Program Manager, AI-native Physicist Fellowship

<p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>About FirstPrinciples</strong></p><p style="min-height:1.5em">FirstPrinciples Foundation is a non-profit organization focused on supporting emerging forms of AI-native scientific research and open scientific infrastructure. The Foundation’s work centers around programs, fellowships, and ecosystem-building efforts designed to help researchers explore how frontier AI systems may reshape the scientific process.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">The Foundation operates within the broader FirstPrinciples ecosystem, which is developing AI systems and research infrastructure designed to accelerate scientific discovery, including Theo, an AI-native platform for frontier scientific research. This ecosystem gives the Foundation a unique vantage point into how AI-native scientific workflows are beginning to emerge.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Why This Role Exists</strong></p><p style="min-height:1.5em">We’re launching a new category of scientific programs at the intersection of AI and frontier research, starting with the AI-native Physicist Fellowship. These programs are designed to support researchers developing rigorous AI-native scientific workflows and exploring what AI-native scientific discovery looks like in practice.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">This is not a traditional grants program. The fellowship is an early effort focused on understanding how frontier AI systems can be integrated into serious scientific research workflows.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">This role exists because these programs require strong operational ownership and active curation. We need someone who can identify high-potential researchers, run high-signal selection processes, build trusted relationships with fellows and advisors, and help create an outstanding experience for researchers working at the frontier of AI and science.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">You’ll sit at the center of the program: shaping the cohort, coordinating across advisors and internal teams, and ensuring fellows have the support, infrastructure, and context they need to do meaningful work.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>What You’ll Do</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Recruit and source exceptional fellows, researchers, and technical talent globally</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Define and manage the end-to-end fellowship application, review and selection process</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Coordinate and engage with the external advisory committee and reviewers</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Partner closely with the broader FirstPrinciples ecosystem’s technical and research teams to support fellows throughout the program</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Act as a primary operational point of contact for fellows during the fellowship lifecycle</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Organize cohort programming, workshops, onboarding, and communications</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Help refine program operations, processes, evaluation criteria and reporting as the program evolves</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Track and report on program metrics, timelines, budgets, deliverables, and cohort progress</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Build and maintain relationships across the AI + science ecosystem (research labs, universities, communities, conferences, frontier AI organizations, etc.)</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Identify emerging researchers, communities, and workflows at the edge of AI-native science</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Help shape and disseminate the long-term operational playbook for AI-native scientific programs</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Who You Are</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Strong experience in program management, operations, recruiting, community-building, talent programs, or ecosystem development</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Exceptional communicator capable of engaging credibly with researchers, technical teams, and external partners</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Highly organized and capable of managing multiple moving pieces simultaneously</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Comfortable operating in ambiguity and building processes from scratch</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Strong judgment and high ownership mentality</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Have a bias toward action. You move quickly, solve problems proactively, and figure things out in environments with limited precedent</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Experience working with technical or research-heavy teams is a strong plus</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Familiarity with frontier AI, scientific research, academia, startups, or technical communities is required. The ideal candidate has experience operating across multiple of these environments.</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Bonus points if you naturally gravitate toward identifying exceptional talent, emerging communities, or unconventional thinkers before broader institutions recognize them.</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Why Join</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Help shape one of the earliest large-scale AI-native scientific fellowship programs</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Work closely with frontier researchers, builders, and technical teams exploring the future of scientific discovery</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Operate at the intersection of AI, research, and frontier science</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Build programs that could meaningfully influence how future scientific research is conducted</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Help define a new category of scientific infrastructure for the AI era</p></li></ul>