Project Manager, Sensitive Data & AI Systems

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Regular/Temporary:
  Regular
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: $185,000 - $195,000

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training. The above hiring range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

Reporting to PIs on the Mosaic Inference Defender against LLM-Assisted Threats (MIDLLMAT) project. The Project Manager will lead the day-to-day execution of a multi-institutional research program to develop and evaluate advanced AI systems for sensitive information extraction, access control, and malicious user detection. The project integrates large language models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), knowledge graphs, and human-in-the-loop evaluation, using millions of declassified documents.

The Project Manager role, requires exceptional experience managing large, interdisciplinary technical teams, overseeing AI systems that process sensitive data, coordinating human-subjects research, and ensuring compliance with complex data governance, privacy, and security frameworks. The Project Manager will serve as the operational nexus between computer scientists, statisticians, historians, external evaluators, and government stakeholders.

This position is supported by external grant funding. Continued employment is contingent on funding availability.

• Lead operational management of a complex, distributed research program involving Columbia University faculty and students, consultants, and external partners.
• Coordinate work across teams of computer scientists, statisticians, historians, data scientists, and evaluation specialists.
• Oversee timelines, milestones, deliverables, and reporting requirements across multiple technical work streams.

• Manage projects involving large-scale AI systems operating on previously sensitive, restricted, or classified data.
• Oversee research on risk mitigation strategies related to data access, aggregation, and inference.
• Work closely with technical teams developing LLM-based and RAG-based systems to ensure alignment with security, ethics, and governance requirements.

• Serve as primary operational liaison with senior academic leadership, funding agencies, and external research partners.
• Support preparation of technical reports, briefings, and presentations for government and research audiences.
• Facilitate cross-institutional coordination on data sharing, access controls, and collaborative workflows.

• Oversee the coordination of human subjects' research activities, including evaluator recruitment, ethics approvals, and compliance with Institutional Review Board (IRB) and international research ethics frameworks.
• Support the administration of approved evaluation activities by managing documentation, timelines, and required review materials.
• Ensure required records, approvals, and documentation related to data use, transparency, and reporting are properly maintained in accordance with institutional and funder requirements.

• Contribute to long‑term research sustainability planning by identifying opportunities to extend, scale, or integrate project components into future initiatives.
• Monitor emerging program solicitations and priority areas to identify and assess new funding opportunities.
• Support the development of grant proposals, white papers, and concept notes.

• Demonstrated experience leading large interdisciplinary teams, including data scientists and domain experts.
• Substantial experience overseeing projects involving AI systems and machine learning, particularly where those systems interact with sensitive, restricted, or confidential data.
• Proven expertise in data governance, privacy, and access control, including familiarity with regulatory or policy frameworks governing sensitive information.
• Experience managing or supporting research using declassified or sensitive government documents, including publication, evaluation, or policy application of such research.
• Strong record of coordinating projects involving multiple institutions and senior stakeholders.
• Experience publishing or contributing to peer‑reviewed research involving sensitive datasets or declassified materials.

• Graduate degree (MA, MS, MPA, or equivalent) in a relevant discipline such as public policy, international relations, international history, data governance, science and technology studies, or a related field.
• At least 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience managing complex research, policy, or technical programs.
• Prior experience in federal government, national research…