Research Manager (US)

$90,000–$130,000
Full-time (strongly preferred), part-time possible (at least 0.8 FTE)
Remote-first (US time zones)
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About LawAI

The Institute for Law & AI (LawAI) is an independent think tank that researches and advises on the legal challenges posed by artificial intelligence. We believe that sound legal analysis will promote security, welfare, and the rule of law. We conduct research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, law, and policy and advise governments, international organizations, public institutions, and private actors. You can review LawAI’s recent publications on our website and learn more about our focus areas in this overview of our Workstreams and Research Directions.

About the role

In addition to our research and consulting work, LawAI runs Summer and Winter Research Fellowships, a year-long Research Scholar program, and a number of events, including the Cambridge Forum on Law and AI and the Summer Institute on Law and AI. These programs aim to identify, attract, train, and place legal talent in impactful positions. In light of increased demand, we’re planning to scale our existing programs and expand our portfolio. To do this, we are seeking a motivated Research Manager (US) who is excited to work with Mackenzie Arnold (Director of US Policy) and our programs team to develop, scale, and execute these programs. 

This full-time role is central to building an effective and productive research environment, encouraging both internal and external collaborations. You will be instrumental in accelerating research programs at the cutting edge of AI, law, and policy, from the inception of an idea and the assembling of a team all the way through to publication and dissemination. This includes close collaboration with our researchers and our operations, programs, and communications teams. Your mentorship and support will accelerate the career trajectories of some of the most talented legal minds interested in AI, law and policy. Previous participants of our programs, such as our Summer Research Fellowship, have gone on to work for the US government, the EU AI Office, the UK AISI, leading AI companies, academia, and think tanks across the world.

Your main responsibilities include:

  • Developing and leading LawAI’s seasonal research programs for our US team
    • Work closely with Mackenzie Arnold to understand goals, talent, and priority projects for our suite of programs, identifying opportunities to improve and tailor them to our target audience. 
    • Establish relationships with other organizations and their staff members to source mentors to expand our internal supervision capacity. 
    • Evaluate the specific needs of our fellows to provide them with the experience and support they need to succeed. 
    • Assess needs for longer-term career development, and develop a strategy to establish talent pipelines and post-program support networks and execute on it.
  • Research management and professional development of our seasonal research fellows
    • Onboard new research fellows and connect each of them with a relevant mentor and an impactful project.
    • Conduct regular 1:1 check-ins and team meetings focused on research productivity and professional development.
    • Design a comprehensive program for our seasonal research fellowships and research workshops, including liaising with guest speakers, organizing workshops and in-person programming, developing resources (e.g. reading lists), and setting targets for outputs and milestones. 
    • Support researchers and fellows with publishing their research as well as with their next career steps, including connecting them with relevant actors in the field. 
    • Where applicable, provide our researchers and fellows with thoughtful feedback on their work.
  • Outreach and recruitment
    • Prepare and implement a hiring strategy for both permanent and temporary roles on our research teams. 
    • Manage the hiring process for researchers and conduct candidate evaluations in close coordination with our research team.
    • Coordinate outreach and recruitment efforts of top-tier legal talent with the help of our programs, communications, and operations teams. 
    • Assist in evaluating short-term employees for longer term roles within the organization.
  • Building our research community
    • Collaborate with our programs and operations team to organize and facilitate workshops, conferences, and other events or programs. 
    • Communicate with and support former, current, and future program participants. 
    • Build a thriving intellectual community at LawAI.
  • Monitoring and Evaluation
    • Evaluate the effectiveness of programs by planning and carrying out impact analyses, including identifying key metrics and collecting and analyzing data.

About you

You might be a good fit for this role if you have:

  • Excitement for LawAI’s mission: You are passionate about contributing to LawAI’s mission of producing legal analysis that promotes security, welfare, and the rule of law.
  • Strong project management skills: You are organized and skilled at managing competing priorities and different projects at the same time. You like to set up and maintain systems that are robust, efficient, and user-friendly. 
  • Research management or people management experience: You are excited about the idea of helping researchers achieve their goals and identifying opportunities to improve our support for them. You have previously led teams or coached/mentored researchers to overcome challenges they encountered. 
  • Excitement to work closely with LawAI’s Director of US Policy: You are interested in co-developing a strategy with Mackenzie and to execute on it. 
  • An entrepreneurial mindset: You will be responsible for identifying existing gaps, identifying the necessary steps to fill them with the resources you have, and executing on a plan by building and iteratively refining a product. You are excited about the prospect of getting things done and building systems that stand the test of time. 
  • Excellent communication skills: You communicate openly and clearly, and you provide thoughtful support to people in different research areas and career stages. You can distill the key ideas from long and complex discussions and communicate them to stakeholders in a professional and friendly way. You can write functionally and stylistically and adapt your communication style depending on the audience. You pay strong attention to detail in your research and communications.
  • Some AI governance and/or AI law experience: You have some AI governance and/or AI law experience, and you understand the key topics in this field, such as interpretability and law-following AI.
  • A service mindset: You are excited about the idea of amplifying and multiplying the impact of our researchers, and supporting them to deliver the best possible legal analysis and advisory services. 
  • A high level of autonomy, conscientiousness, and agency: You work independently and proactively solve challenges along the way. You take responsibility for tracking deadlines and tasks and ensure their timely completion. 
  • Good strategic awareness of talent needs in AI law & policy: You are excited to engage with the field and key stakeholders to determine which research programs would move the field forward, and where to find the very best legal researchers and practitioners.

This role might also benefit from the following qualifications, although you could still be a highly competitive candidate even if you don’t have any of them:

  • Research experience: Strong candidates will have some research experience, ideally in AI governance and/or AI law. You are well-informed and regularly keep track of what is happening in the field to provide useful guidance to our researchers. 
  • Strong social skills and are attentive to group dynamics and individual needs: You enjoy bringing people together and creating a collaborative and inclusive environment. You have high emotional intelligence and attentiveness to others’ needs. You can be friendly and professional when interacting with diverse groups of people, such as students and community members from different countries and cultures. Ideally, you feel comfortable in a wide range of social situations.
  • Existing networks within relevant communities: This could be particularly useful for our recruitment and post-program placement efforts, but it is not required for the role as you will be able to draw from an existing network of resources and partners. 
  • Experience with talent identification and recruitment: You may have led a recruitment process for a research role, or have related experience which has allowed you to develop a strong intuition for what distinguishes the very best applicants from great ones. 

All of the above said, there’s no such thing as a perfect candidate; we don’t expect a successful hire to excel in all of the dimensions here. If you are on the fence about applying because you are unsure whether you are qualified, we strongly encourage you to apply.

Other details

Compensation 

The salary range for this role is $90,000–$130,000, depending on experience and location. For exceptional candidates whose experience exceeds our expectations in terms of relevance and seniority, we may consider higher compensation.

Start date

We are ideally looking for someone able to start immediately, but are open to waiting for longer if the ideal candidate is not available immediately.

Time zones and location 

This is a full-time, permanent position with flexible work hours in the US. We are considering part-time candidates if they can dedicate at least 80% of their time to this role.

Travel might be required up to five times a year (domestically and internationally) to support our events, team retreats, and in-person components of our programs.

Benefits

Our benefits include:

  • A fully remote work environment and flexible working hours
  • Five weeks of PTO recommended per year, plus public holidays
  • Twelve weeks of paid parental leave that can be taken prior to birth or adoption and during the first year, with the option to take additional unpaid leave
  • Employer pension or matching 401(k) contribution up to 4% of your salary
  • Health insurance for employees residing in countries without nationalized healthcare
  • An annual stipend of $4,000 per year for productivity and professional development support
  • An annual stipend of $4,000 per year for mental health support
  • An annual stipend of $2,500 per year for equipment and office supplies
  • A friendly, open work culture that encourages feedback and close collaboration, and a team that appreciates the contributions of all team members

Diversity

We aim to employ people with many different experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds who share our mission. We are committed to creating an environment where all employees have the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their race, religion, disability, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation.

Requests for accommodation

If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability or incompatible assistive technology, please contact hiring@law-ai.org to request reasonable accommodations.

application process

If you think you might be a good fit for the role but are unsure whether you should apply, we strongly encourage you to do so. The hiring process looks like this:

  1. Submit the application form by November 28, 2025
  2. Initial screening call
  3. Invitation to take a work test (~2hrs) designed to simulate the work you would do if hired and/or evaluate certain skills important for success in the role
  4. Remote interviews & reference checks
  5. Employment offer


Referral program

This position is eligible for LawAI’s referral program. The referral program offers $5,000 to eligible individuals who refer a candidate who is ultimately hired for one of our open positions. Full terms can be found here.

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