Threat Modeler, Preparedness

TL;DR

Threat Modeler, Preparedness (AI Safety): Identifying, modeling, and forecasting catastrophic risks from frontier AI systems with an accent on developing comprehensive threat models across various misuse areas (bio, cyber, attack planning, loss of control). Focus on combining technical foresight, adversarial simulation, and emerging trends to translate threat models into actionable mitigation designs.

Location: Onsite in San Francisco, USA

Salary: $325K + Equity

Company

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity.

What you will do

• Develop and maintain comprehensive threat models across all misuse areas (bio, cyber, attack planning, etc.).
• Develop plausible and convincing threat models across loss of control and self-improvement risks from frontier AI systems.
• Forecast risks by combining technical foresight, adversarial simulation, and emerging trends.
• Pair closely with technical partners on capability evaluations and Bio/Cyber Leads for mitigation designs.
• Act as the thought partner and explainer for high-investment mitigation efforts.
• Serve as the central node connecting technical, governance, and policy perspectives on risk prioritization.

Requirements

• Strong understanding of risks from frontier AI systems and AI alignment literature.
• Deep experience in threat modeling, risk analysis, or adversarial thinking (e.g., security, national security, or safety).
• Knowledge of how AI evaluations work and connecting results to capability testing and safeguard sufficiency.
• Ability to work across technical and policy domains to drive rigorous, multidisciplinary risk assessments.
• Excellent communication skills for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• System-level thinking to naturally anticipate second-order and cascading risks.

Culture & Benefits

• Work with the Preparedness team, guided by OpenAI’s Preparedness Framework, focused on safety.
• Opportunity to shape the future of AI technology for the benefit of humanity.
• Join an equal opportunity employer committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.