Senior Strategist, AI Governance Field Coordination

# Future Matters Is Hiring a Strategist and Builder

Future Matters is hiring a strategist and builder for one of the most consequential efforts of the next years: bringing the US AI governance field together and coordinating it to develop joint strategies and foresight, safeguarding humanity during a rapid and dangerous time of AI transition.

## Key Information

**Title:** Senior Strategist, AI Governance Field Coordination
**Location:** Washington D.C. area or Bay Area preferred; remote possible, United States. Remote-first work, with substantial in-person presence in DC required.
**Seniority:** Experienced mid-career; Senior Individual Contributor
**Compensation:** $132,675 to $163,190
**Benefits:** Private health insurance (100% of the employee premium and 50% for dependents, incl. dental and vision), 401(k) with 6% employer contribution, company-paid life and disability insurance, professional development budget, up to 10% paid time for professional development, home office stipend, co-working space budget, work equipment budget and company laptop, mental health support and accountability coaching
**Annual leave:** 27 days paid vacation plus 11 public holidays
**Travel:** As needed to connect with stakeholders, plus approximately three weeks per year for team meetings and retreats
**Contract:** Permanent, full-time
**Start date:** Autumn 2026
**Application deadline:** Priority application by August 16, 2026

## About Future Matters and Our AI Governance Work

Future Matters exists to make sure the best ideas for reducing catastrophic and existential risks are turned into action.

Good ideas that could make a difference on serious issues like AI governance, biosecurity and climate protection are relatively common. The best ones, however, are often overlooked, and even the right idea goes nowhere without enough support behind it.

We work out which promising ideas are both realistic and not yet getting the attention they deserve, then map the landscape and create the strategy and coordination forums they need to be acted on.

Our work is guided by core principles for better strategy:

– **Work upstream, not downstream.** Shape the early, high-level questions and paradigms that constrain everything later.
– **Backward chain from the win.** Start at the outcome, then find the conditions that force it.
– **Targetedness over scale.** The right lever at the right moment beats sheer volume of effort.
– **Distribution, not product.** Many good ideas need strategic distribution, not more detail.
– **Ultimate outcomes, not proxies.** Focus on what actually drives impact.

Over the past 18 months, Future Matters has started working on better coordination for the AI governance field and now runs several coordination forums. These include a standing group that brings together senior leaders from more than 30 U.S. AI advocacy organizations; an AI and biosecurity coalition that has grown from six organizations to ten; and a global coalition that aligns AI safety efforts across countries.

This coordination work was recently evaluated and funded by Founders Pledge, who wrote:
*”When a major AI model is released, over a hundred safety organizations respond independently, resulting in duplicated effort and missed windows. This grant funds the standing coordination infrastructure that lets the field share intelligence, align strategy, and respond as one.”*

## Our Team Culture

Future Matters seeks to create an environment where talented people can do their best work. Employees describe our workplace feel as “warm and sciency.” A few of our practices and values:

– We are relentlessly driven by impact.
– We follow the best argument, evidence, or reasoning, regardless of hierarchy.
– We accept, own, and learn from mistakes.
– We get things done fast, asking “Is this safe enough to try?”
– We care for and support each other.
– We gather twice a year for intensive team retreats.

## About This Role

This role expands our strategic coordination program, one of the most valuable parts of our work.

You will find the people and organizations who can move key questions in AI governance forward, build and own the relationships that bring them to the table, and help a fragmented field act with shared strategy and foresight. Done well, a fragmented field starts acting together, and the odds of a safer future rise.

## Responsibilities

– Gain a working command of Future Matters’ strategy methodology.
– Grow and deepen U.S. coordination infrastructure.
– Build and lead new US AI governance coordination initiatives.
– Diagnose bottlenecks, backward-chain from desired outcomes, and sequence work effectively.
– Build joint foresight and rapid-response capability.
– Identify coordination challenges and opportunities across the field.
– Adapt strategy as political and technical developments evolve.
– Contribute insights to Future Matters’ guides and workshops.
– Support fundraising through case studies, intelligence gathering, and grant input.

You will work closely with Managing Director Justus Baumann, who leads Future Matters’ AI work. The AI team is expected to expand shortly after your start.

## What We’re Looking For

A builder who has scaled something from a nascent stage in a political field. A successful applicant will have most or all of:

– Strategic reasoning and systems thinking
– Entrepreneurial strength, drive, and high agency
– A proven track record as an outcome-focused convener
– Working knowledge of US politics and D.C. policymaking
– Social and political intelligence
– Strong learning aptitude
– Truth-seeking, impact focus, and low-ego collaboration

## Bonus Qualities

Not required, but especially valued:

– Warm relationships across the US AI governance ecosystem
– AI-governance domain knowledge
– Experience with major frontier-AI legislation
– Experience with structured methodologies
– Capacity-building or training-delivery experience

## Application Process Overview

– Application (Resume + Short Answers)
– Initial Conversational Interview
– Paid Work Task
– Interview with Managing Director
– Reference Checks
– Offer Extended

Autumn 2026 start date targeted.

Future Matters values diversity and does not discriminate. Reasonable accommodations are available: [email protected]

## Application

Instead of a cover letter, please answer the short-answer questions below (150–200 words each).

**To apply, please visit the official application portal:**
[https://careers.future-matters.org/40653]