Routing mid-senior talent into AI safety

I spent Generator trying to get the best possible people into the most important roles in AI safety, focusing on mid-senior operations and generalist talent. I kept a live board of open and unlisted roles across the field, spoke to people who wanted to move into or within it, and sent referrals and warm intros where I thought there was a strong fit. Asya Bergal at Coefficient Giving and Neav Topaz at Kairos advised the project.

I started because senior ops roles were going unfilled. By my count only 7 of 27 senior ops searches across the field were filled over six months, and many had run for four months or more with hundreds of applicants. At the same time I kept meeting experienced people who wanted to work on AI safety and couldn't find a way in. I wrote up what I learned from the first ~70 conversations in Good Senior People Exist and We're Wasting Them.

In about two months I've spoken to about 200 people and sent hundreds of referrals across over 50 roles, which have led to offers at organisations like BlueDot, Coefficient Giving and Anthropic. Hiring managers have been sending me their closed rounds directly. I also ran Generator's Careers Week, supported the Lateral Workshop, and helped get GenStream funded and running.