Director, AI Strategy & Mental Health

The Jed Foundation•New York, NY

5h•$120,000 - $160,000•Remote

About The Position

The Jed Foundation (JED), a nonprofit focused on protecting the emotional health and preventing suicide among teens and young adults, is seeking a Director to advance its work at the intersection of artificial intelligence, emerging technology, mental health, and suicide prevention. The role covers advising technology companies; AI safety, evaluation, and benchmarking collaborations; partnerships with research and public-interest organizations; public thought leadership and guidance; and assessing both the risks and potential benefits of emerging technologies. Reporting to the SVP, Youth Strategies & Chief Engagement Officer, the Director will advance work on emerging AI technologies and their implications for mental health and suicide prevention, AI safety and evaluation, technology advising, and JED positions, frameworks, and guidance. The role requires meaningful expertise in AI technology and safety or evaluation, as well as experience applying technology, safety, research, or evaluation approaches in mental health, healthcare, public health, child and adolescent wellbeing or safety, or another high-stakes human context. The Director will work with JED experts and partners and engage credibly with AI researchers, safety and evaluation teams, engineers, and product leaders.

Requirements

Approximately 7+ years of relevant professional experience, including substantial work in AI, AI safety, responsible AI, AI evaluation, human-AI interaction, or a closely related field; candidates with a different career trajectory but equivalent depth of experience may be considered.
Strong working knowledge of contemporary AI technologies, including generative AI, large language models, multimodal systems, conversational AI, agents, memory and personalization, and emerging human-AI interfaces.
Demonstrated knowledge of AI safety and evaluation, including model and system behavior, evaluation and benchmarking, red-teaming, failure modes, safeguards and mitigations, and strengths and limitations of current approaches.
Experience applying technology, safety, evaluation, research, or related expertise in a high-stakes human domain such as mental health, suicide prevention, healthcare, public health, child and adolescent wellbeing or safety, child protection, online safety, violence prevention, or a closely related area.
Working knowledge of mental health, suicide prevention, behavioral health, public health, or an adjacent field sufficient to engage meaningfully with domain experts and understand implications for people experiencing distress or vulnerability.
Technical fluency to engage credibly and independently with AI researchers, engineers, evaluation and safety teams, and product teams; the role does not require an ML engineer.
Demonstrated ability to connect technical developments to implications for human behavior, safety, wellbeing, products, institutions, or society.
Excellent analytical, synthesis, writing, and communication skills, with experience developing frameworks, strategy, recommendations, guidance, or thought leadership.
Strong judgment and comfort working across technical and nontechnical disciplines in a rapidly evolving area.
Experience advancing complex work involving multiple internal and external stakeholders, with strong relationship-building and collaboration skills.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience in mental health, suicide prevention, behavioral health, digital mental health, or a closely related field.
Experience focused on children, adolescents, families, development, or populations experiencing heightened vulnerability.
Experience working directly with technology-company product, safety, evaluation, or research teams.
Experience developing or applying benchmarks, evaluations, safety frameworks, standards, or red-teaming approaches.
Experience translating technical research for public-interest, product, policy, practitioner, or other nontechnical audiences.
An advanced degree in computer science, HCI, information science, behavioral or social science, public health, or another relevant discipline; valuable but not required.

Responsibilities

Track developments in AI technology and assess their implications for mental health and suicide prevention, including conversational and relational AI, multimodal systems, agents, memory and personalization, ambient and wearable technologies, and embodied AI.
Advance JED’s work in AI safety, evaluation, benchmarking, standards, and related field-building efforts with technology, research, mental-health, suicide-prevention, and public-interest partners.
Apply knowledge of model and system behavior, safety evaluations, red-teaming, safeguards and mitigations, failure modes, and evaluation methodology to identify strengths and gaps in current approaches.
Advance approaches that address acute safety failures as well as relationships and dependency, connection and belonging, agency, coping, help-seeking, protective factors, developmental differences, and beneficial uses of AI.
Manage technology-company advising work, assess AI products, features, and safety approaches, and develop actionable recommendations on model and product behavior, safety, evaluation, developmental appropriateness, help-seeking and crisis pathways, relational dynamics, and responsible deployment.
Develop JED positions, frameworks, principles, recommendations, and guidance on AI and emerging technology, drawing on technical and research developments, expert consultation, JED expertise, and external engagements.
Identify emerging issues, evidence gaps, and opportunities for JED engagement through advising, guidance, partnerships, evaluation, field-building, or other strategic action.
Build and manage relationships with technology companies, AI safety and evaluation organizations, academic and independent research institutions, public-interest organizations, philanthropy, and mental-health and suicide-prevention organizations.
Collaborate with JED’s Knowledge & Advising, Policy, Programs, MarComms, and other teams to integrate relevant expertise and connect insights from AI partnerships and advising to JED’s broader work.
Represent JED in collaborations, working groups, expert processes, convenings, and external forums, and contribute to new initiatives, partnerships, proposals, and funding opportunities.