---
title: 'AI Safety Argumentation Platform Research Engineer at Future of Life Organizations'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/ai-safety-argumentation-platform-research-engineer-future-of-life-organizations-1sr806s3egbs'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# AI Safety Argumentation Platform Research Engineer at Future of Life Organizations

- **Company:** Future of Life Organizations
- **Location:** Remote
- **Compensation:** $160k–$210k
- **Employment:** contract
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-05-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/futureof-life/916022e2-b817-4e70-b4c2-18cfb1660065

## Job description

The case that AGI and ASI pose catastrophic risks is strong but poorly systematized: fragmented across literatures, inconsistently formalized, and vulnerable to motivated dismissal. CARMA is building an evidentiary infrastructure to fix this. It combines ontologies, knowledge graphs, defeasible argumentation frameworks, and LLM-assisted population pipelines under expert curation, feeding structured argument content into communications flows that reach policymakers, technical audiences, journalists, and the public.

In this role, you'll develop and operate that system. You'll work where argumentation theory meets agentic AI tooling, building machinery that is both formally tractable and persuasive in practice, the epistemic backbone that will help stakeholders elucidate why good arguments for prospective expectations are good, and why bad arguments are bad.

This position 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

- Extend ontologies and knowledge graph schemas representing claims, evidence, argument structures, defeaters, and confidence
- Implement defeasible argumentation frameworks (e.g., ASPIC+, Dung-style, argumentation schemes) that capture both logical structure and vulnerability to rebuttal
- Operate and quality-control LLM-driven population pipelines, with cross-check scaffolds, provenance tracking, and human-in-the-loop curation
- Architect agent coordination patterns for multi-step research and population tasks, with robust error handling and graceful degradation
- Pre-harden argument structures by mapping the strongest counterarguments, steel-manned objections, and known defeaters
- Build export pipelines that translate structured argumentation into diverse communications formats across audiences and registers
- Maintain current awareness across AI safety, capabilities, and governance sufficient to know when new developments require graph updates, and to know where to find authoritative further detail
- Collaborate with communications staff and researchers to ensure outputs serve real persuasive needs

Required Qualifications

- Working familiarity with formal or semi-formal argumentation theory (abstract or structured argumentation, defeasible reasoning, dialectical models, or argumentation schemes)
- Experience with ontology engineering or knowledge graph development (OWL/RDF, property graphs, or equivalent)
- Operational experience with LLM agent systems: agent coordination platforms, prompt engineering at scale, and QC regimes for LLM outputs (adversarial probing, consistency checks, calibration)
- Fluent vibecoding practice: rapid prototyping and shipping with LLM-assisted development in production-adjacent contexts
- Substantive grounding in AI safety, AI governance, and current frontier-AI dynamics, with the literacy to locate authoritative sources on any sub-topic or human expertise in the space
- Familiarity with philosophy of science concepts bearing on evidence: defeaters, burden of proof, inference to the best explanation, underdetermination
- Good coding skills; comfort with graph databases or query languages
- Experience designing cross-check and verification scaffolds for unreliable automated processes
- Sound judgment about when a claim is well-supported versus when it needs hedging, further substantiation, or withdrawal
- Self-directed; strong written communication

## Preferred Qualifications

- Graduate work or equivalent depth in argumentation theory, computational argumentation, epistemology, or philosophy of science
- Familiarity with AIF, Carneades, or comparable computational argumentation tools
- Track record in AI safety or governance (publications, policy work, or substantive community contributions)
- Background in argument mining, claim extraction, or stance detection
- Experience with debate formats or structured deliberation methods
- Understanding of motivated reasoning, belief change, and cognitive biases as they bear on communications strategy
- Open-source contributions in any relevant area

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)
- [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)
- [AI Offense-Defense Dynamics Lead Researcher](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-offense-defense-dynamics-lead-researcher-future-of-life-organizations-remote-qcg7x37mfp6v)
- [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)