Join our team

Open roles

Deputy Director

Help run MBDF. Co-leadership role spanning operations, strategy, and organizational health, with room to grow into policy and communications.

Deadline for this round of applications is 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, February 8.

Expressions of interest

As awareness grows around the risks of mirror life, we're hearing from more people who are passionate about our work and interested in joining our team. That's exciting—but running rigorous hiring rounds takes real capacity, which means we can only have so many open roles at once.

We expect a lot of excellent people are finding us right now, and we don't want to miss them. To address that, we’ve added these expressions of interest. We're planning to hire across several areas over the coming months. When we're ready to hire, we'll start by reaching out to people who have shared their information here.

We’re also using these to identify exceptional candidates we might bring on outside of a formal process. We're a fast-moving organization, and when someone really stands out, we can move quickly.

If you're excited about MBDF's mission and think you could contribute, we'd love to learn more about you. Use the links below to tell us about yourself, and we'll reach out when we're hiring for a role that may be a fit.

  • Science Roles. Lead technical projects on mirror-life feasibility and risks, collaborate with experts to design scientific workshops, and translate complex findings into clear actionable communications for various stakeholders

  • Policy Roles. Engage with policymakers to help them understand and address the risks of mirror life.

  • Operations Roles. Help the MBDF team grow, run smoothly, and accomplish our goals.  

  • General Interest. Excited about MBDF but none of the above areas feel like a fit? We'd still love to hear from you and learn more about what you're looking for.

People & Program Operations Lead

This is a senior individual contributor role spanning people operations and program execution with space to shape both functions as we grow.

Deadline for the first round of applications is 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, February 8th.

Questions?

If you encounter technical issues submitting your application or have questions, please contact jobs@mbdf.org.

About MBDF

Founded in 2024, the Mirror Biology Dialogues Fund (MBDF) is a nonprofit dedicated to understanding and averting future risks from "mirror life"—synthetic organisms built from mirror-image versions of the molecules that make up all natural life on Earth.

The risks of mirror bacteria were assessed in a December 2024 Science article and accompanying technical report by a working group of 38 scientists, including two Nobel laureates and 17 members of national academies. The authors concluded that the ecological and health risks of a mirror bacteria release could be unprecedented in scale and called for global discussion to ensure mirror life is never created. The analysis has since been independently reviewed by Germany's Central Committee on Biological Safety (ZKBS), which affirmed the key risk assessments.

These concerns have received serious attention from policymakers and expert bodies. UNESCO's International Bioethics Committee has recommended a precautionary global moratorium on mirror life. The UK government's Chief Scientific Adviser convened a roundtable concluding that an international coalition is needed to prevent the development of mirror organisms. And at the Spirit of Asilomar summit in 2025—convened 50 years after the original Asilomar conference on recombinant DNA—participants reached broad agreement that mirror life should not be created, reinforced by an entreaty signed by 96 attendees.

MBDF is guided by members of the scientific working group and supports international conferences, workshops, and initiatives to foster constructive dialogue between scientists, policymakers, and civil society. Our goal is to facilitate productive discussion of the challenges presented by mirror life.

To learn more about mirror life and our work, we recommend:

Selected press coverage: Nature, Financial Times, Le Monde, New York Times, Die Zeit, USA Today.