We’re Hiring: Deputy Director for the Janne E. Nolan Center on Strategic Weapons/ Lead for the Alliance to End Biological Threats  

The Council on Strategic Risks (CSR) seeks to hire a Deputy Director for the Janne E. Nolan Center on Strategic Weapons (The Nolan Center). The person in this role will also help to lead CSR’s Alliance to End Biological Threats. This is an exciting growth opportunity for the right candidate. 

The person filling this role will:

Help ensure CSR has the right strategy, programs, and people to drive progress in addressing biological, nuclear, chemical, and other strategic weapons threats by:

  • Identifying gaps in the field and devising plans for CSR to contribute to filling them.
  • Raising awareness and pushing for the U.S. and international communities to prioritize addressing these threats. 
  • Contributing to current and continuing Nolan Center efforts, such as its policy development for making bioweapons obsolete as a mass-destruction threat, work to advance new concepts for nuclear arms control, and track 1.5 dialogues with international counterparts.
  • Developing new projects.
  • Ensuring Nolan Center work advances the organization’s mission.

Help lead the Alliance to End Biological Threats, CSR’s initiative to bring together top scientists, policy experts, technologists, nonprofit and business leaders who share a common vision: that future disease outbreaks can be detected and responded to so rapidly and effectively that they never again reach pandemic scale. They will help lead the Alliance by:

  • Managing and growing the network of public and private sector leaders involved in the Alliance and fostering collaboration among them. 
  • Designing and implementing plans for drawing on Alliance participants’ diverse expertise to advance progress in pathogen early warning, rapid medical countermeasure development, risk reduction, and more. 
  • Conducting outreach and educational events that help advance ambitious policies and actions for halting biological events effectively. 

Responsibilities for this role will include:

  • Conducting regular outreach to government officials, international contacts, and other stakeholders. This will include private meetings, writing short form and in-depth reports, public speaking, and other outreach activities.
  • Engaging, leading, and at times mobilizing extensive stakeholder networks and strategic partners. This will include advisors and affiliates of the organization, senior technology, security, and foreign policy leaders, donors, and beyond. 
  • Helping to manage Nolan Center workstreams, budgets, and personnel. In some cases, this will require leading consortiums of coauthors, contributors, and project partners.  
  • Developing, fundraising for, and managing projects, and ensuring a high quality of work. 
  • Collaborating with CSR’s Research Director in managing publications and press releases.  
  • Managing growth, navigating change, and troubleshooting, often in collaboration with the CEO and Directors/Deputy Directors of CSR’s Center for Climate and Security and Converging Risks Lab. 
  • Contributing to CSR organizational culture by:
  • Mentoring others on the CSR team. 
  • Participating in strategic evaluation and development processes.
  • Helping to advance CSR’s diversity and inclusivity goals.
  • Helping with occasional personnel processes such as applicant evaluations, conducting interviews, and overseeing interns.
  • Taking on other responsibilities that may be requested from time to time.

The ideal candidate will have:

  • Strong working knowledge of international security issues and trends
  • Expertise in and passion for addressing weapons of mass destruction threats
  • Expertise regarding global health security and its intersection with addressing biological threats of all origins
  • Strong writing, communication, and interpersonal skills
  • A desire to work in multidisciplinary, silo-busting environments
  • Experience overseeing others
  • Skills in editing written works  
  • A combination of significant experience relevant to the roles identified above and/or an advanced degree in a related field
  • Experience with budgeting, fundraising and other financial management matters is desired
  • An ability to thrive in a flexible, innovative and largely remote working environment
  • Location (at least part time) in Washington, D.C. is strongly desired

CSR seeks candidates with the vision and potential needed to become a true leader in national and international security. CSR has a flexible work environment; outside of specific in-person meetings and events (when they may be conducted safely) remote work is our norm. Compensation will be approximately $120,000-130,000 per year, depending on qualifications, plus benefits. 

CSR will consider applications on a rolling basis until the position is filled, with a strong preference for the person beginning no later than December 2021.

Apply for the Deputy Director position at this link

CSR is an equal opportunity employer. We will not discriminate and will take affirmative action measures to ensure against discrimination in employment, recruitment, advertisements for employment, compensation, termination, upgrading, promotions, and other conditions of employment against any employee or job applicant on the bases of race, color, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, political affiliation, matriculation status, genetic disposition or carrier status, or any other category protected under applicable federal, state or local law.

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