Expression of interest: writer-researcher
80,000 Hours plans to hire more full-time writer-researchers. They will write new articles for 80,000 Hours that will help people shift their careers towards high-impact options.
To express interest in this role, please complete this form.
Note: This announcement is for an expression of interest rather than a job opening. It’s possible we will launch a formal hiring round within the next month or two. If so, we’ll email everyone who filled out this expression of interest to invite them to fill out an application for the role.
Table of Contents
About 80,000 Hours
80,000 Hours’ mission is to get talented people working on the world’s most pressing problems. We have helped:
- Popularise using your career to ambitiously pursue impact while thinking seriously about cause and intervention prioritisation
- Grow the fields of AI safety, AI governance, global catastrophic biological risk reduction, and global catastrophic risk reduction capacity-building (among others)
- Fill hundreds of roles at many of the most impactful organisations tackling the worlds’ most pressing problems
Over a million people visit our website each year, and thousands of people have told us that they’ve significantly changed their career plans due to our work. Surveys conducted by our primary funder, Open Philanthropy, show that 80,000 Hours is one of the single biggest drivers of talent moving into work related to reducing global catastrophic risks.
In 2025, we are planning to focus especially on content that will help explain why and how our audience can help society safely navigate a transition to a world with transformative AI.
Our most popular pieces get over 10,000 unique visits each month, and they are among the most important ways we help people shift their careers towards higher-impact options.
The role
In this role, you would:
- Research and write new articles for the 80,000 Hours website, e.g. new career reviews or articles explaining particular issues within AI risk reduction for a popular audience (e.g. an explainer on misuse, or government abuse of AI technology)
- Survey and interview experts in the issues we prioritise
- Update or rewrite core articles with new information and resources
- Write substantive newsletters for an audience of over 500,000 people
- Refine the presentation and framing of our content on central landing pages, e.g. our career reviews page
- Continually learn from analytics and user feedback what kinds of framings are most engaging
- Manage and edit external expert contributors to write articles
Who we’re looking for
For this role, we’re looking for:
- Strong knowledge of catastrophic risks from AI and effective altruism
- Experience in writing, research, communications or community-building focused on AI
- An exceptional aptitude for — and ideally a track record of — writing compellingly
- We want someone who can turn research notes or a brief into writing that is simultaneously interesting, easy to read, nuanced, precise, accurate, and clear — and maybe even funny.
- An exceptional aptitude for — and ideally a track record of — generalist research and writing
- We want someone who can figure out what’s true, what’s unknown, and what’s relevant for career decisions given a complex and changing situation with our top priority problems, often amidst expert disagreement.
- The ability to learn quickly and independently
- Excitement to work on whatever kinds of projects are highest priority in a fast-paced and highly collaborative environment
- A good fit with our cultural values
- For example, we are a small team trying to do difficult and ambitious things — this means we often pitch in on lots of aspects of one another’s work, and really value teamwork, kindness, and good communication!
Helpful backgrounds include AI, EA nonprofits, think tanks, academic or nonprofit research, blogging, journalism, nonfiction writing, podcasting, or social science.
We’re aware that factors like gender, race, and socioeconomic background can affect people’s willingness to apply for roles. We’d like to especially encourage people from underrepresented backgrounds to apply!
Salary, hours, location, and benefits
The salary will vary based on experience and the responsibilities you take on, and will be calculated according to a formula that is transparent to all primary staff at 80,000 Hours.
Staff can work flexible hours. We encourage staff to work whatever schedule (consistent with full time status) will allow them to be most personally effective.
We’re especially interested in people who can work in the US, and especially from Berkeley.
To express interest in the role, please fill in this form.