about the job
Note: this is one posting for two roles. We're hiring two people whose combined skills cover all four areas below (media and narrative, policy and politics, AI from infrastructure to models, and backend and project management). Tell us in the form which areas you want to carry, and we'll build the two roles around the people we find.
The greatest waste of our time is the waste of talent. There are millions of people who once had the ambition to do great things with their career, but got stuck in jobs that don't make the world better.
The School for Moral Ambition helps people turn their ideals into action. We run fellowships, community programs, and campaigns that empower talented people to work on the world's most pressing problems, from ending factory farming to fighting the tobacco industry and advancing tax fairness.
We believe that moral ambition, the drive to be one of the best but measured by different standards of success, can become a cultural force. We're not driven by guilt, but by enthusiasm: we're simply excited about making the world a wildly better place. You can read our founding principles here.
about the role
Artificial intelligence is our newest cause, and Europe is where we work on it.
Whether the most powerful AI systems get built and used safely will not be settled in Europe alone. But Europe has more say in it than it currently uses. Every advanced AI chip in the world passes through machines built in the Netherlands. European rules reach well past the single market. And other middle powers are looking for partners who would rather not leave this to a handful of frontier labs and the governments closest to those companies.
Part of the European influence comes from tools and materials further along the supply chain, cloud and data center capacity, standards and evaluation, and access to the European market.
We also work on what Europe stands to lose. The scenarios that worry us most are AI-enabled attacks on public infrastructure, and dependencies deep enough to be used as leverage against Europe.
In practice the work means making sure top talent works on this issue and getting expertise in front of the people writing the rules.
Key responsibilities
We are hiring two people. With them the team will be three, including Jan-Willem van Putten, who leads the program.
The work needs four kinds of expertise. Nobody has all four, and we are not expecting that. We are looking for two people who together cover all four. In the application form you tell us which areas you want to carry.
You will work with Jan-Willem directly, in a self-managing organization where you shape and hold your own roles.
1. Media and narrative
Getting our arguments into print, and building the connections that make that possible.
- Writing op-eds, comment pieces, briefings, and explainers, in your own name and as a ghostwriter for colleagues and allied experts.
- Building relationships with the Brussels technology press, national correspondents on technology and industry, and editors across Europe.
- Pitching stories, preparing colleagues for interviews, and turning long research documents into something an editor will run.
2. Policy and politics
Experience with the policy process in Europe.
- Working with officials in the European institutions and national ministries, and knowing which files are actually in play.
- Reading the politics: who needs a win, which coalitions could form, and what a proposal will look like after it survives three committees.
3. AI, from infrastructure to models
Knowing how the technology works and where the leverage sits.
- Taking the possibility of rapid capability gains seriously, and discussing safety without hype or dismissal.
- Understanding the infrastructure layer: chips and the equipment that makes them, materials, data centers, energy, and networking.
- Understanding the model layer: how frontier systems are trained and deployed, what capabilities are improving fastest, and how evaluations and safety testing work in practice.
- Reading academic and civil society research and industry announcements critically, and telling the team when something we believed has stopped being true.
- Thinking through the cyber and economic risks Europe faces and which policy choices make them more or less likely.
4. Backend and project management
Building the systems and relationships the rest of the work runs on.
- Keeping our map of the people who set AI policy across the European institutions and member states accurate, structured, and used.
- Being the main contact for the external partner building our relationship-management tooling, which is designed to be shared with other organizations in the European AI policy field. You specify what we need, test what they build, and keep it useful for the wider field and not only for us.
- Organizing roundtables, closed-door dinners, and briefings: invitations, logistics, briefing packs, and follow-up.
- Scheduling coordination calls with partners and funders, and keeping notes and next steps somewhere colleagues can depend on.
What We’re looking for
From both hires:
- Judgment about what belongs in public and what stays in the room, and the honesty to say when you are unsure. A lot of this work rests on trust with people who cannot be quoted.
- At least three years of direct, relevant work experience in one or more of the four areas above. More experience is welcome, and the salary range reflects that: where you land in it depends on how much of your experience is directly relevant to the role.
- Excellent written English.
- Fluency in French or Spanish is a big plus, along with the ability to work with journalists, officials, and partners in those languages. Tell us which languages you use and at what level, and which national policy or media landscapes you know from the inside.
- Alignment with our founding principles, and interest in a self-managing environment using tools like Holacracy and Getting Things Done.
Depending on which areas you take on, we will also look for:
- Media and narrative: published writing on policy, technology, economics, or politics, under your name or someone else's. Existing journalist and editor relationships, and a plan for building more.
- Policy and politics: experience working on or influencing policy in Brussels or a European capital, and an understanding of how those systems really work.
- AI, from infrastructure to models: expertise built in industry, research, government, or advocacy, in the supply chain, in compute and energy infrastructure, in evaluation and standards, or in frontier model development.
- Backend and project management: a track record of building or fixing systems that other people then relied on, and the discipline to keep them current.
You should already have the right to work in the European Union, as we are not able to sponsor visas for these roles.
What we offer
- €45,000–€55,000 gross annual salary, including 8% holiday allowance paid monthly. Where you land in the range follows our transparent salary framework, based on your relevant experience rather than negotiation, and your salary grows automatically each year through a fixed step plus an inflation correction.
- A role at the center of one of Europe's most ambitious nonprofits, on a question that will shape the continent for decades, with unusual access to the people who set the direction.
- A small, supportive team of three and a short path from idea to action. If you think we should be doing something differently, you can argue for it and then do it.
- A self-managing environment with clear roles, freedom, and structure. We care about documentation, scalability, and automation, in line with the Action principle in Moral Ambition.
- Hybrid work setup, an office in the center of Amsterdam with a daily vegan lunch, and a workspace in Brussels.
- 30 days of paid holiday per calendar year, plus public holidays, which you can swap for another day off.
- A pension plan with an 8% employer contribution, growing to 12.9% in 2027 in line with CAO Sociaal Werk.
- Full coverage of your public transportation costs between home and work.
- Network opportunities: we will organize various touchpoints for you to meet people from The School for Moral Ambition, as well as our fellows and partners across Europe.
- A lot of fun. As we tried to convey in our founding principles: "We're not driven by feelings of guilt, but by sheer enthusiasm. We're simply excited about making the world a wildly better place, and about building a legacy that matters."
We value talent and a can-do attitude above traditional credentials. Even if you don't meet every requirement, and especially if you think we might overlook something that would make you a good fit, we welcome you to push back and apply. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and non-traditional career paths. If you have questions about the roles, email Jan-Willem directly at janwillem@moralambition.org.
Application process
- Application (August 6 – September 6, 2026) Fill out the online form. No long motivation letter, just a few focused questions, including which areas you want to carry. We assess applications on a rolling basis. The form should not take longer than an hour or two.
- First-round conversations Two separate 30-minute online conversations, one with Jan-Willem and one with a colleague from elsewhere in The School. We schedule them back to back where we can, and each of us scores independently before we compare notes.
- Trial half day We invite the final candidates for a half day of work on real tasks, in the Amsterdam office or remote. You work on things we are actually dealing with, so we both get a real sense of the match. Two of us review the work independently. We pay €150 for the half day, €200 if it runs beyond four hours, plus travel expenses, and we eat lunch together if you are in the office.
- References With your agreement, we speak to two references, at least one of whom managed you directly.
- Outcome and offer We call you first to walk through the offer, then send it in writing. You have five to seven days to respond.
