Vice President Of Policy

About Ready State Labs

Ready State Labs (RSL) is a new non-profit organization dedicated to helping the U.S. federal government keep pace with rapidly advancing AI. As artificial intelligence transforms society, RSL will be an experimental and entrepreneurial lab made up of policy, government modernization, and AI experts working to equip the federal government with the expertise and capacity needed to govern and deploy AI effectively. RSL will help policymakers and implementers understand emerging AI capabilities, modernize the institutions responsible for governing and adopting them, and develop practical tools that improve how the government serves the American people.





The Role

RSL is looking for a Vice President of Policy to build and lead the organization's policy work.

This is a senior, entrepreneurial role for someone who understands how policy gets made and wants to help government grapple with the implications of increasingly capable AI systems. The VP of Policy will shape RSL's policy agenda, develop actionable recommendations, build relationships with policymakers and technical experts, and ensure RSL's work reaches the people making consequential decisions about AI. The role is broader than traditional policy research. RSL is interested not only in what government should do, but in whether government has the institutions, expertise, infrastructure, and operating capacity to actually do it. The VP of Policy will therefore work closely with RSL's technical and government modernization teams to translate emerging AI capabilities into concrete policy and institutional responses.

The ideal candidate combines excellent policy judgment with a strong bias toward action. You should be able to move from understanding a rapidly evolving technical issue, to developing a thoughtful policy position, to convening the right stakeholders, to helping policymakers understand what decisions they actually need to make. As one of RSL's earliest leaders, you will have substantial influence over the organization's intellectual agenda, external relationships, and approach to AI policy.





What You'll Do

Build RSL's policy agenda


- Develop and lead RSL's policy strategy and agenda, anticipating future challenges rather than only reacting to existing debates.
- Translate technical developments into concrete policy questions, options, and recommendations.
- Help determine where RSL can make a distinctive contribution relative to existing think tanks, advocacy organizations, industry groups, and government institutions.
- Ensure RSL's policy work remains rigorous, practical, nonpartisan, and grounded in an understanding of how government actually operates.


Develop actionable policy


- Produce policy recommendations, memos, briefings, reports, legislative concepts, and implementation frameworks.
- Work with technical experts to ensure policy proposals reflect the actual capabilities and limitations of AI systems.
- Develop practical recommendations on issues such as AI adoption, government data, technical standards, procurement, evaluations, security, institutional capacity, and emerging AI capabilities.
- Analyze how existing laws, authorities, programs, and institutions can be used or adapted to respond to technological change.
- Identify opportunities for relatively near-term government action alongside longer-term institutional reforms.
- Help policymakers distinguish between decisions that require new authorities and those that can be accomplished using existing tools.


Educate and support policymakers


- Build trusted relationships with congressional offices, federal agencies, executive branch officials, and other public-sector leaders.
- Design briefings, workshops, trainings, and convenings that help policymakers understand rapidly evolving AI capabilities and their implications.
- Serve as a resource to policymakers working through complex technical and institutional questions.
- Develop materials that translate technical concepts into clear, decision-relevant information for nontechnical audiences.
- Identify gaps in policymaker understanding and develop programs to address them before they become barriers to good decision-making.


Build and lead the policy team


- Recruit, manage, and develop RSL's policy staff as the organization grows.
- Establish strong standards for research quality, policy analysis, writing, and external engagement.
- Develop processes for identifying, prioritizing, and executing policy projects.
- Create a culture that rewards intellectual curiosity, practical thinking, speed, rigor, and openness to being wrong.
- Work closely with RSL's technical and operational leadership to ensure policy projects are integrated with the organization's broader work..






What We're Looking For

We expect strong candidates to bring many, but not necessarily all, of the following:


- Approximately 8–15+ years of professional experience in public policy, government, technology policy, a think tank, research organization, or a related field.
- Deep understanding of how federal policymaking works, ideally with meaningful experience working in or closely with Congress, the executive branch, or federal agencies.
- Demonstrated ability to develop sophisticated policy ideas and translate them into practical recommendations.
- Strong judgment about which policy problems matter and where government action can realistically have impact.
- Excellent writing and an ability to communicate complex ideas clearly, concisely, and persuasively.
- Strong understanding of AI policy and a desire to develop increasingly deep technical fluency.
- Ability to engage credibly with both highly technical experts and senior policymakers.
- Experience building trusted relationships across ideological, institutional, and sectoral lines.
- Strong management skills and experience leading teams or major initiatives.
- Comfort operating in an ambiguous, fast-moving environment where priorities may evolve as technology changes.
- A low-ego, high-ownership approach and willingness to move between big-picture strategy and hands-on execution.
- Genuine excitement about RSL's mission and the challenge of preparing public institutions for increasingly capable AI.






Why Join RSL

The next several years will determine how governments adapt to increasingly capable AI systems. Unfortunately, the government institutions responsible for making consequential decisions about AI often lack the technical knowledge, infrastructure, talent, and operating capacity needed to keep pace.

RSL is being built to help change that.

This is an opportunity to join at the ground floor and help build not just a portfolio of projects, but an institution capable of shaping how government operates in the AI era.





RSL is accepting applications for this position until October 1, 2026.