Application Guide

How to Apply for Recruiter

at Kairos

🏢 About Kairos

Kairos is an AI safety fieldbuilding organization that mitigates risks from advanced AI by filling critical talent gaps. Unlike typical recruiters, you'd be hiring for roles that directly reduce existential risk, working with a small, mission-driven team. The remote-first culture and focus on high-impact work make it ideal for someone who wants their recruiting skills to serve a meaningful cause.

About This Role

As Kairos's Recruiter, you'll own the entire hiring lifecycle—from sourcing through offers—for internal roles and for Kairos Labs, which helps new AI safety organizations find their first hires. You'll also design hiring infrastructure (application forms, work tests, interview processes) and shape organizational design as the team grows. This is a chance to build the talent engine for a field that urgently needs more capable people.

💡 A Day in the Life

You might start by reviewing new applications for an open research engineer role, then meet with a hiring manager to refine the work test. Later, you'd source passive candidates via LinkedIn and AI safety Slack communities, and end the day drafting an offer for a promising candidate. You'd also check in with Kairos Labs to help a new org scope their first hire.

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🎯 Who Kairos Is Looking For

  • Experience running end-to-end hiring rounds, including sourcing, screening, interviewing, and closing candidates—ideally in a startup or mission-driven environment.
  • Familiarity with the AI safety ecosystem or a strong demonstrated interest in AI risk mitigation (e.g., via reading, courses, or community involvement).
  • Strong process design skills: able to create and iterate on application forms, work tests, and interview rubrics that assess for both skills and mission fit.
  • Comfortable working autonomously in a remote setting and collaborating with leadership on org design and role scoping.

📝 Tips for Applying to Kairos

1

Highlight any past experience hiring for technical or research roles, especially in AI, effective altruism, or other mission-driven fields.

2

In your application, explicitly mention why AI safety matters to you and how you see recruiting as a lever for impact—Kairos values mission alignment.

3

Show that you can design hiring processes: describe a specific instance where you improved a work test or interview loop to better assess candidates.

4

Demonstrate familiarity with Kairos's programs (e.g., their fellowship or labs) by referencing them in your cover letter or application answers.

5

If you've sourced candidates through unconventional channels (e.g., community programs, Discord servers, conferences), provide concrete examples.

✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter

["Your understanding of AI safety fieldbuilding and why recruiting is critical to it—tie this to Kairos's mission.", "Concrete examples of end-to-end hiring you've managed, including metrics like time-to-hire, offer acceptance rate, or quality-of-hire improvements.", 'Your ability to design and refine hiring infrastructure, such as creating work tests that accurately predict on-the-job success.', 'Your experience collaborating with leadership on org design, scoping new roles, and adapting hiring strategies as a team scales.']

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🔍 Research Before Applying

To stand out, make sure you've researched:

  • → Read Kairos's website, especially their programs and Labs initiative, to understand their fieldbuilding approach.
  • → Explore the AI safety landscape: key organizations (e.g., 80,000 Hours, AI Safety Camp, MIRI) and common roles to understand the talent needs.
  • → Look up Kairos team members on LinkedIn to understand their backgrounds and how recruiting fits into their work.
  • → Familiarize yourself with common AI safety concepts (e.g., alignment, existential risk) to speak the language in interviews.
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💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics

Based on this role, you may be asked about:

1 How would you source candidates for hard-to-fill AI safety roles, both within and outside the existing community?
2 Describe a time you designed a work test or interview process from scratch. What was the outcome?
3 How would you assess a candidate's fit for a mission-driven organization like Kairos beyond just skills?
4 What metrics would you track to evaluate the health of Kairos's hiring pipeline?
5 How would you approach hiring for Kairos Labs, where you'd be helping new organizations find their first hires?
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⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Treating this as a generic recruiting role: not mentioning AI safety or Kairos's mission in your application.
  • Focusing only on sourcing volume without showing how you assess for quality and mission fit.
  • Neglecting to demonstrate process design skills—many recruiters only execute existing processes, but Kairos needs someone to build them.

📅 Application Timeline

⏰ Deadline: October 16, 2026

We recommend applying at least a few days early to avoid last-minute technical issues.

Typical hiring timeline:

1

Application Review

1-2 weeks

2

Initial Screening

Phone call or written assessment

3

Interviews

1-2 rounds, usually virtual

✓

Offer

Congratulations!

Ready to Apply?

Good luck with your application to Kairos!

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