Technical Programs Associate

The deadline to apply is Sunday, March 10th, and we strongly encourage people to apply as soon as possible. We will be making offers on a rolling basis.

Constellation is a research center whose mission is to help the world safely navigate the development of superhuman AI. Technical programs are the core of how we pursue the three Constellation priorities of research, collaboration, and capacity building.

We have a small and growing team of 7 full-time staff. We plan to start several new technical initiatives in the next year, and we are looking for entrepreneurial candidates who are flexible and able to contribute to a variety of projects. Hires will report to the President (Bill Zito). 

We’re interested in candidates with a range of seniority and management experience. The three roles we’re hiring for:

• Technical Programs Director: a senior contributor managing a team of people running technical programs. 
• Technical Programs Lead: an individual contributor who is the project lead for larger, more complex technical programs and will need to grow quickly.
• Technical Programs Associate: an individual contributor who will own significant components of larger technical programs or complete smaller programs and will need to grow quickly.

We also have a great operations team, who are responsible for event operations and site operations – see the Program Operations role for more.

Responsibilities 

Owning project management, execution, and program experience for large technical programs. Juggling many competing priorities to help push forward the goals as quickly as possible.

Helping us launch new large programs such as:

• An expanded Astra Fellowship with 20 advisors and 40 researchers 2x/year.
• An Evals bootcamp for 30 researchers 2-4x/year.
• A headhunting program that leads to 5 hires each quarter for top AI safety organizations.
• A podcast for in-depth AI safety research conversations.

Running existing programs:

• Visiting Researchers Program for 20-30 researchers 2-4x/year.
• ML for Alignment Bootcamp for 40 researchers and engineers 2-4x/year.
• 3-day AWAIR workshops for 20 industry and academic researchers 3-10x/year.
• 1-day AI Safety Workshops for 60-70 researchers 6x/year.

Spending about 20% of your time on strategy, analysis, and reading research:

• Proposing revisions to program goals and asking critical questions.
• Evaluating the research and outputs of applicants and recommending decisions.
• Reading and developing views on research.
• Talking regularly to the more than 100 researchers in Constellation programs.

Skills Needed

• Organizational and project management. Skilled at synthesizing complex and ambiguous situations into concrete, cohesive plans. Capacity for and pride in strong attention to detail.
• Comfortable thinking through how a given program will help us make progress towards the mission and what the experience of participants in the program is like. Able to ask critical questions.
• Ability to communicate clearly, delegate well, and listen effectively.
• Willingness to wear many hats and do whatever is needed to push forward the goals as quickly as possible.

Compensation

$105,000 - $170,000  a year

This is a full time, on-site role. We are willing to sponsor visas for this role. We would like the candidate to start as soon as possible after receiving an offer, though there is some flexibility.

Our office is in downtown Berkeley, CA, thirteen seconds from the nearest BART (metro) stop. We offer catered lunches and dinners, and cover PPO health, dental, and vision insurance.‍

We are committed to diversity and equal opportunity in all aspects of our hiring process. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We welcome and encourage all qualified candidates to apply for our open positions.

For more information about the role or about Constellation, please feel free to contact us at programs@constellation.org.