Program Director (Career Accelerator)

Title: Program Director (Career Accelerator)

Salary: $120,000-$150,000+ (incl. healthcare and retirement contributions)

Location: In-person, Washington, DC; visa sponsorship available

Job Type: Full-time

Application Deadline: Sunday, February 8, 2026

The Horizon Institute for Public Service is seeking a full-time Program Director to lead our Career Accelerator program. This is a high-leverage opportunity to help shape the next generation of leaders in AI policy by building and expanding a program that helps urgently-needed talent transition into the field. Since launching in 2025, we’ve successfully piloted two initial Career Accelerator cohorts serving 60+ participants and committing about $400,000 in initial career grants. We’re now looking for someone to lead the program and help scale it further: expanding to 100-150+ participants annually across multiple cohorts, testing new program improvements to better support participants, building scalable systems, and rapidly growing our career grantmaking program to $1+ million annually.

Competitive applicants will have several years of experience in program management, likely including at least 1 year of experience in fields related to US policy or emerging technology. However, if you think the role is a great fit for your skills and interests, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t have previous experience in this exact field. Our hiring process is designed to test for aptitudes and skills, not specific resume markers.

Our mission

The Horizon Institute for Public Service is a non-profit that supports the next generation of public servants with expertise in emerging technologies.

Emerging technologies, like biotechnology and artificial intelligence, are rapidly reshaping our world. The US government plays an essential role in developing and governing new technologies, crafting policies to take advantage of their benefits and avert the risks they pose. But policymakers' ability to stay ahead of the curve depends on access to the requisite expertise—and right now, that expertise is sorely lacking.

Since our launch three years ago, we've helped hundreds of professionals explore and launch critically needed careers in public service. For example, through our fellowship program, we’ve helped 100+ subject-matter experts fill vital roles at top think tanks, in Congress, and in agencies across government. Our online emergingtechpolicy.org career resource has reached 150,000+ users. We’ve also supported over 1,000 individuals through events and advising and headhunting services, leading to many dozens of job transitions. We participated in the first-ever government AI hiring fair and recently launched the AI Policy Leadership Network. We plan to both scale these existing programs and have several exciting new projects slated for launch in 2026. You can read more about our programs and impact in our 2025 year in review.

About the role

The Career Accelerator is a part-time, remote program that provides mentorship, training, application support, and career development grants of up to $100,000 per participant to help people at all career stages pursue AI policy opportunities (see our program webpage for full details). When we launched in April 2025, we planned for around 150 applications and planned to accept 15 participants. Instead, we received almost 350 applications and admitted 28 strong candidates to our first cohort. We have since expanded the program further, accepting approximately 45 participants in our second cohort, while still deferring strong candidates due to capacity constraints. During the first cohort alone, we approved more than 15 career grants, enabling full-time work opportunities, policy research with external mentors, and structured AI policy upskilling.

Based on the supply of promising applicants to this and other Horizon programs, and the demand we hear from hiring managers in the AI policy world, we still see substantial room for growth. With a strong Program Director, we aim to run 3-4 Career Accelerator cohorts per year, serving 100-150+ participants and distributing $1 million or more in career grants annually, with potential for further expansion.

As the Program Director, you will have primary ownership over the Career Accelerator’s strategy and operations, with substantial latitude to shape how the program evolves as it scales. You will develop specialized expertise in emerging technology policy talent development and strategic field-building; strengthen your skills in program management and user-oriented program design and evaluation; and greatly expand your network in emerging technology policy in DC. You will also lead this work as part of a tight-knit, high-performing team at a fast-paced, growing organization that emphasizes autonomy and growth for its staff. This work is an excellent platform for sharpening your skills in scaling programs, managing people and budgets, thereby setting you up for senior programmatic and leadership positions at other high-impact nonprofits or in government and industry.

Note: We are simultaneously hiring for a Senior Program Associate (50% of time on the Career Accelerator, 50% on the Fellowship) to serve as a collaborator on driving forward program implementation.

Responsibilities

The core goal of the program is to maximize the number of career transitions into AI policy work among participants. As Program Director, you will own the program’s strategy and oversee all aspects of its implementation:

Program strategy and evaluation: Own and refine the Career Accelerator's program strategy, setting quarterly goals, defining success metrics, evaluating program impact, and iterating on program design based on participant outcomes and feedback.

Funding program management: Oversee the career grants program, including reviewing funding requests, making funding decisions in coordination with Horizon leadership, and developing systems to scale grant-making to $1 million or more annually.

Recruitment and selection: Run multiple application cycles per year, scaling the program toward 100-150+ participants annually while ensuring the application process runs smoothly and serves as an effective talent identification mechanism. You will get to work with experienced recruitment and support staff during this process.

Participant support systems: Build and manage the infrastructure that enables participant success, including training modules, mentorship matching, and career advising. This involves cultivating relationships with external speakers and coaches, creating resources that scale across cohorts, and providing direct advising to participants. You can utilize and learn from resources provided in our other programs, including our Fellowship.

External relationships and alumni engagement: Build and maintain relationships with hiring managers, mentors, partner organizations, and policy professionals to expand opportunities for participants. Develop strategies to engage program alumni, nurturing a community that supports each other and contributes back to the program.

We expect running the Career Accelerator to be the primary focus of this role. As a collaborative and tight-knit team that collectively pursues our mission, you may also have opportunities to contribute to other workstreams as time allows, such as Horizon's Fellowship or talent work. There will also be time for relevant personal and professional development (attending in-person events, time to do reading, etc.).

You may be a good fit if you

Excel at project management and can oversee complex projects with many interdependent deadlines

Are skilled at (or excited to grow in) recruiting and candidate assessment, with strong judgment about what makes someone likely to succeed in policy roles

Enjoy user-centered design, conducting user research, prototyping, testing new ideas, and iterating to build highly effective products and programs

Are excited to advise participants 1-1 on policy careers, developing fluency across the range of AI policy paths so you can guide both early-career and experienced professionals

Are able to communicate professionally with diverse stakeholders

Can cultivate and maintain a network of external relationships with mentors, hiring managers, and others who can help participants find opportunities

Are excited to build/grow grantmaking skills by thoughtfully evaluating funding applications based on candidate needs, career impact, and program resources

Have a demonstrated interest in policy/government and/or AI, including at least 1 year of relevant experience (strongly desired)

Additionally, Horizon has a strong team culture, and we expect you would fit well if you:

Are entrepreneurial and a team player, adapting to new responsibilities as our fast-growing organization’s needs may change over time

Are growth-minded and excited to give and receive regular feedback in order to maximize performance and impact across our team

Are motivated by Horizon’s mission and excited to be part of a public service-oriented, user-focused, low-ego, and collaborative team

Can work in-person in Washington, DC

Salary and benefits

The Program Director (Career Accelerator) will receive a salary of $110,000 - $150,000+ based on experience and seniority. As a small non-profit Horizon has arranged its benefit structure to maximize flexibility for staff. Staff are not required to enroll in a fixed health insurance or retirement plan. Instead, staff have access to a benefits-equivalent cash stipend, which they can use to purchase any of the two dozen health insurance plans on the DC public market (or just keep as an additional salary top-up if they already have health insurance coverage through a parent or spouse) and contribute to a retirement account of their choosing.

Horizon additionally offers:

Unlimited vacation

12 weeks of paid parental leave

Up to $3,000+ per year in professional development funding

Flexible working hours

A productive, collaborative office

We can provide visa sponsorship for qualified candidates.

As an additional benefit in select cases, employees with subject-matter expertise in emerging technology can get the unique opportunity to utilize Horizon’s placement expertise to do a public interest rotation for up to 12 months after working at Horizon for 2 years. At least 6 months notice must be given to redeem this benefit.

Application process

Interested candidates should express initial interest by filling out an application (<15 minutes) by Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST. The application process will involve paid work tests, a structured interview, reference checks, and a paid in-person work trial. We will acknowledge receipt of all applications and aim to get back to candidates within 10 business days of the application deadline. Our ideal start date is April 2026, though flexibility is offered for exceptional candidates.

We welcome candidates from diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply. Strong candidates may not always fulfill all our required or desired criteria. Studies show that individuals from underrepresented groups may underestimate their qualifications. Therefore, we urge you not to self-disqualify prematurely. If you are excited about this work, we strongly encourage you to apply.