Senior Researcher, Civil Safety Sciences (AI)

Location: Anywhere (Open Globally); 100% remote with occasional travel to laboratories and research groups

Company

hirify.global hosts CARMA, a fiscally sponsored nonprofit project focused on reducing catastrophic risks from advanced AI to humanity and the biosphere.

What you will do

• Conduct structured horizon scanning for novel AI-enabled hazard classes and develop methods for reasoning about threats without established historical data or scientific communities.
• Investigate next-generation detection sciences, including adaptive pathogen surveillance and open-ended approaches for emerging hazard modalities.
• Analyze deep resilience, lifeline capacities, biosphere-scale vulnerabilities, geoengineering, synthetic microbes, and environmental toxicology.
• Identify and selectively advance defensive, stabilizing, and transparency-enhancing technologies that improve humanity's position.
• Develop scientific metaresearch, analytical tools, standards, convenings, and decision support for researchers, policymakers, responders, and communities.
• Collaborate across CARMA programs and co-author grant applications while translating technical findings for specialist and public audiences.

Requirements

• Advanced degree in a hard-science or engineering discipline, with breadth across multiple natural science fields.
• Experience with adversarial environments and reasoning about deliberate misuse, worst-case dynamics, or dual-use technologies.
• At least 5 years of relevant research or applied experience and a record of independently delivering projects.
• Strong publication record or equivalent work in technological risk, resilience, detection science, or related areas.
• Strong communication, systems thinking, uncertainty management, and knowledge of modern AI capabilities and trajectories.
• U.S.-authorized employees only; candidates outside the U.S. are engaged as independent contractors. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Nice to have

• Interdisciplinary background spanning biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, computer science, ecology, or public health.
• Experience in biosurveillance, civil defense, emergency preparedness, food security, environmental monitoring, geoengineering, biosafety, or critical infrastructure protection.
• Background in metaresearch, evidence synthesis, horizon scanning, structured expert elicitation, or foresight.
• Experience with grant writing, science diplomacy, standards development, tool building, modeling, or risk-visualization dashboards.
• Contributions to AI safety, AI governance, biosecurity policy, cognitive security, or community resilience.

Culture & Benefits

• Fully remote work with significant intellectual autonomy under the direction of the Executive Director.
• Occasional travel for technical discussions and demonstrations at laboratories and research groups.
• Collaboration across scientific, policy, governance, and technical safety workstreams.
• Work focused on civil safety, advanced AI risk management, and long-term resilience.