Palisade Research Congressional Policy Lead Washington, DC · Full time Company website

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Palisade's mission is to help people and institutions build the understanding needed to avoid permanent disempowerment by strategic AI agents.

About us: Palisade's mission is to help people and institutions build the understanding needed to avoid permanent disempowerment by strategic AI agents.

Our team has been engaging Congress for about a year and a half now, but we haven't had a dedicated, full-time lead for that engagement. We're looking for someone who can help us scale our engagement by increasing the number of offices we speak with regularly and by developing "floor-ready" proposals to share with those offices

Responsibilities:

• Support our head of policy as our core expert on what is happening on the Hill and what Palisade should do there
• Track developments on Capitol Hill and manage our proactive planning for key Congressional calendar items (e.g., timing on must-pass bills like the NDAA)
• Brief Congressional offices and deepen our relationships with staff and elected officials
• Develop legislative proposals that offices can take to, e.g. legislative counsel to turn into draft bills
• Advocate for our policy recommendations with the government, media, and the non-profit community

Desired qualifications:

We expect that a successful candidate will have many, but not all, of these qualifications. Please apply for this role even if you are not sure if you meet them. In particular, if you are a motivated individual who cares about AI policy but is transitioning from another field, please DO apply.

• Familiarity with AI national security risks, particularly:
• Loss of control to powerful AI systems
• Recursive self-improvement
• Catastrophic misuse
• The rapid and exponential pace of AI capabilities growth
• A willingness to dive in and get things done – a successful employee in this role must be comfortable with a project-based approach where key deliverables might change every few months
• Proven track record of effectively advocating for policy changes for at least 5 years across a range of stakeholders and views. Ideally, this would be a track record of work either in Congressional offices or advocating on Capitol Hill, but could include experience in management consulting, startups, the nonprofit sector, or the Executive Branch
• Excellent oral briefing and meeting management skills
• Understanding of DC policy processes, communities, and mechanisms, such as "how does a bill's sponsor navigate the current Congressional legislative process" or "how does the Department of Commerce make key recommendations to the President?"
• Network of contacts in DC and/or national media or nonprofits that are relevant to this work

Details of position:

• Based in Washington, DC with occasional travel to our Berkeley home office or other locations as required
• Full-time salaried employment; either hybrid or full-time in-person work
• Salary: $120K to $180K, dependent on level of experience
• Benefits: Comprehensive health, dental, and long-term disability coverage, unlimited PTO
• Reports to our Head of Policy, Dave Kasten