Principal, Programs and Policy (Tech and AI)

San Francisco1w ago

Seniority: Staff

About the role

About Omidyar Network (ON):  Omidyar Network is a philanthropic organization whose mission is to bend the arc of the digital revolution toward shared power, prosperity, and possibility. Digital technology is a powerful and ubiquitous force that, harnessed wisely, makes wondrous things happen. We believe in working together to guide tech's trajectory intentionally. Our vision is for our shared humanity to steer our digital future. So far, we have committed more than $1.94 billion to initiatives that share our vision. We engage, partner, and fund some of the world's brightest thinkers and innovators to guide our digital future toward the greatest good for the greatest number of people.    About the Programs and Policy team:  Our programs and policy team focuses on the key drivers of our shared digital future: the culture, the governance, and the business of digital tech. Through our grant making and advocacy, we aim to shape more intentional societal governance and amplify our shared agency. We collaborate with a broad range of stakeholders, including investors, tech firms, policymakers, consumers and workers to guide tech's trajectory and establish coalitions and countervails in civil society. Programs team members join Omidyar Network from a wide range of backgrounds in policy, advocacy, nonprofits, community organizing, technology, consulting, philanthropy, education, and the arts.    About the Role:  In this role, you will help shape how frontier technology develops and who has the capital and convening power to influence that trajectory. Our portfolio includes some of the most consequential AI companies of the decade, and our partners include the people writing the policies, papers, and standards that will govern these technologies for the next two decades.  This role is built for someone who reads a new model release and immediately wants to know what it means for governance; who is drawn to questions about how powerful technologies get built and by whom; and who wants to spend the next phase of their career working inside those questions.  You will work across investments, grants, ecosystem-building, and thought leadership — helping originate and complete both for-profit deals and grants, building the relationships that make those deals possible, and helping shape ON's voice on where technology is heading. This is neither a pure investing role nor a pure grantmaking role.  This is a builder's role for someone who is fluent in the language of frontier tech, comfortable moving between Silicon Valley boardrooms and civil society convenings, and energized by the question of how to make powerful technologies go well.  This role will report to Director, Programs and Policy (based in Washington, DC).    How You’ll Contribute to our Impact:  <ul> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Help implement the Responsible Technology & AI strategy. Translate strategy into action across our priority domains — frontier AI, nuclear and advanced energy, brain-computer interfaces, and adjacent areas. Help shape how the strategy evolves as the technology and the field evolve. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">Originate and maintain relationships across the ecosystem. Build a deep, durable network across AI labs and technology companies, venture capital firms, AI-focused philanthropies, academic institutions, and civil society organizations. Use these relationships to surface signals, identify trends early, and connect the right people to one another. Many of ON's best opportunities and best ideas come through this network — you will be a primary node in it. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="3" data-aria-level="1">Manage complex stakeholder ecosystems. Convene and participate in conversations across constituencies that don't typically share a room — journalists, founders, researchers, policymakers, funders, and advocates. In practice this means organizing small listening events and roundtables, attending relevant conferences, participating in relevant working groups, and serving as a credible interlocutor for ON across very different audiences. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="4" data-aria-level="1">Develop ON’s point of view in writing. Develop internal memos and external thought pieces on where the technology is going, what we are seeing in the field, and what ON's point of view is. Some of this will be public; much of it will inform investment committees, board materials, and partner conversations. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="5" data-aria-level="1">Help execute transactions, investments, and grants. Run diligence, structure deals, draft memos, and manage the operational details of deploying capital — whether that's an equity round into a frontier lab, a SAFE into an early-stage company, or a grant to a research institute. You will work alongside senior investors and program leads on a portfolio that ranges from frontier AI companies to public-interest technology infrastructure. </li> </ul>   Location:  This is a hybrid role, with employees working in the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This position will be based out of our San Francisco office. Employees must reside within 100 miles of their assigned office location. Candidates must have a current U.S. work authorization to be considered.    Compensation:  This is a full-time, salaried position that features competitive pay and <a href="https://omidyar.com/benefits-offerings/">benefits</a>, including health care (medical/dental/vision), paid time off, and a generous employer 401k contribution. The salary range for this role is $171,400-$214,200. ON manages pay equity seriously and new hires generally start at the midpoint of this range.    What You'll Bring to the Team:  <ul> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">7+ years of relevant experience. Strong candidates may come from: <ul> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Product management at a technology or AI company, with exposure to how frontier products actually get built, shipped, and positioned.</li> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Early-stage venture capital, especially with a track record of sourcing or working on technical deals and a desire to broaden the aperture beyond pure financial return.</li> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Technology journalism, especially reporters who have moved past writing about the industry to wanting to shape it.</li> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Strategy, business development, or growth roles at a technology startup, particularly where you have had to operate cross-functionally and externally. </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">Genuine fluency in technology and AI. You don't need to be an ML researcher, but you should be able to read a technical paper, understand the broad architecture of a frontier model, and hold your own in a conversation with founders and researchers. A track record of self-directed learning — writing, building, side projects — matters more than credentials. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="3" data-aria-level="1">Comfort across discourses. Our work sits at the seam between several intellectual communities working on AI — from technical safety research to public-interest tech, from venture and founder circles to traditional philanthropy. You should be able to engage seriously with each and translate between these worlds. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="4" data-aria-level="1">A bias toward originating. This role is for someone who finds opportunities, builds relationships, and starts things — not someone who waits for deal flow to arrive. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="5" data-aria-level="1">Strong written and verbal communication. A meaningful share of your impact will come through writing — memos, briefings, op-eds, decks — and through how you show up in rooms. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="·" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"·","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="6" data-aria-level="1">Endless curiosity. The best people in this work read widely, take meetings out of intellectual interest rather than transactional value, and treat the world as a thing to be understood. </li> </ul>   Application Timeline: To apply, submit your resume and cover letter. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and priority consideration will be given to applications received by June 23, 2026.   Omidyar Network is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes people from all experiences, abilities, and perspectives to apply. We fundamentally believe that people are inherently capable, but often lack opportunity. We know that a diverse workforce reflecting a broad range of backgrounds and views allows us to see problems in more nuanced ways, creating the thought leadership needed to elevate humanity and evolve the culture, governance, and business of technology. We actively recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a broad candidate pool. We are committed to an inclusive and accessible hiring process. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in any part of the application or interview process, please let us know at <a href="mailto:recruitment@omidyar.com">recruitment@omidyar.com</a>.

Perks & benefits

401k
Paid Time Off
Equity Compensation

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