative change over the coming years, and want to play an active role in shaping its future. Our work involves:

• Conducting forward-looking policy research in areas including preparedness, information and supply chain security, and international coordination needed to navigate strategic competition with adversaries who may misuse AI.

• Cultivating policy talent — IAPS is forging a community of researchers and practitioners from across many policy areas and backgrounds to meet this critical moment.

• Providing relevant and timely insights to stakeholders across Congress, the executive branch, industry, academia, and civil society.

Follow these links to read more about our work and our team, and sign up to our newsletter.

About the Role

The Institute for AI Policy and Strategy (IAPS) seeks a Senior Research Manager or Director of Research (depending on experience) to lead our Compute Policy Team.  Our compute policy work focuses on strengthening the strategic advantage that the US and its allies maintain in AI and semiconductors, and giving the US and allied nations tools to navigate the risks arising from geopolitical competition around AI. This work includes research and policy engagement related to:

• AI- and semiconductor-related export controls, including:

• Understanding the state and scale of AI chip smuggling

• Technical measures to combat AI chip smuggling and other violations of export controls

• Understanding Chinese efforts to indigenize AI chip-making

• Potential export controls on remote access to AI chips

• AI data center and hardware security to protect national security and the US advantage in AI intellectual property 

• Hardware-enabled mechanisms to support international verification of claims about  the security of advanced AI systems

IAPS seeks to take a truth-seeking and quantitative approach to our research. We want to work on the most important and action-relevant questions, and to put numbers on our answers, even when we’re uncertain, while also representing that uncertainty honestly.

We are also hiring a Senior Research Manager or Director of Research for our Frontier Security team - please see here. Please only fill in the application once even if you are interested in both Compute Policy and Frontier Security teams: the initial application form is the same for each, and will ask you which teams you are interested in. If you are unsure which is a better fit, we will be happy to explore that with you during the interview stage of the hiring process.

Additionally, we have Researcher and Senior Researcher roles available on multiple teams (see our hiring page here). You are welcome to apply to both the Senior Researcher and Senior Research Manager positions. Please note that these require separate applications as the initial application questions differ. If you would also like to be considered for the (Senior) Researcher role, please make sure to submit a separate application. 

Key Responsibilities

As a Senior Research Manager or Director of Research, your key responsibilities would include:

• Managing research staff, including weekly 1-1 meetings, coaching, performance reviews, and career development support.

• The current Compute Policy team includes 3 full-time researchers  and we are actively hiring additional researchers. The Senior Research Manager or Research Director is expected to manage the entire Compute Policy team of 3-6 researchers.

• We have a limit of 6 direct reports per manager to ensure high quality management. However, there may be research staff who are interested in managing a small number of direct reports (who would become your indirect reports), which we could lean on to open up your capacity as the team grows.

• Encouraging a supportive and intellectually robust culture, which fosters constructive disagreement and trust within the team.

• Ensuring the high quality of research reports, rapid turn-around outputs, and outreach by the Compute  Policy team and maintaining the IAPS brand as a provider of trusted, technically grounded and non-partisan analysis.

• Direct review of team outputs would be a core part of your responsibilities. However, we have and expect to hire additional senior staff with varying specialities (including around policy engagement), in addition to a strong network of external experts, who can provide additional support with reviewing and socializing research.

• Project management of research efforts, including ensuring projects are delivered to time and quality, balancing capacity needs across the team and in response to new opportunities, managing contracts, running project retrospectives, and working with researchers and our Policy and Engagement team to ensure research efforts are followed through to policy impact.

• Strategic guidance to ensure project selection is driven by a deep understanding of recent AI developments, the largest AI-driven threats to security and innovation, and our team’s comparative advantages and expertise.

• We don’t expect you to be an expert across the board, and your team can support you with a lot of relevant expertise. We also typically involve staff heavily in strategic decisions. However, we would expect you to bring enough broad understanding of the AI field to synthesize this information, provide thought leadership in your areas of expertise, and make strategic calls.

• Conducting hiring and fundraising for new roles, including contributing a strong case for these roles to organization-level fundraising applications, and working with your team to apply for project-based funding opportunities where relevant. You would have substantial support from leadership on fundraising efforts and we don’t require prior fundraising experience.

• Outreach and relationship-building with key stakeholders, particularly in Washington DC. You would be a public face for our Compute Policy team.

Directors of Research are expected to have more experience, and provide a higher level of thought leadership, strategic guidance, and / or outreach and relationship-building.

What We Are Looking For

All applicants should have…

• 6+ years research, policy or similar experience (this can be in industry, government, civil society or academia, and can include individual and management experience), with at least some of this experience related to AI or other emerging technologies.

• Experience managing a team of research, policy, or technical staff.

• A broad understanding of the AI policy field.

Preferred but not required:

• Specialization in at least one area related to our work where you could provide substantive thought leadership. These areas include but are not limited to: AI policy, export controls, forecasting, information security, AI chip and semiconductor fabrication, and China’s indigenization efforts around AI.

• Experience working in or advising the US government on technology or national security policy.

Note: We also encourage applicants with significantly more experience to apply! Our salary range is wide to accommodate experienced candidates, and we are also able to offer more senior titles (e.g. Director of Research, Compute Policy) to candidates if more commensurate with their experience.

Additionally, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t have experience in all the responsibilities listed under ‘Key Responsibilities’. We have several senior staff on the team who are able to support on many of these fronts, and are willing to invest in the development of an exceptional candidate.

What We Offer

Compensation

• Annual salary within the following range for a full-time position, prorated for part-time work: $111,000 - $220,000 USD (pre-tax)

• Compensation is not restricted to USD and will be paid in a candidate’s local currency after applying the appropriate exchange rate.

• The exact salary will be based on the candidate’s prior relevant experience and location (candidates in DC and SF will receive relatively higher salaries), according to IAPS’s salary algorithm.

Other Benefits

• Comprehensive global benefits package, including fully paid health insurance. 

• Generous paid time off (PTO) leave and unpaid leave, including:

• Unlimited vacation with a minimum 30 days off per year (incl. public local holidays, vacation time, and “mandated” 3-weeks total mid- and end-year organization-wide breaks).

• Unlimited (within reason) personal and sick leave.

• Parental leave - up to 6-9 months of a combination of paid and unpaid parental leave that can be taken prior to and/or during the first 2 years after a child’s birth or adoption. 

• Technology stipend of the equivalent of $2000 USD every 3 years that can be used to cover costs of purchasing work and office equipment.

• Annual team retreat and other opportunities for fully paid travel of generally 1-2 weeks per trip, including stipends to help cover the cost of dependent care while traveling. (Note: travel is never required)

• We encourage proactive professional development and offer learning opportunities, including conferences and workshops. We also encourage staff to set aside 10% of work time dedicated to professional and personal development.

Logistics and Additional Information

• Location: These roles are fully remote, and we are able to legally hire in most countries, and have staff in many timezones across the globe. However, we have a preference for this role to be located in Washington DC or the San Francisco Bay Area, and candidates from these locations can expect to receive a higher salary to reflect the added value of in-person stakeholder outreach in these locations of interest to our organization. In certain cases, we may be able to provide visa sponsorship to the US or UK and help candidates relocate. If you have questions about whether we can hire or provide visa sponsorship in another country and if this will influence your decision about applying, please contact careers@iaps.ai before submitting your application.

• Hours: We are open to candidates who can commit to 20-40 hours per week, with 30+ hours preferred. Please note that the salary is based on a 40-hour workweek and will be prorated accordingly. 

• Travel: This role has a lot of opportunities for business travel. However, all travel is optional and travel is not required to take this position. Trips are fully paid and may involve visits to Washington DC, San Francisco, London, one team retreat annually, and relevant conferences.

• Extension requests: We will try to accommodate extension requests that are made before the deadline and are up to three (3) days. We generally cannot accommodate extension requests made on or after the application deadline, or are longer than 3 days, and cannot accept late submissions to ensure fairness to other applicants.

• Language: Please submit all of your application materials in English and note that we require professional level English proficiency.

• Accessibility: We’re committed to running an inclusive and accessible application process. We warmly invite you to reach out to careers@iaps.ai with any questions or accessibility requests.

• Hiring Emails: Please add careers@iaps.ai to your trusted contacts and/or check your 'spam', 'promotions' and ‘updates’ folders, if you don’t hear from us within the expected timeframe. We also encourage you to add Fillout domain (@fillout.com) as we collect job applications through Fillout’s platform.

Our Hiring Process

There are 5 evaluation stages for our Research Manager roles: (1) application questions, (2) short first interview (~45m), (3) written task (~5 hours) (4) longer second interview (~2 hours) and (5) reference checks. We aim to complete assessments at each stage within two weeks and ensure every application receives a response.

To apply, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button below. You may select which team(s) you wish to be considered for within the application form. We ask that you spend no more than two (2) hours preparing your responses to the prompts in the form.

Note Before Applying: Please do not include a cover letter, photograph, or headshot of yourself, or any personal information that is not relevant to the role for which you’re applying (including marital status, age, identity traits, etc.). Additionally, please do not ask our staff members involved in the hiring process to meet with you – to ensure fairness, we try to minimize these interactions, and requests for meetings with the hiring committee members during the process will be declined. 

Contact: Please email careers@iaps.ai if you have any questions.