ORGANIZATION BUILDERS PROGRAM
A program for experienced professionals who have helped build organizations and want to move into AI safety.
AI safety organizations are growing, and most are led by domain experts. They need people who have helped build one before: hired and integrated a team, set up the structures, and helped it grow. The Organization Builders Program connects those people with the organizations that need them.
Run by Successif. The first round is small: up to ten candidates and a handful
of organizations. Applications close 16 October 2026.
Who it's for
For candidates
Experienced professionals who have:
-
Built or scaled an organization or a team, and owned the outcome, including budgets and consequential decisions
-
Hired and integrated people, and set up the structures that let an organization grow
-
Worked closely with founders or senior leadership on real decisions
-
The ability to work independently in fast-changing environments
-
A genuine interest in reducing existential risks from advanced AI
People come to this from founding teams, scaling companies, consulting with real leadership responsibility, the public sector and nonprofits. You don't need previous AI safety experience.
For organizations
AI safety organizations that:
-
Are roughly 3 to 50 people, and growing or about to
-
Need a COO, Head or Director of Operations, Chief of Staff, or similar role
-
Have a concrete challenge in building the organization, and may not have the role defined yet
How it works
1.
Apply
Application, screening call, a short case exercise, references. You tell us which path you are open to. Accepted candidates join the pool.
2.
We clarify the need
With each organization: what it needs, what leadership that takes, and how it wants to assess.
3.
We match
Based on what you have built and what the organization needs. Matching starts in November.
4.
Two paths
A paid project of at least five hours a week over three months, alongside your current role. Or the organization's own assessment and a direct hire. The organization chooses; we tell you which before you decide.
5.
A permanent role
Where it fits, the project or assessment becomes a permanent role. Where it doesn't, you stay in the pool.
FOR CANDIDATES
Bring your experience of building organizations to AI safety.
You've spent years building teams, setting up structures, solving hard problems and making organizations work. Maybe as a co-founder or CTO, maybe as the person who took a company from ten people to fifty, maybe as a chief of staff or the consultant who stayed on to make the plan happen.
Most people with that experience have never considered working on AI risk, because nobody told them the field needed them. It does, and it has almost no way of finding them. You don't need to start your career again to move into AI safety. Many AI safety organizations are starting up or growing right now; the AI safety map shows who they are.
WHAT YOU GET
Work on a real need. Help an AI safety organization build what it needs to grow.
A look at the fit. Get to know the organization and the field from the inside before either side commits.
Peer support. Input from people who have made the same move, and a peer group of the others in your round.
A path to a permanent role. Where the fit is there, the project or assessment leads to one.
FOR ORGANIZATIONS
Find the senior leadership your organization needs.
You may know your organization needs someone to build the structures for its next stage, without knowing exactly what the role should look like, or how to assess someone from outside AI safety. Or you may not know when you can start, because you're waiting on a funding decision.
WHAT YOU GET
Clarity on the role. We work out with you what your organization needs and the leadership it takes.
People who have helped build organizations. A vetted pool of experienced professionals from outside AI safety. You see a small number of people we know well.
Your choice of how to assess. Work together first on a paid project, or run your own assessment and hire directly. You decide before we introduce anyone.
If you're not ready to bring someone in right now, the pool stays available. It's worth a conversation either way.
What is Successif?
Successif is a nonprofit founded to address a critical gap: the AI risk field needs more experienced professionals, but established career resources primarily target those earlier in their careers. We help mid-career and senior professionals leverage their unique expertise to work on one of the most important challenges of our time. Our program is free of charge and funded by donors who share this mission.
Frequently asked questions
FOR CANDIDATES
Do I need previous AI safety experience?
No. You need to be motivated by reducing existential risks from advanced AI, and a willingness to learn and to adapt to the culture. The program helps you bring transferable skills into the field.
I've never had an operations title. Is this for me?
Yes, if you have built or scaled an organization. Co-founders, CTOs and CEOs of small companies, chiefs of staff and people who led a company through growth all fit. What matters is what you have built, not the title.
How much time does it require?
On the work-together path, at least five hours a week over three months, with a scope agreed with the organization, so you can do it alongside your current role. On the assessment path, the organization's own process over a few weeks.
Is the project paid?
Yes. Work-together projects are paid by the organization.
Where is the work?
Remote, with the right to work in your country of residence, usually as a contractor. Some organizations need people on site, mainly in the Bay Area or London. Tell us in your application whether you could relocate.
When do I need to apply, and when does matching start?
Applications for the first round close on 16 October 2026. Matching starts in November.
FOR ORGANIZATIONS
Do we need a fully defined job description?
No. We work with you to clarify the need, the role and what success looks like.
How are candidates assessed before we meet them?
Application, screening call, case exercise and references.
Do we have to do the three-month project?
No. You can run your own assessment instead and hire directly from the pool. We help you design it. Tell us which path you want before we match.
What does it cost?
Our matching is free. On the work-together path, you pay the candidate for the project.