about the job
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.
Other countries are also looking for partners who would rather not leave the future of AI to a handful of frontier labs and the governments closest to those companies. Some of the scenarios that worry us most are cybersecurity threats and economic dependencies deep enough to be used as leverage.
In practice the work of this program means making sure top talent works on this issue and getting expertise in front of the people writing the rules. We are hiring two people, this role and a Program Assistant. With them the team will be three, including Jan-Willem van Putten, who leads the program. You will work with Jan-Willem directly, in a self-managing organization where you shape and hold your own roles.
Key responsibilities
With policymakers
- Getting the right expertise in front of the people writing the rules, connecting key experts to the main decision makers.
- Working directly with officials in the European institutions and national ministries.
In public
- Writing op-eds, briefings, and explainers, in your own name, but mainly as a co-writer and researcher for colleagues and allied experts.
- Building relationships with the Brussels technology press, national correspondents on technology and industry, and editors across Europe.
- Pitching stories and turning long research documents into something an editor will actually run.
What We’re looking for
- At least six years of work experience, with a part of it spent working on or influencing policy in Brussels or a European capital, and a real understanding of how those systems work rather than how they are described.
- Highly agentic, able to independently own workstreams.
- Being able to work under high time pressure and still make good decisions.
- Existing relationships with officials and journalists.
- Excellent written English. Fluency in French or Spanish is a very significant advantage, along with the ability to work with officials, journalists, and partners in that language.
- An interest in AI: how the technology works, roughly how frontier systems are trained and deployed, and where the leverage sits in the supply chain, from chips and data centers to models.
- Judgment about what belongs in public and what stays in the room.
- Alignment with our founding principles, and interest in a self-managing environment using tools like Holacracy and Getting Things Done.
NB: You should already have the right to work in the European Union, as we are not able to sponsor visas for this role.
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 role, email Jan-Willem directly at janwillem@moralambition.org.
What we offer
- €66,400–€75,000 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 access to the people who set the direction.
- Ownership of parts of the policy/public side of a program, without the layer of sign-off that usually sits between the two.
- 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, a workspace in Brussels, and an office in the center of Amsterdam with a daily vegan lunch.
- 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.
- Full coverage of your work related travel expenses across Europe.
- 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."
Application process
- Application: Fill out the online form. No long motivation letter, just a few focused questions. 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 Brussels or Amsterdam. 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.
