SaferAI is hiring a Standards Researcher to join its Standards team, working with James Gealy, our Standardization Lead. This position offers the opportunity to help write the technical documents that will govern how the world's most powerful AI systems are built, evaluated, and deployed — inside the rooms where those documents are being written.
SaferAI works to reduce large-scale AI risks by building the governance and technical infrastructure for effective AI risk management. We work across four integrated areas: frontier AI risk management, risk modeling, technical standards, and policy. Our ability to operate across all four areas simultaneously is what makes our impact greater than the sum of its parts.
Our standards work illustrates what that integration produces in practice.
Members of SaferAI currently hold leadership positions in two of the most consequential AI standards processes running today: with EN 18228 (the European AI Risk Management standard at CEN-CENELEC) and with ISO/IEC TS 42119-8 (the global standard on LLM benchmarking and red-teaming). We engage actively across EU, US, and international venues at technical drafting depth, not just as observers. SaferAI is one of the very few independent actors that has earned a seat at the table where the actual text gets written. This role is about building on that position.
As Standards Researcher, you will spend the majority of your time doing the hands-on work of standards development:
Standards work rewards a specific temperament. You do not need to have worked inside a formal standards body before — but you should recognize yourself in the following:
You care about the words. Standards are effective when they are specific and hard to game, and ineffective when they are vague enough to mean anything. You find it genuinely interesting to debate whether “shall” is stronger than “should,” whether “adequate” is defensible or a loophole, and how a definition of “risk” changes what a company is actually required to do.
You are tenacious and constructive. Writing effective text for a standard and seeing it to publication takes months or years of building trust, making technical arguments, and finding joint contributors. You are energized by incremental progress, resilient after setbacks, and able to work constructively with counterparts whose values or interests differ significantly from yours.
You hold the bigger picture. Standards are a means, not an end. You understand that a standard only becomes effective if it is well-written but also adopted and adhered to, and you are able to assess when standards are the right tool and when they are not.
You combine technical depth with clarity. Effective participation in standards committees requires the ability to engage credibly on technical content (AI systems and their development, risk management, evaluation methodology) and to communicate complex positions clearly and diplomatically across language and cultural barriers.
You are aligned with the mission. SaferAI’s presence in standards bodies is only valuable because we represent an independent perspective that is grounded in our mission. This role requires a genuine commitment to that perspective and mission — one that you maintain under institutional pressure, over time. SaferAI’s mission is to ensure that advanced AI technologies are safe through risk management practices, policy, and safe technology development.
Technical language skills. Given the detailed textual work, an excellent command of English grammar, word choice, and “wordsmithing” ability, which can be applied in the moment, is needed.
Specific qualifications we are looking for:
Location: SaferAI’s major locations are Paris and London, and we have a preference for this position to be based in either of the two cities. We are willing to consider remote arrangements for an exceptionally strong candidate.
Schedule: Standards writing consists of regularly engaging with relevant experts across the globe, which occasionally necessitates conducting remote meetings outside of local working hours.
Travel: Because standards writing is about building trust and consensus, meeting other experts face to face is beneficial. Therefore, this job brings the opportunity for periodic travel to standards committee meetings across Europe and occasionally internationally. We estimate 2-6 trips per year.
Salary: Competitive salary, commensurate with experience and location.
Benefits:
To apply for this position, please complete this application form. We will evaluate candidates on a rolling basis starting now until we fill the role. We are aiming to fill the role quickly, and we’ll take down the page on our website as soon as the role is filled.
Our hiring process comes in stages and usually consists of initial screening, a first interview, a paid work test, interviews, and a final 3-day paid work trial where you would directly collaborate with the team.
We encourage you to lean towards applying, even if you don’t have all the skills and experience required.
If you have any questions or concerns throughout the application process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at careers@safer-ai.org. We look forward to reviewing your application.