Senior Researcher, Civil Safety Sciences

Responsibilities

• Conduct structured horizon-scanning for novel AI-enabled hazard classes and develop methodologies for reasoning about threats lacking historical base rates.
• Investigate next-generation detection sciences, such as adaptive pathogen surveillance and other emerging hazard modalities.
• Pursue feasibility analyses on deep resilience and lifeline capacities designed to function without conventional infrastructure or centralized coordination.
• Analyze biosphere-scale vulnerabilities, including geoengineering, synthetic microbes, and nontraditional environmental toxicology.
• Identify and advance defensive, stabilizing, and transparency-enhancing technologies that favor human safety.
• Build scientific coordination capacity through standards, convenings, and cross-border working relationships.
• Co-author grant applications and translate complex technical findings for policymakers, funders, and the public.

Requirements

• PhD or MS in a hard-science or engineering discipline (e.g., biosecurity, microbiology, ecology, physics, or systems engineering).
• 5+ years of relevant research or applied experience, with a track record of running independent projects.
• Substantive familiarity with adversarial reasoning, security studies, or dual-use technology assessment.
• Strong publication record in technological risk, resilience, or detection science.
• Deep grounding in modern AI capabilities and their impact on threat and defense landscapes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for translating technical content to non-specialist audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

• Interdisciplinary credentials bridging multiple fields such as biology, computer science, and public health.
• Direct experience in biosurveillance, civil defense, emergency preparedness, or critical infrastructure protection.
• Background in scientific metaresearch, horizon scanning, or structured expert elicitation.
• Experience in grant writing, science diplomacy, or convening dispersed research communities.

About the Company

The Center for AI Risk Management & Alignment (CARMA) works to help society navigate the complex and potentially catastrophic risks arising from increasingly powerful AI systems. Our mission is to lower the risks to humanity and the biosphere from transformative AI through rigorous analysis, policy frameworks, and technical safety approaches.