--- title: 'Member of Policy Staff, Government Affairs at METR' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-policy-staff-government-affairs-metr-washington-zyknyagdb3c7' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-16' --- # Member of Policy Staff, Government Affairs at METR - **Company:** METR - **Location:** Washington, DC - **Compensation:** $328k–$385k - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-07-02 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-16 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/metr/07e6aef4-edc8-48ec-aa7f-3d1207c43eea ## Job description ## About METR We are a nonprofit research organization that develops scientific methods to assess AI capabilities, risks, and mitigations, with a specific focus on threats related to AI R&D automation and misalignment. We believe it is robustly good for policymakers and civil society to have a clear understanding of risks from AI systems, and we are extremely excited to build a team of ambitious, excellent people to tackle one of the most important challenges of our time. ## About the role You will work as METR’s point-of-contact for the executive branch, the national security community, and Congress. As loss-of-control risks become more prominent, we expect METR’s role as a scientific advisor and third-party risk assessor (METR does not take policy positions) to become more important.  Additionally, METR has started embedding researchers inside frontier labs to investigate incidents, stress-test labs’ internal agent monitoring systems, and assess loss-of-control risks from internal deployment. As agent capabilities increase, we expect this to be one of the most important sources of independent information the world has about catastrophic risk from advanced AI. Your role will be communicating this information to policymakers to inform high-stakes decisions. What this role looks like You will serve as METR’s point-of-contact in DC for congressional staff and policymakers, executive-branch agencies, and the national security community, including by: - Building and maintaining durable bipartisan relationships on a foundation of unbiased analysis and technical understanding. - Synthesizing political dynamics into clear recommendations and analysis for staff to directly inform METR’s overall strategy. - Managing visits and briefings from METR staff in DC, including on very short notice during times of intense need. - Supporting METR’s formal work with government partners, including maintaining key agency relationships and coordinating on contracts and other agreements. - Translating complex technical findings into briefings and memos fit for policymakers. - Scoping and driving new DC initiatives as the policy landscape evolves. This role is based in DC, with periodic travel to Berkeley, CA, where our research team is based. In your first year, you’ll spend about two months embedded with the research team. Required attributes - You have established relationships with policymakers, and a track record of building relationships with senior officials. - You have experience translating complex technical topics into actionable language in environments with significant institutional resistance or uncertainty. - You understand how the policymaking process and key institutions work, the perspectives of different stakeholder groups, and have a track record of operating effectively in DC. - You are committed to accuracy, transparency over advocacy, and informing over persuading. You have experience engaging productively with stakeholders with different starting assumptions and subject-area expertise. - You take initiative without extensive oversight, and are comfortable making consequential decisions, pivoting when the landscape changes, and building systems from scratch. - You keep confidential and sensitive information private to maintain trust with policymakers and the public. - You are eligible for a TS/SCI security clearance from the US government. Nice-to-haves - Experience managing outside counsel, coalitions, third-party groups, and communications resources. - Familiarity with federal contracting, grants, or other agreements with government agencies. - Prior service in national security, intelligence, or cybersecurity roles in government. Our culture METR is a mission-driven organization. We believe our work can meaningfully shape humanity's future for the better, and we want to be the best people in the world doing this work. We have a tight-knit, collaborative research culture rooted in truth-seeking and integrity. We're fiercely committed to producing high-quality, trustworthy science. We're honest and transparent about our results, especially when they may go against the grain. We've earned trust as reliable partners who handle confidential information with care. We maintain a low-ego, drama-free environment focused on what matters. We encourage you to apply even if your background may not seem like the perfect fit! We would rather review a larger pool of applications than risk missing out on a promising candidate for the position. We are committed to diversity and equal opportunity in all aspects of our hiring process. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We welcome and encourage all qualified candidates to apply for our open positions. ## About METR ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: METR (pronounced "meter") is a non-profit research organization that develops scientific methods to assess catastrophic risks from advanced AI systems by evaluating their autonomous capabilities. - **Entity Type**: Non-profit (funded by donations, not a typical private company; no equity) - **Headquarters**: Berkeley, California, USA - **Founded**: Not explicitly stated, but founded by Beth Barnes; likely ~2021–2022 - **Founders**: Beth Barnes (Founder, CEO) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: AI safety research and evaluation - **Target customers**: AI developers (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta, Amazon), governments, and the broader public - **Mission or purpose**: "Develop scientific methods to assess catastrophic risks stemming from AI systems’ autonomous capabilities and enable good decision-making about their development." ## Products & Services - **Frontier AI Capability Evaluations**: Systematic assessments of how autonomously AI systems can perform tasks (e.g., conducting research, developing apps, cyberattacks, self‑hardening). Published as open research. - **Risk Assessments & Safety Policies**: Advises AI developers and governments on risk assessment methodologies, including the "Responsible Scaling Policies" approach adopted by nine leading AI labs. - **Time‑Horizon Research**: Open‑source analysis showing that the length of tasks AI agents can complete doubles every ~7 months, a key input for forecasting transformative AI timelines. - **Evaluation Platform**: An open‑source platform built on Inspect AI for running AI agent evaluations at scale. - **Monitorability Evaluations**: Research on detecting AI agents attempting to evade monitoring or perform side tasks, including datasets of "reward hacking" and "sandbagging" behaviors. - **Productivity RCT**: A randomized controlled trial with experienced open‑source developers measuring how much AI tools actually boost productivity (finding systematic overestimation). ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not applicable (non‑profit) - **Key Metric**: Funding – METR is supported by donations from major foundations and individuals. Notable donors include The Audacious Project (TED), Jane Street, Sijbrandij Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, Schmidt Sciences, Packard Foundation, and others. Small part of income from a technical assistance contract with the European AI Office. **No funding from AI companies** (maintains independence). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Partners with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta, Amazon (pilot risk assessments); member of NIST AI Safety Institute Consortium, California Cybersecurity Task Force, UK AI Security Institute; technical assistance to European AI Office. - **Growth Signals**: Growing team (multiple open roles), expanding into cyberforensics and embedded assessments, research cited widely in AI safety policy, and adoption of their Responsible Scaling Policies by major developers. ## Competitive Advantages - **Independence**: No funding from AI companies, enabling unbiased, transparent research. - **Scientific Rigor**: Publishes all research openly; uses empirical methods (RCTs, time‑horizon analysis) rather than speculation. - **Policy Influence**: Their frameworks (e.g., Responsible Scaling Policies) are now industry standards, and they advise governments globally. - **Deep Technical Expertise**: Team of researchers and engineers building state‑of‑the‑art evaluations for autonomous capabilities, including security‑relevant evaluations. ## Strategic Focus - **Current priorities**: Developing methodologies to track AI loss‑of‑control risk, improving monitorability evaluations, expanding cyberforensics capabilities, and scaling the team to meet growing demand for independent evaluations. - **Direction for growth**: Increasing influence on AI governance, deepening partnerships with governments and companies, and building tools for continuous risk assessment. ## Why Work Here - **Mission‑driven**: Direct contribution to aligning AI development with public safety, working on one of the most critical problems of our time. - **Compensation**: Highly competitive with top AI labs (salary ranges $328K–$687K for technical staff, $150–$300/hr for contractors), plus benefits like medical/dental/vision, wellness ($1,500/yr), mental health ($6,000/yr), professional development ($5,250/yr), unlimited PTO. - **Work environment**: Small, fast‑moving, mission‑driven team based in Berkeley. On‑site preferred for technical roles (at least a few days a week), but hybrid and remote (including international) can be accommodated. Operations roles require in‑person. - **Hiring process**: Unique focus on work tests (1–3 take‑home tasks) and a 1–2 day paid work trial (travel and lodging reimbursed). Interviews are given substantially less weight. Commitment to diversity and equal opportunity. - **Culture**: Open, transparent, and empirical; values rigor and independence. Visa sponsorship available for technical roles. ## Sources 1. [metr.org](https://metr.org/) 2. [metr.org/about](https://metr.org/about#our-team) 3. [metr.org/careers](https://metr.org/careers) 4. [metr.org/hiring](https://metr.org/hiring) 5. 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