Lead, Frontier AI Systems, Centre AI Excellence

About the Role

Please Note:

This role requires the ability to work on site 3 days per week per company policy. The annual salary range for this role is $140,000-$160,000 in San Francisco. This role is not eligible for international relocation or work authorization support. The World Economic Forum, committed to moving the world forward, is the international organisation for public‑private cooperation. The Centre for AI Excellence (CAIE) is a global future‑focused platform advancing responsible innovation through the power of AI, data, and intelligence to reshape industries, economies, and societies – unlocking transformative potential in an equitable and human‑centered way.

This role is based in San Francisco and will report to Head, Data and AI Innovation.

• Define and evolve the strategic direction for the Frontier AI Systems & Capabilities workstream, setting priorities in response to rapid technical developments and ecosystem needs.
• Lead capability horizon scanning across frontier models and system architectures and analyse how emerging capabilities translate into system behaviours, deployment patterns, and operational constraints.
• Develop system foresight analyses that identify emergent behaviours, scaling dynamics, institutional gaps, and risk inflection points before large‑scale deployment.
• Analyse model‑to‑system translation, including how advances in planning, memory, simulation, and coordination reshape autonomy, interaction, and oversight needs.
• Identify emergent failure modes at the model and system level, including breakdowns in coordination across agents, tools, organizations, and physical and digital environments.
• Develop capability‑ and system‑centric frameworks for evaluation, assurance, and deployment, treating identity, permissions, observability, traceability, coordination, and interoperability as architectural design requirements.
• Lead analysis of embodied and spatially grounded AI systems to understand real‑world interaction dynamics, irreversible failure modes, and control and assurance requirements for deployment in physical environments.
• Convene frontier labs, infrastructure providers, standards bodies, safety institutes, and policymakers to establish shared technical reference points that shape research, system design, and safeguards.
• Oversee workstream delivery, including planning, resourcing, stakeholder engagement, and reporting, ensuring high‑quality outputs on tight timelines.

• Serve as the primary point of engagement for external stakeholders, maintaining ongoing strategic dialogue with frontier labs, partner companies, governments, standards bodies, and civil society leaders.
• Engage C‑level executives and senior policymakers in shaping and advancing the Centre’s Frontier AI workstream, ensuring sustained strategic participation and high‑level commitment.
• Build, manage, and continuously activate the Frontier AI community within the Centre, including stewardship of the relevant Global Future Council and associated expert networks.
• Maintain structured and regular engagement with community members to remain at the forefront of real‑world applications, deployment dynamics, and systemic implications of frontier AI technologies.
• Design, convene, and facilitate high‑impact community engagements, including round tables, working groups, workshops, and executive briefings.
• Cultivate and sustain strategic partnerships with leading organizations, governments, research institutions, and industry actors to advance the objectives of CAIE.

• Lead and manage team members supporting the Frontier AI Systems & Capabilities workstream, providing strategic direction, mentorship, and performance oversight.
• Collaborate…