---
title: 'Founding Staff, DC Office, (Science Communications, Engagement and Policy Research) at Apollo Research'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/founding-staff-dc-office-science-communications-engagement-and-policy-research-sjtxtv5j3fgj'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-13'
---

# Founding Staff, DC Office, (Science Communications, Engagement and Policy Research) at Apollo Research

- **Company:** Apollo Research
- **Location:** Washington, DC
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-09-10
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-13
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/apolloresearch/9e9cf9a9-e828-4400-aaa0-0b47b328d928

## Job description

## About Apollo Research

Apollo Research is a mission-driven startup committed to reducing the threats from scheming frontier AI systems. We work with and are trusted by every frontier AI lab. We do fundamental research, test their models before deployment, and collaborate with them on scheming mitigations. The Governance team conducts research and provides advice on the institutional, legal and strategic implications of AI scheming and loss of control threats, working closely alongside our Science of Scheming, Evaluations, and Monitoring teams.

The Governance team works on a bet: that the national security interventions the U.S. government enacts and implements over the next 15 months, through legislation, procurement and verifiable procedures for testing, monitoring, controlling and pacing frontier AI, will be among the most significant contributions to our collective ability to stay in control of increasingly advanced AI systems. That means our DC work focuses on identifying, describing and offering policy solutions to some of the hardest open problems at the intersection of AI misalignment and national security: loss of control, evaluation-aware models that stand to undermine existing assessment regimes, and the handoff of the development of AI systems to AIs themselves. We are routinely requested to brief decision makers in the U.S. government’s executive and legislative branch and across multiple intelligence agencies, as well as to provide input into relevant federal and state legislation and procurement efforts. The majority of our work is non-public, including privately held demonstrations and briefing materials written for decision makers across key nodes.

Our public facing output includes Assurance of Frontier AI Built for National Security, a roadmap for DoW, ODNI, NIST and CAISI to operationalize AI model reliability and governability through scheming and control evaluations within existing T&E pipelines and OT authority; Misaligned AI as a New Insider Risk, which shows how AI models with authorized access to IL5–IL7 environments and cleared personnel should be treated according to existing insider threat programs; The Need for Deeper, White-Box Access, on why deeper access is required to keep pace with technological progress for verifiable assurance; multiple comments on RFIs, including a comment to NIST's RFI on AI agent security; a Lawfare op-ed on keeping AI testing defense-worthy; and an analysis of NDAA provisions most likely to accelerate AI security. About this posting. This is a posting primarily intended for mid-career policy wonks interested in joining the Governance team and founding our DC office, though we are open to considering more junior applicants should they be an especially good fit for the role. We are hiring for individuals to fill roles across three key areas and will consider applications for each area. Please kindly indicate your interest for the relevant role in the application form. We are also keen to hear from folks who have a mixture of relevant skills and experience across the profiles described below, in which case we recommend applying to more than one role by ticking the relevant boxes in the application form.

Three roles available: Founding Staff: Policy and Science Communications Expert Communicate Apollo’s work and the state of AI progress, safety and security accurately and appropriately to decision makers across the USG and the intelligence community Proactively plan communication schedules around Apollo’s technical work and releases to brief relevant audiences and decisionmakers Prepare relevant presentation material, demonstrations and act as point person to review policy submissions and briefings prepared by colleagues Brief and support senior leadership ahead of exchanges and meetings with relevant audiences and decisionmakers Contribute to the development and execution of our strategic vision to ensure safe and secure AI development and deployment in accordance with Apollo Research’s mission and the organisation’s core priorities

## Requirements

Have previously worked in a science communications heavy role with the U.S. Government, ideally communicating complex technological topics to a broad range of stakeholders at pace Are a strong and accurate communicator who is skilled at breaking down complex topics into accessible and implementable proposals relevant to your interlocutor Have previously developed policy communications packages and prepared senior colleagues for high stakes environments Are based in or willing to relocate to Washington DC Align with Apollo Research’s mission and values Founding Staff: Relationship Management Expert Proactively seek out and build foundational relationships with individuals, groups and organisations relevant to Apollo Research’s mission Manage pre-existing and new relationships with policymakers to generate opportunities for regular engagement and increase understanding of topics relevant to Apollo Research’s work Convene and brief diverse stakeholders, including through hosting or attending relevant policy events such as requested meeting, discussion panels, or workshops Brief and support senior leadership ahead of exchanges and meetings with relevant audiences and decisionmakers Contribute to the development and execution of our strategic vision to ensure safe and secure AI development and deployment in accordance with Apollo Research’s mission and the organisation’s core priorities

## Requirements

Are a verifiably trusted and reliable operator with a wide-reaching DC network across AI relevant groups in the U.S. government and across the intelligence community Have previously acquired and managed high stakes relationships and expanded an organisation’s contact portfolio while maintaining high integrity Deeply understand political and personal dynamics across relevant stakeholder groups and enjoy navigating and bringing them together around shared topics of interest Are based in or willing to relocate to Washington DC Align with Apollo Research’s mission and values Founding Staff: Policy and Legal ResearchExpert Build systems to keep on top of and engage with relevant bills and acts, governance discussions, as well as federal and state-level policy proposals Identify the most relevant policy movements and spearhead appropriate strategies to develop novel proposals or to support existing proposals aligned with Apollo’s mission Work with colleagues to develop timely and accurate policy submissions, responses to requests for information, and policy memos Brief and support senior leadership ahead of exchanges and meetings with relevant audiences and decisionmakers Contribute to the development and execution of our strategic vision to ensure safe and secure AI development and deployment in accordance with Apollo Research’s mission and the organisation’s core priorities

## Requirements

Have a robust and up to date understanding of decision-making across the intelligence community, the legislative and executive branches Have previously contributed to the drafting of relevant legislation or other policy frameworks or led the drafting of such Have successfully seen a policy proposal through to implementation and execution Are based in or willing to relocate to Washington DC Align with Apollo Research’s mission and values

You will be an ideal candidate for our DC office if you

- Believe that technological progress from AI will require significant and systemic shifts to ensure a safe and secure transition to significantly more advanced AI systems

- Enjoy a fast paced, entrepreneurial environment with opportunity to swing for the fences while benefitting from mentorship and robust management

- Are detail-oriented with experience working in AI-governance relevant parts of the U.S. government and on relevant areas

- Are excited about delving into the details of existing frameworks as much as thinking through and dreaming up new ways in which U.S. government intervention could be particularly effective and meaningfully positive

- Hold a Masters degree or Ph.D in a related field

Logistics

- Start Date: Target of 2 months after the first interview.

- Time Allocation: Full-time

- Location: D.C., with at least 25% of your time expected to be spent on travelling for relevant meetings, conferences and to work from our London office.

## Benefits

- We aim to pay competitive salaries for each role. We expect a salary band of 200,000 - 300,000 USD, commensurate with experience.

- Candidates with exceptional qualifications may be eligible for higher compensation, such as those with more than a decade of experience in the intelligence community, those with validated and repeated experience drafting relevant legislation and seeing them through to success, or those with significant and trusted professional relationships relevant to our mission.

- Flexible work hours and schedule

- Unlimited vacation

- Unlimited sick leave

- Lunch, dinner, and snacks are provided for all employees on workdays

- Paid work trips, including staff retreats, business trips, and relevant conferences

- A yearly $1,000 (USD) professional development budget

## About Apollo Research

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Apollo Research is an AI safety organization dedicated to securing frontier AI systems by detecting and preventing scheming (deceptive alignment) through technical research, evaluations, monitoring products, and policy guidance.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Public Benefit Corporation)
- **Headquarters**: London, United Kingdom (with offices in San Francisco, California, and opening Washington, D.C.)
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Not publicly available from sources

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: AI safety research and assurance; security monitoring for AI agents
- **Target customers**: Frontier AI developers (e.g., OpenAI, major labs), governments and international bodies, enterprises deploying AI agents
- **Mission**: "Secure frontier AI systems across development, deployment, and governance" [apolloresearch.ai/about](https://www.apolloresearch.ai/about)

## Products & Services
- **Scheming Evaluations**: Behavioral and interpretability-based evaluations to detect whether frontier AI models exhibit deceptive alignment (scheming). Apollo runs these evaluations in partnership with major AI labs, including OpenAI, to assess models before public deployment. [apolloresearch.ai/about](https://www.apolloresearch.ai/about)
- **Watcher (Monitoring Product)**: A two-part product for controlling and securing coding agent deployments:
  - *Watcher Live* – Real-time monitor that identifies and blocks undesirable actions or steers agents back on track.
  - *Watcher Analyze* – Observability layer for reviewing all agent activity, analyzing failures, and receiving notifications. [apolloresearch.ai/blog](https://apolloresearch.ai/blog/apollo-update-may-2026)
- **Governance Advisory & Policy Playbooks**: Threat modeling, loss‑of‑control playbooks, and policy recommendations for governments (e.g., EU AI Office, US Congress, UN Advisory Body). Notable outputs include *The Loss of Control Playbook* and the *Behind Closed Doors* primer on internal deployment. [apolloresearch.ai/blog](https://apolloresearch.ai/blog/apollo-update-may-2026)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: Headcount of 28 employees (as of mid‑2026), growing 72% year‑over‑year [linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com/company/apollo-research-ai)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: OpenAI (partnered for testing o1 and anti‑scheming interventions), EU AI Office, UN Advisory Body, US Congress [apolloresearch.ai/about](https://www.apolloresearch.ai/about)
- **Growth Signals**: Opened San Francisco office in 2026 with plans to grow to 10+ staff; opening Washington, D.C. office in June 2026; expanding from evals into a full “Science of Scheming” research agenda and a commercial monitoring product [apolloresearch.ai/blog](https://apolloresearch.ai/blog/apollo-update-may-2026)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Unique focus on “scheming”**: Apollo is one of the few organizations dedicated specifically to detecting and preventing deceptive alignment—a risk many labs now acknowledge.
- **First-mover evidence**: Published the first public evidence that frontier models can scheme in context, lending credibility and urgency to their work.
- **Deep lab partnerships**: Direct collaborations with frontier AI developers (e.g., OpenAI) allow Apollo to run pre‑deployment evaluations and influence safety practices.
- **Dual research‑product model**: Combining fundamental behavioral research with a commercial monitoring product (Watcher) creates a real‑world feedback loop and diversified funding.

## Strategic Focus
- **Science of Scheming**: Understanding how scaling trends (e.g., increased situational awareness, long‑horizon RL) drive scheming behavior in future models, rather than only evaluating current models.
- **Evaluation campaigns**: Running suites of behavioral and interpretability tests across frontier models to generalize findings from individual systems.
- **Monitoring productization**: Scaling Watcher as an enterprise tool for securing coding agents, with both immediate safety and long‑term oversight subversion use cases.
- **Policy influence**: Advising governments on loss‑of‑control, internal deployment, and automated AI R&D risks; establishing a D.C. presence to shape national security procurement and regulation.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission‑driven**: Employees work directly on preventing one of the most severe risks from advanced AI—scheming and loss‑of‑control [apolloresearch.ai/careers](https://www.apolloresearch.ai/careers).
- **Compensation**: Competitive salary, equity, pension/401(k) matching, visa sponsorship, and relocation support [apolloresearch.ai/careers](https://www.apolloresearch.ai/careers).
- **Culture**: In‑person collaborative culture with offices in London, San Francisco, and D.C. – “the best collaboration happens in person,” though flexible working hours and work‑from‑home days are offered [apolloresearch.ai/careers](https://www.apolloresearch.ai/careers).
- **AI‑native engineering**: Fluency with AI tools and coding agents is valued; the company expects an engineering mindset and real‑world production skills.
- **High impact**: Small, fast‑growing team (28 people) with outsized influence on frontier AI policy and lab safety practices.

## Sources
1. [apolloresearch.ai/about](https://www.apolloresearch.ai/about)
2. [apolloresearch.ai/careers](https://www.apolloresearch.ai/careers)
3. [linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com/company/apollo-research-ai)
4. [apolloresearch.ai/team](https://www.apolloresearch.ai/team)
5. [apolloresearch.ai/blog](https://apolloresearch.ai/blog/apollo-update-may-2026)

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