AISST/MAIA Workshop Lead

Cambridge Boston Alignment Initiative•Cambridge, MA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Cambridge Boston Alignment Initiative (CBAI) is a nonprofit research organization focused on advancing research and education for a safe and beneficial transition to advanced AI systems. CBAI accelerates AI safety research through fellowship programs and by serving as a central hub for the AI safety community in Cambridge, connecting researchers from Harvard, MIT, and Northeastern through workshops, convenings, and networking events. Following a successful launch, CBAI is scaling rapidly in 2026, planning to expand its fellowship programs and team. The Workshop Lead will be responsible for the operations of the Harvard-MIT AI Safety Workshops, held approximately 8 times a year in Essex, MA. These workshops aim to guide members of AISST, MAIA, and students from other universities toward impactful AI safety careers. The role involves end-to-end planning and execution, including speaker selection, attendee recruitment, session structure, and physical logistics. An ideal candidate will have operational competence and, if needed, can be supported with AI safety-specific judgment calls. This position offers significant impact, upskilling, and networking opportunities within the AI safety field, with regular interaction with professionals from leading AI safety organizations. Secondary responsibilities may include supporting other CBAI events, such as monthly networking events and research workshops with Harvard and MIT groups.

Requirements

Mission-aligned — you care about making AI development go well, and want to contribute to building the research community working on it
Experience in operations, event production, or program management — or a track record of equivalent responsibility (e.g. having run conferences, retreats, etc. end-to-end)
Demonstrated ability to own logistics for in-person events of ~50 people: venue coordination, catering, transportation, and physical setup/teardown
Exceptional organization and attention to detail — able to track dozens of parallel workstreams (speaker outreach, applications, vendor contracts) without dropped balls
Strong written communication for professional outreach to senior researchers, guests, and university partners
Comfort working with tools like Airtable and application/review pipelines (or ability to pick them up quickly)
Based in (or willing to relocate to) the Cambridge–Boston area
Meaningful experience in event production, academic program coordination, or research community building — ideally in a university, think tank, or mission-driven research organization context.
Demonstrated judgment in curating rooms that produce real intellectual and professional value.
U.S. work authorization required (we accept OPT).

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with the AI safety research landscape – enough to make independent judgment calls on speaker selection, workshop topics, and applicant quality
Existing relationships or network in AI safety organizations
Experience working with or in university student organizations, especially AI safety groups like AISST or MAIA
Strong verbal communication skills, such that you could give an opening or closing talk

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end planning and execution of the Harvard-MIT AI Safety Workshops, currently held 5 times per academic year in Essex, MA, with ~40 participants and ~10 guests per workshop
Work with the Harvard AI Safety Student Team (AISST) and MIT AI Alignment (MAIA) to scale the program from 5 to 8 workshops per academic calendar year
Curate and invite guests from frontier AI safety research organizations, including Redwood Research, METR, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, OpenAI's safety teams, and Cambridge-area academics
Lead participant selection in collaboration with AISST and MAIA, ensuring cohort quality and diversity across partnering university groups
Design workshop programming: session formats, discussion structures, speaker slots, and career programming
Gather and synthesize participant and guest feedback to continuously improve workshop quality
Identify and source opportunities for high-visibility, weekend-long specialized research workshops in partnership with Harvard, MIT, and Northeastern research groups as well as other stakeholders
Build relationships with faculty and research group leads to develop workshop concepts that serve genuine research needs
Own end-to-end execution: venue, logistics, programming design, speaker coordination, and participant experience
As the portfolio grows, take on a managerial dimension; coordinating contractors, volunteers, or support staff to run larger events effectively
Own and run CBAI's monthly Cambridge AI Safety and AIxBiosecurity (in partnership with SecureBio) networking events, serving as the connective tissue between researchers, students, and practitioners across the city
Curate invitee lists, manage outreach, and create programming that makes each event genuinely worth attending
Build and maintain CBAI's relationships with the broader Cambridge AI safety community, using events as a vehicle for strengthening the ecosystem