AI safety researchers: Try contract research manager roles
A 3-month contract could launch your AI safety career faster than solo research
AI safety researcher Mikhail Mironov makes the case for contract research manager (RM) positions over continuing solo research in a viral LessWrong post. He argues that a 3-month RM contract—managing 5 research groups with 15-20 mentees—offers unique upskilling opportunities, career capital, and networking benefits that far exceed those of participating as a mentee in a fellowship.
Key advantages of the RM role include gaining tacit knowledge in research management (prioritization, scheduling, morale support) by observing 5 different teams, building career capital with a resume line like 'managed 5 teams resulting in 3 publications at ICML,' and expanding professional networks with mentors and future AI safety leaders. Mironov notes that RM roles are highly valued for senior research or team lead positions and grants applications for starting new research groups. While he acknowledges downsides like lost research momentum and emotional labor, he frames the RM option as a high-impact career move for early-stage AI safety researchers.
- A 3-month contract research manager role can provide leadership and management experience that would take over a year to gain as a solo researcher
- RM roles offer career capital (e.g., 'managed 5 teams resulting in 3 publications at ICML') and networking with mentors across AI safety organizations
- AI safety field is bottlenecked on research managers, suggesting RM roles have higher counterfactual impact than researcher roles
Why It Matters
Contract research managers may accelerate AI safety career growth by 1-2 years while addressing a critical bottleneck in the field.