---
title: 'AI Offense-Defense Dynamics Lead Researcher at Future of Life Organizations'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/ai-offense-defense-dynamics-lead-researcher-future-of-life-organizations-remote-qcg7x37mfp6v'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# AI Offense-Defense Dynamics Lead Researcher at Future of Life Organizations

- **Company:** Future of Life Organizations
- **Location:** Remote
- **Compensation:** $125k–$200k
- **Employment:** contract
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2025-05-29
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/futureof-life/bbd4da5f-322b-449a-b839-41da13862ca8

## Job description

Job Summary As AI capabilities rapidly advance, we face a fundamental knowledge gap: we don't yet fully understand the complex dynamics that determine whether AI systems, or even individual capabilities of them, predominantly threaten or protect society. In this role, you'll lead research to decode these offense-defense dynamics, examining how specific attributes of AI technologies influence their propensity to either enhance societal safety or amplify risks. You'll apply interdisciplinary methods to develop quantitative and qualitative frameworks that analyze how AI capabilities proliferate through society as either protective or harmful applications, producing actionable insights for developers, evaluators, standards bodies, and policymakers to anticipate and mitigate risks. This position offers a unique opportunity to shape how society evaluates and governs increasingly powerful AI systems, with direct impact on global efforts to maximize AI's benefits while minimizing risks. This role is 100% remote but requires occasional travel.

## About CARMA

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 specifically to lower the risks to humanity and the biosphere from transformative AI. We focus on grounding AI risk management in rigorous analysis, developing policy frameworks that squarely address AGI, advancing technical safety approaches, and fostering global perspectives on durable safety. Through these complementary approaches, CARMA aims to provide critical support to society for managing the outsized risks from advanced AI before they materialize. CARMA is a fiscally-sponsored project of Social & Environmental Entrepreneurs, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation.

## Responsibilities

- Develop quantitative system dynamics models capturing the interrelationships between technological, social, and institutional factors that influence AI risk landscapes
- Design detailed analytical models and simulations to identify critical leverage points where policy interventions could shift offense-defense balances toward safer outcomes
- Expand and operationalize our current offense/defense dynamics taxonomy and nascent framework, developing metrics and models to predict whether specific AI system features favor offensive or defensive applications
- Build empirically-informed analytical frameworks using documented cases of AI misuse and beneficial deployed uses to validate theoretical models
- Research how specific technical characteristics (capabilities breadth/depth, accessibility, adaptability, etc.) interact with sociotechnical contexts to determine offense-defense balances
- Build public understanding of offense-defense dynamics through blog posts, articles, conference talks, and media engagement
- Create tools and methodologies to assess new AI models upon release for their likely offense-defense implications
- Draft evidence-based guidance for AI governance that accounts for complex interdependencies between technological capabilities and deployment contexts
- Translate research findings into actionable guidance for key stakeholders including policymakers, AI developers, security professionals, and standards organizations

## Requirements

- A M.Sc. or higher in either Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Criminology, Security Studies, AI Policy, Risk Management, or a related field
- Demonstrated experience with complex systems modeling, risk assessment methodologies, or security analysis
- Strong understanding of dual-use technologies and the factors that influence whether capabilities favor offensive or defensive applications
- Deep understanding of modern AI systems, including large language models, multimodal models, and autonomous agents, with ability to analyze their technical architectures and capability profiles
- Experience in any of the following: Security mindset, Security studies research, Cybersecurity, Safety engineering, AI governance, Operational risk management, Systems dynamics modeling, Network theory, Complexity science, Adversarial analysis, or Technical standards development
- Ability to develop both qualitative frameworks and quantitative models that capture sociotechnical interactions, and comfort creating semi-quantitative semi-empirical models also grounded in logic
- Record of relevant publications or research contributions related to technology risk, governance, or security
- Exceptional analytical thinking with ability to identify non-obvious path dependencies and feedback loops in complex systems

Pluses

- PhD in a relevant field
- Experience with system dynamics modeling, hypergraph techniques, or other complex network analysis methods
- Skills in developing interactive tools or dashboards for risk visualization and communication
- Background in interdisciplinary research bridging technical and social science domains
- Demonstrated aptitude in top-down techniques and first-principles thinking
- Experience with the quantification of qualitative risk factors or developing proxy metrics for complex phenomena
- Background in compiling and analyzing incident databases or case studies for pattern recognition
- Familiarity with empirical approaches to technology assessment and impact prediction
- Knowledge of international relations theory as it applies to technology proliferation dynamics

CARMA/SEE is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We will not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, age, religion, gender reassignment, partnership status, maternity, or sexual orientation. We are, by policy and action, an inclusive organization and actively promote equal opportunities for all humans with the right mix of talent, knowledge, skills, attitude, and potential, so hiring is only based on individual merit for the job. Our organization operates through a fiscal sponsor whose infrastructure only supports persons authorized to work in the U.S. as employees. Candidates outside the U.S. would be engaged as independent contractors with project-focused responsibilities. Note that we are unable to sponsor visas at this time.

## About Future of Life Organizations

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is a non-profit organization that works to steer transformative technologies—especially artificial intelligence—toward outcomes that benefit all life, by combining research, advocacy, grantmaking, and public outreach.
- **Entity Type**: Non‑profit (private foundation)
- **Headquarters**: Campbell, California, USA (with additional offices in Washington D.C., Brussels, Belgium, and London, UK)
- **Founded**: 2014
- **Founders**: Max Tegmark, Victoria Krakovna, Anthony Aguirre

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: AI safety & governance, existential risk mitigation, technology policy, futures research
- **Target customers**: Policymakers, government institutions, academic researchers, technologists, and the general public
- **Mission**: “Steer the development of transformative technologies toward the flourishing of all life on earth.”

## Products & Services
- **Grantmaking**: Provides financial support to individuals and organizations working on projects aligned with FLI’s mission (e.g., AI safety research, governance initiatives). In 2024, grantmaking expenditures totaled $8.4 M.
- **Policy Research & Advocacy**: Produces policy papers, technical standards advice, and direct engagement with governments (e.g., US, EU, international) to strengthen governance of transformative technologies.
- **Educational Content & Podcast**: Produces a flagship podcast, op-eds, press commentary, and original multimedia content to inform public discourse on AI risks and opportunities.
- **Fellowships**: Offers PhD and Postdoctoral fellowships in Technical AI Existential Safety and US‑China AI Governance.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not applicable (non‑profit)
- **Key Metric**: Total 2024 expenditure of ~$17.4 M; income from fundraising was ~$85 k (covered by endowment)
- **Notable Donors / Partners**: Elon Musk (seed funding for first academic AI safety grant program), Vitalik Buterin (major unconditional contribution in 2021, partly serving as endowment)
- **Growth Signals**: Expanded from a volunteer‑run organization to a full‑time staff of 20+ members across four offices; continues to hire for new roles (policy, research, communications, grantmaking)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Mission‑driven focus**: Entirely dedicated to reducing existential risks from AI and other transformative technologies—a rare, single‑minded purpose that attracts top talent.
- **Independent funding**: Endowment from Vitalik Buterin ensures long‑term stability and freedom to pursue the mission without compromise.
- **Network & credibility**: Deep connections with leading AI researchers, policymakers, and philanthropists; respected voice in global AI governance discussions.

## Strategic Focus
- **AI governance**: Strengthening international frameworks and national policies for safe AI development (e.g., US‑China AI governance, EU AI Act engagement).
- **Grantmaking expansion**: Growing the community of researchers and practitioners working on extreme risks.
- **Futures program**: Using worldbuilding, scenario planning, and forecasting to identify actionable pathways toward beneficial outcomes from transformative technologies.
- **Communication**: Scaling public awareness through media, podcasts, and educational content to build broader support for AI safety.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Highly autonomous, action‑oriented, and mission‑focused—team members have creative and operational freedom to formulate and pursue projects.
- **Remote / Hybrid**: Most roles offer home‑working options; team is spread globally with physical offices in Campbell (CA), Washington DC, Brussels, and London.
- **Benefits (US employees)**: Competitive salaries benchmarked against US foundations, 4 months fully paid parental leave, work‑from‑home allowance, learning & development allowance, 24+ days paid time off, 401k pension matching, health insurance.
- **Engineering & Research Culture**: Small, high‑impact team where each person can translate ideas into tangible results; emphasis on interdisciplinary work (machine learning, policy, behavioral science, etc.).
- **Hiring Process**: Typically includes a paid work test, panel interviews, and reference checks; values exceptional talent aligned with the mission.

## Sources
1. [Future of Life Institute – Careers page on Lever](https://jobs.lever.co/futureoflife/)
2. [Future of Life Institute – About Us](https://futureoflife.org/about-us/)
3. [Future of Life Institute – Careers](https://futureoflife.org/about-us/careers/)
4. [Future of Life Institute – 2024 Annual Report (PDF)](https://futureoflife.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/FLI-2024-Annual-Report.pdf)

## Other roles at Future of Life Organizations

- [Special Projects Manager (Communications Team)](https://feeny.ai/job/special-projects-manager-communications-team-future-of-life-organizations-remote-7fwrgzmrfzan)
- [Senior Researcher, Civil Safety Sciences](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-researcher-civil-safety-sciences-future-of-life-organizations-remote-y96ks7cm2h36)
- [AI Safety Argumentation Platform Research Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-safety-argumentation-platform-research-engineer-future-of-life-organizations-1sr806s3egbs)
- [US Policy Team Member - Rolling Applications](https://feeny.ai/job/us-policy-team-member-rolling-applications-future-of-life-organizations-7fkg4jkev0aq) — Washington, DC
- [Principal, Project Development (3 Openings)](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-project-development-3-openings-future-of-life-organizations-remote-t93m0fx50myk)
- [Research Engineer - Novel AI Platforms for Multiscale Alignment](https://feeny.ai/job/research-engineer-novel-ai-platforms-for-multiscale-alignment-future-of-life-mvv0p7r3m7bk)
- [Senior Technical Specialist, AI Risk Assessment](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-technical-specialist-ai-risk-assessment-future-of-life-organizations-jn56g1sna5hg)
- [Senior Economist - Effects of Transformative AI](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-economist-effects-of-transformative-ai-future-of-life-organizations-0zk4142qr9be)
- [Communications Director and Staff Director](https://feeny.ai/job/communications-director-and-staff-director-future-of-life-organizations-remote-sy7vjk197g6z)
- [Expressions of Interest](https://feeny.ai/job/expressions-of-interest-future-of-life-organizations-remote-td9rm910w44s)