Executive Director, Center Behavioral Science and AI

Executive Director, Center for Behavioral Science and AI

Job Category
:
Executive

Requisition Number
: EXECU
003043

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• Posted :
  April 2, 2026
• Full-Time
• Remote
• Salary : $320,000 USD per year

Showing 1 location

Washington, DC 20002, USA

Note: APA operates on a 37.5-hour work week with one-hour lunch breaks each day. APA sets salaries based on several considerations, including years of relevant experience, level of education, and previous staff and/or governance experience at APA.

The Executive Director (ED) serves as the chief executive and public ambassador of the Center for Behavioral Science and AI (CBSAI), providing visionary leadership across strategy, research, external relations, fundraising, operations and organizational management. The ED champions the application of psychological science to AI platforms and emerging technology policy, and translates the Center’s mission into measurable impact.

This is a rare opportunity for a leader with both scientific depth and entrepreneurial drive to build something genuinely new at the intersection of behavioral science and artificial intelligence. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable shaping a long-term research agenda, delivering a keynote address at an international forum, and managing a lean, mission-driven team. In close partnership with APA leadership and the Center’s funders and stakeholders, the ED will be accountable for the Center’s programmatic impact, commitment to scientific and ethical standards, and fiscal health.

Technology companies have long recognized the importance of understanding how human behavior intersects with AI systems, platforms, and applications. With AI rapidly penetrating all aspects of individuals’ lives and society as a whole, the technology presents both extraordinary promise and significant peril.

The CBSAI seeks to fundamentally broaden the role of psychological science in AI’s layered ecosystem — spanning software, hardware, language models, data tools, and the interfaces used to build, train, deploy, and manage AI applications. The Center is how APA’s institutional capacity becomes operational for the AI industry: a permanent infrastructure for translating the broad body of behavioral science into the products that now mediate how billions of people think, feel, learn, work, and relate to one another.

APA believes AI’s scaffolding should enable humans to thrive, adapt, and grow across all dimensions of life. The Center will sit at the nexus of human behavior, technology, and well‑being — bridging academic research and real-world impact by bringing sound science to AI and technology companies through research, advocacy, education, and national and international collaboration.

The Center is in its start-up phase and seeks a dynamic founding-generation leader to build its programs, deepen its reach, and establish CBSAI as a premier voice in human-centered AI and behavioral science.

Salary range - $320k - $420k

• Doctoral degree (PhD) in Psychology, Cognitive Science, Behavioral Science, Public Policy, or a closely related interdisciplinary field strongly preferred; advanced study or certification in AI policy, technology law, international studies, or organizational governance is a meaningful asset
• 10+ years of progressively responsible experience spanning research, policy, entrepreneurship, and/or executive leadership
• Demonstrated success founding, leading, or significantly scaling a mission-driven organization, research center, or start-up
• Substantial experience conducting and publishing original research in behavioral science, cognitive science, AI, technology policy, or a related field
• Deep expertise in the behavioral and psychological dimensions of AI, including human-AI interaction, the mental health impacts of technology, social media and platform design, and consumer technology
• Experience in business development, strategic partnering, and stakeholder management across public, private, and nonprofit sectors
• Familiarity with AI applications and the business models of technology companies
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including…