Open positions to grow our podcast team

Why this matters

The 80,000 Hours Podcast aims to help the world safely navigate the transition to a flourishing future with artificial general intelligence. We focus on influencing the decisions that matter most — helping people identify high-leverage career moves and important actions they can take in their current positions.

Our episodes reach tens or hundreds of thousands of people, and we regularly hear from employees in government and at leading AI companies who find them useful. We’re also growing fast: in 2025, our listenership was around 60% higher than the same period last year. In order to further improve the usefulness and reach of our episodes, we need to increase the team’s capacity.

Right now, in addition to recording important conversations, our hosts handle much of the crucial work that surrounds each episode:

• Identifying which conversations would actually change important decisions
• Finding guests who can deliver those insights
• Shaping episodes to land the key arguments effectively
• Ensuring the right decision-makers encounter the content at the right moment

We’re looking to hire two people to the team who can take on some of this work, allowing Rob and Luisa to focus more of their time on making great episodes.

The window is short. If we’re right about AI timelines, the decisions that shape humanity’s long-run trajectory are happening now, not in 20 years. We’re a small team trying to do something unreasonably ambitious and we’re looking for the right people to help us scale up.

Who we’re looking for

We think the team’s responsibilities could be structured in various different ways, so we’re open to hiring various different profiles of people to the team, into variously structured roles.

We’re hoping to make two hires, both of whom:

• Are ambitious about impact — you want your work to meaningfully shape important conversations, not just contribute at the margins. You’re excited to take on significant challenges.
• Have strong judgement about content — you understand what makes people click, watch, and share, particularly among professional and policy audiences.
• Are clear communicators — you can articulate complex ideas plainly and concisely, making information easy for others to understand and act on. You’re comfortable discussing uncertainties in decision-making and naturally anticipate questions others might have.
• Consume a lot of audio or video podcasts — or secondarily, Substacks, AI/effective altruism Twitter, or video clips.
• Actively engage with AI/AGI developments — you follow the field, take the implications seriously, and want to contribute to better outcomes.
• Are willing to take an experimental approach, changing plans in response to what seems to resonate with the target audience.

Depending on your experience level and the responsibilities you take on, you’ll report to either the Director of Podcast, Michelle Hutchinson, or the Chief of Staff for the podcast team, Eve McCormick. In either case, you’ll work closely with our hosts, Rob Wiblin and Luisa Rodriguez, and receive coaching from them.

Below are particular profiles of people and role specifications we might be excited to hire. We expect many strong candidates won’t fit neatly into a single category and might be suited for multiple roles, or none of them as they are described here.

Podcast Growth Specialist

In this role, you would oversee the packaging, promotion, and distribution of our content, figuring out how to reach the right people and how to measure what’s working.

Responsibilities for this role might include:

• Packaging episodes for impact: Crafting titles, descriptions, thumbnails, and promotional clips that accurately represent content while maximising engagement with priority audiences.
• Multi-platform strategy: Developing and executing plans to promote episodes across YouTube, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, podcasting platforms, and potentially TikTok/Instagram and Substack.
• Audience research: Understanding both qualitatively and quantitatively who engages with our content, what they look for in content, and what gaps exist in their knowledge.
• Launch coordination: Managing the logistics of episode releases, including scheduling, platform uploads, and promotional campaigns
• Performance analysis: Tracking metrics across platforms, identifying what’s working, and translating insights into actionable recommendations.

You might be suited to this role if you have:

• Experience with content marketing, social media growth, or digital advertising
• Data-driven mindset — you’re comfortable with analytics tools and using data to guide decisions
• Understanding of key audiences — you understand the interests and information needs of people working across the AI policy, safety, and research landscape, or are excited to develop that understanding
• Excellent communication — you write compelling copy and can articulate strategic thinking clearly
• Organisational capability — you can manage multiple campaigns and initiatives simultaneously without dropping balls

Research Specialist or Assistant

In this role, you would specialise in identifying what topics to cover, who to talk to, and what questions to ask them.

Responsibilities for this role might include:

• Strategic guest selection and content planning: Tracking developments in the AGI space to identify what topics deserve coverage, determining which perspectives and expertise would be most valuable for our audience, and which guests we should ask to speak to those topics.
• Guest research and outreach: Researching potential guests’ work to identify what makes them valuable to interview, how their expertise fits into our content strategy, and how to best approach them so they want to come on the show.
• Interview preparation: Drafting potential questions, anticipating key considerations and cruxes, and helping hosts prepare for substantive conversations that surface the most important ideas.

You might be suited to this role if you have:

• Background in AI safety, AI policy, computer science, philosophy, or related fields
• Strong analytical and research skills — you can quickly get up to speed on complex topics and identify key considerations
• Intellectual curiosity — you enjoy diving into technical details while keeping sight of the big picture
• Clear written communication — you can synthesise research and communicate findings concisely
• Good judgement — you can assess the credibility of sources and the strength of different arguments

Podcast Producer / Content Strategist

This role would be for the “editorial generalist” — someone who can own episodes end-to-end, from helping select topics and guests through to launching the final episodes and assessing their impact.

Responsibilities for this role might include:

• Guest discovery and vetting: Identifying potential guests who could speak authoritatively on priority topics, conducting preliminary research and outreach, assessing fit for the show.
• Content-level editing: Reviewing recorded interviews and shaping the narrative flow — suggesting cuts, reordering segments, identifying sections that need clarification, and ensuring episodes are clear and compelling.
• Launch strategy and execution: Selecting engaging episode titles and thumbnails, crafting compelling opening clips and promotional materials to attract and retain audience attention, writing episode descriptions and social media copy.
• Audience learning: Understanding what the audience needs from us, gathering and channeling feedback into content improvements, tracking what resonates and why.

You might be suited to this role if you:

• Have experience with at least one of:
  • Content creation and editing, whether text, video or audio
  • Content marketing
  • Social media
• Have organisational capability — you can independently manage podcast projects, preparing content and structuring episodes without much oversight
• Enjoy working across different levels — from strategy to execution
• Understand our key audiences — you understand the interests and information needs of people working across the AI policy, safety, and research landscape, or are excited to develop that understanding
• Have strong analytical and research skills — you can quickly get up to speed on complex topics and identify key considerations
• Have clear written communication — you can synthesise research and communicate findings concisely

What we offer

• We’re open to a wide range of levels of experience for these roles. The salary will depend on your skills and experience, but to give a rough sense of the range:
  • The starting salary for more junior versions of the roles for someone with 1 year of experience would be ~£47,000 per year
  • The starting salary for more senior versions of the roles for someone with 10 years of experience would be ~£85,000
  • There may be some flexibility at the upper end of this range for the most experienced candidates.
• Staff can work flexible hours. We encourage staff to work a schedule (consistent with full-time status) which will allow them to be personally effective, while also facilitating collaboration with the rest of the team.
  • In particular, it would be very beneficial to have at least two hours of overlap in your working day with our hosts, who are currently based in London, UK.
• Location
  • We prefer people to either work in the San Francisco Bay Area, in order to be connected with other organisations working on AGI issues, or to work part-time or full-time in our London office, getting the benefits of being in-person with most of the team.
  • For some versions of these roles, we would have a preference for people working from our London office.
  • A third-best option is to locate in Washington, DC, which will be a centre of AI policy and governance.
  • We are also open to remote work in some cases. For remote or US-based candidates, we would be interested in you travelling to London 2-4 times per year to work with the team in person.
  • We can sponsor UK visas. For US-based candidates, visa sponsorship may be possible through our Employer of Record.
• The start date of the role is flexible, but we would expect you to start during the first half of 2026.

Our benefits

• 25 days of paid holiday, plus public holidays in line with your location (at least eight per year)
• Up to 10 days of paid sick leave per year, in addition to holiday
• Private medical insurance with substantial coverage for your dependents (including your partner)
• Long-term disability insurance
• Pension scheme / retirement plan with employer contributions
• Up to 14 weeks of fully paid parental leave and childcare allowance for children under five
• Business travel insurance
• £5,000/$6,000 annual mental health support allowance
• £5,000/$6,000 annual self-development budget
• The option to use 10% of your time for self-development
• Gym, shower facilities, and unlimited free food provided at our London office
• Up to £8,000 relocation stipend if you need to move due to your role at 80k

Application process

To apply, please fill in this application form by EOD PST 30 November 2025.

If you have any problems submitting the form, please send your CV to [email protected]

The application process will vary a bit depending on the candidate, but is likely to include written work and interview components, and a multi-day in-person trial. We offer payment for work samples and trials, conditional on your location and right to work in the UK.

If you’re feeling unsure whether you meet our criteria, we’d like to strongly encourage you to apply.