I study human biology at Stanford with a minor in international relations. I'm excited about biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, global health, and existential risks broadly. I've previously worked on biotech and biosecurity policy, advancing PPE/pandemic defense technologies, and I help run the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative. In my free time, I coach high school debate, compete in the undergraduate bioethics bowl, and write on Substack. Ask me about meta x-risk, the current state of biosecurity policy, or my dog (all subjects I can talk about for far too long).
Great post Matt! I'm curious about how you feel your advice about becoming more well-known in the field applies to areas like U.S. policy work. It seems like the people most well-known and outspoken around policy in the government have 20-year careers working in government/the intelligence community to precede them and grant them expertise. This seems true for more established policy areas such as U.S.-China relations or Middle East politics. AI, as a newer technology, is the exception as it allows relatively younger but smart people to contribute their opinions and be taken seriously by Congress (e.g. asked to testify). But in most cases, policy staffers seem to be 'seen and not heard' for their opinions on policy, at least not directly. Do you think that's a fair assessment? How would you recommend that young people involved in government roles make a name for themselves anyway, or would you advise against it for now?
Thanks Jeff! This looks like an awesome role and I hope you find a great candidate- huge fan of the work you guys do.
Out of curiosity, has SecureBio ever considered taking on in-person summer interns? I wouldn't be qualified, but I know some undergrads who might be :)
You make some great points!
For 4), I agree that the AI safety world has done a really good job field-building, both because of funders in/out of the EA space, and I wonder how much of it truly is transferable to biosecurity/climate/other x-risk fields. Perhaps someone should write a piece on that.
1 & 6) I don't mean to say that people are intentionally giving bad advice or that it's dishonest on purpose. However, when it comes to asking people for advice, I agree that 5) that it's hard for experienced folks to know exactly how to help young people without a ton of context. Regardless, I don't think there's a consensus on how the average young person should navigate the field. (And interesting idea about the 'career strategist'! I wonder who would be the best audience for this sort of coaching?)
Hi Conor, thanks for your comment! Appreciate all the work you do on the 80k job board.
I will caveat by saying 1) my perspective is based on a job search in the US/Western biosecurity landscape, not a global one and 2) I drew on my own personal experiences and that of my friends' in attempting to find a credible full-time position (e.g. summer internship) in biosecurity.
During this job search, many of the entry-level and junior opportunities I scouted on biosecurity job boards tended to (and still do) fall into one of two categories:
Obviously, there are some exceptions and I would love to see someone do an analysis of entry-level biosecurity job postings over time. However, I would point out that it is still difficult to find jobs when moving from category #1 to #2, and if you go down the list of entry level positions today, it would be hard to find more than 5-10 positions that a young person without a PhD could be competitive for. I also think EA jobs are often competitive and agree with Peter's comment that this higher competitiveness lends itself to selecting more senior, experienced candidates (even when a junior position is available). I would love to see both more orgs (both established and new) run more summer internship/RA/entry-level positions and advertise them here more.