Back to jobs
New

Junior AI Strategist

US-Remote | US-VA-Arlington | US-NC-Chapel Hill | US-IL-Chicago | US-CA-Sacramento | US-TX-Austin

AIR’s AI portfolio of work generates evidence, convenes and connects leaders across sectors, and translates research into practical guidance and capacity building. Key initiatives include the AI Century Study (a 100-year national longitudinal cohort study tracking how AI shapes human development), sector-specific AI evidence generation networks, strategic partnerships, and thought leadership. AIR seeks a Junior AI Strategist to join its AI initiatives team. This is an early-career role designed for someone who brings intellectual curiosity, strong communication skills, and a genuine interest in how AI is reshaping social systems and institutions. The primary focus of this role is supporting early-stage market scanning, partnership outreach, communications, and the day-to-day coordination of AIR’s AI initiatives, including sector-specific evidence networks and the AI Century Study. 

This role is a great fit for someone early in their career who wants to build skills at the intersection of strategy, external engagement, and applied AI work in a mission-driven environment. The Junior AI Strategist will work closely with senior team members and grow into increasing responsibility across partnership development, thought leadership, and market analysis. 

This is a time-limited position expected to last 24 months. The selected candidate will work full-time on AIR’s AI initiatives, supporting market scanning, partner outreach, and business development activities, with potential for extension at AIR’s discretion and continued business need.

This position has the flexibility to work remotely within the United States (U.S.) or from one of AIR’s U.S. office locations. This does not include U.S. territories.

About AIR:

Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance to address some of the most pressing challenges in the United States and globally. We generate evidence and apply data-driven solutions that expand opportunities and improve lives for all. 

Responsibilities:

The responsibilities for the position include:

Partnership and Stakeholder Support

  • Support relationship building with external partners, collaborators, and sector experts aligned with AIR’s AI priorities.
  • Prepare materials for external meetings and convenings, including briefings, agendas, and follow-up documentation.
  • Support outreach to potential partners, collaborators, and funders across public, private, philanthropic, and academic sectors.
  • Track relationship progress and follow-up activities to support consistent external engagement across the team. 

Communications and Thought Leadership

  • Draft and edit external-facing materials, including concept notes, blog posts, social media content, and briefings tied to AIR’s AI work.
  • Support the development and execution of AIR’s AI communications plan.
  • Contribute to the preparation of proposals and supporting materials for AI-related business development opportunities by assembling background research, market insights, and partner-relevant content. 

Market Analysis

  • Monitor AI policy, technology, and market developments across social sectors and translate findings into clear briefing materials and summaries for internal and external audiences to inform outreach, positioning, and proposal development efforts. 
  • Conduct landscape scans and background research to help the team stay current on the AI ecosystem, including key players, funding trends, and emerging use cases with an eye towards identifying potential partners and areas for growth.
  • Synthesize partner input and market signals into actionable takeaways for the team and flag potential opportunities for follow-on engagement. 

Cross-Team Coordination

  • Coordinate logistics and preparation for team meetings, workshops, and external convenings.
  • Support cross-team alignment by tracking workstreams, maintaining shared documentation, and flagging emerging priorities or dependencies.
  • Assist with operational systems that support business development tracking and proposal management and ensure relevant market and partner data are up to date and accessible. 

Qualifications:

Education, Knowledge, and Experience

  • Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 2 years of relevant experience in social sciences, public policy, education, technology, communications, or a related field. 
  • Demonstrated interest in AI and its implications for social systems, human development, or public policy. 
  • Experience supporting projects or initiatives that involve coordination across multiple teams, stakeholders, or workstreams. 
  • Exposure to or interest in market analysis, partnership development, or business development processes.

Skills

  • Ability to synthesize complex or technical information and translate it into clear, accessible insights to support decision-making, external positioning, or proposal development.
  • Proficiency using AI tools to synthesize information, draft content, analyze data, or improve efficiency in day-to-day work.
  • Ability to apply sound judgment when interpreting AI-generated outputs.
  • Strong organizational skills and comfort managing multiple priorities in an evolving environment.
  • Effective communicator, with experience producing clear materials for diverse audiences.
  • Ability to gather and organize market, partner, and competitive information to support team priorities and external engagement efforts
  • Ability to work collaboratively across roles, functions, and levels of seniority.
  • Commitment to AIR’s mission of generating evidence and applying data-driven solutions that expand opportunities and improve lives for all. 

Disclosures: Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the U.S. on a full-time basis. Employment-based visa sponsorship (including H-1B sponsorship) is not available for this position. Depending on project work, qualified candidates may need to meet certain residency requirements.

American Institutes for Research is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law, including, but not limited to, actual or perceived race (including traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles such as braid, locks, and twists), creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition (e.g., cancer), sex, gender, gender identity or expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, civil union status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, genetic information, or military or veteran status. AIR adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo reference and background checks. AIR maintains a drug-free work environment. 

ACCESSIBILITY NOTICE: If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process due to a physical or mental disability, please send an email to Taliba Boone at tboone@air.org or call 202.403.5000.

Fraudulent Job Scams Warning & Disclaimer: AIR is aware of individuals falsely presenting themselves as AIR representatives. Fraudulent job scams seek to extract sensitive information or money from victims. To protect yourself, please be aware that AIR recruitment will only email you from an “@air.org” domain. Please take extra caution while examining the email address, for example jdoe@air.org is correct and jdoe@aircareers.org is not a legitimate AIR email address. If you are unsure of the legitimacy of a communication you have received, please reach out to recruitment@air.org. If you see a job scam, or lose money to one, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You can also report it to your state attorney general. Find out more about how to avoid scams atftc.gov/scams.

#LI-AS1 #LI-REMOTE

AIR’s Total Rewards Program, is designed to reward our staff competitively and motivate them to achieve our critical mission. This position offers the anticipated annual salary as listed. Salary offers are made based on internal equity within the institution and external equity with competitive markets. Please note this is the annual salary range for candidates that are based in the United States.

Anticipated Annual Salary Range

$90,000 - $110,000 USD

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at American Institutes for Research? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

NOTE: Selecting “no” will not eliminate you from consideration for a job. Message and data rates may apply, depending on your mobile phone service plan. At any time, you can get more help by replying HELP to these texts, or you can opt out completely by replying STOP.  

View AIR's SMS/Text Terms of Service and Text/SMS Message Privacy Policy.

Select...

GDPR Notice: When you apply to a job on this site, the personal data contained in your application will be collected by the Controller, American Institutes for Research (“AIR”), which is located at 1400 Crystal Drive, 10th Floor, Arlington, VA 22202 USA and can be contacted by emailing Taliba Boone, Senior Recruitment Operations Specialist. AIR’s recruitment-related activities include scheduling and conducting interviews for applicants, evaluating and assessing results thereof, and such other tasks as are otherwise needed in the recruitment and hiring processes.  Such processing is legally permissible under Art. 6(1)(f) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) as necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by AIR, which are the solicitation, evaluation, and selection of applicants for employment.

Your personal data will be shared with Greenhouse Software, Inc., a cloud services provider located in the United States of America and engaged by AIR to help manage its recruitment and hiring process on AIR’s behalf. Accordingly, if you are located outside of the United States, your personal data will be transferred to the United States once you submit it through this site.

Your personal data will be retained by AIR as long as AIR determines it is necessary to evaluate your application for employment and to meet the legal requirements with respect to AIR’s hiring processes. Under the GDPR, you have the right to request access to your personal data, to request that your personal data be rectified or erased, and to request that processing of your personal data be restricted. You also have the right to data portability. In addition, you may lodge a complaint with an EU supervisory authority.

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in American Institutes for Research’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.