How to apply for Head of Special Projects

About Kairos

Kairos is a nonprofit that trains people for AI safety and policy roles. It runs SPAR, the largest AI safety research fellowship with 800+ mentees per round, plus the Generator Residency, Global Challenges Project, and Pathfinder Fellowship. It has trained 1,200+ people in just over two years and describes itself as a portfolio of projects in a fast-changing field.

About the role

You would lead a new team with a broad mandate to pursue high-impact opportunities for the AI safety ecosystem. This includes one-off projects and designing Kairos's next programs. The job description is a first draft, so scope and responsibilities may change.

A typical day

A typical day might involve scoping a new project, meeting with people across the AI safety ecosystem to find unmet needs, and deciding which opportunities to pursue or drop. You would also spend time designing Kairos's next program and coordinating with the existing program teams. The exact routine is not described in the job posting, so ask about team structure and how projects get approved.

Who Kairos is looking for

• Has run new programs or projects from scratch, including scoping, staffing, and shipping, with a track record of deciding what to pursue and what to drop.
• Knows the AI safety field well enough to spot talent gaps and needs, and can name specific organizations, funders, and researchers in it.
• Can manage several projects at once with a small team and is comfortable with unclear scope that gets revised as the work evolves.
• Has worked in or with nonprofits, fellowships, or fieldbuilding efforts, and can operate remotely with little structure.

Tips for this application

• Treat the first-draft note as real: state in your application how you would scope the role and what you would change about it, since Kairos says scope may evolve.
• Reference Kairos's existing programs by name (SPAR, Generator Residency, Global Challenges Project, Pathfinder Fellowship) and say what you would build next to fill gaps they do not cover.
• Propose one or two concrete one-off projects you would pursue in the first six months, with rough goals and who they would serve in the AI safety ecosystem.
• Apply early. Kairos reviews applications on a rolling basis, so the timing of your submission matters.
• Show you understand the fieldbuilding side, not just AI safety research. Kairos focuses on talent gaps and needs, not on doing research itself.

What to cover in your cover letter

['Your experience starting and running new programs or teams, with specific examples of what you scoped, built, and shipped.', 'Your read on current talent gaps and needs in AI safety, and which ones Kairos is positioned to fill.', "A concrete proposal for Kairos's next program or a one-off project, including why it fits their portfolio approach.", 'How you handle broad mandates and changing scope, since the role description is explicitly a first draft.']

Research before applying

• Read the full descriptions of SPAR, Generator Residency, Global Challenges Project, and Pathfinder Fellowship on the Kairos site to see what each covers and where the gaps are.
• Look at who mentors or advises Kairos programs, such as people from Anthropic, Redwood Research, RAND, MIT, the UK AI Security Institute, OpenAI, AI Futures Project, and METR, to understand the field's current priorities.
• Check the Pathfinder Fellowship's stated funding of $9.5M over the next two years and what it is meant to support, since it shows where Kairos is investing.
• Find out what Kairos means by its next programs and whether there are public updates on its six-month plans, so your application addresses current priorities.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• What new program or project would you start at Kairos, and how would you decide between competing options?
• How do you identify talent gaps in AI safety, and which gaps do you think are most neglected right now?
• Tell us about a time you led a new team or project with a broad mandate and little structure.
• How would you work with the existing Kairos programs (SPAR, Generator Residency, Global Challenges Project, Pathfinder Fellowship) without duplicating them?
• How do you make decisions when the scope of a role is still being defined and may change?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Writing a generic cover letter that does not name Kairos's programs or the AI safety talent gaps you would target.
• Proposing projects that duplicate SPAR, Generator Residency, Global Challenges Project, or Pathfinder Fellowship instead of filling gaps they leave.
• Ignoring the first-draft note and treating the listed scope as fixed, which misses the chance to show how you would shape the role.