Policy Project Manager

About you

You’re an early to mid-career policy generalist or project manager, who is excited to work at the intersection of science, policy, and governance. You like keeping track of complex moving pieces, making sense of them, and turning them into clear, actionable next steps.

You:

• Have 3-6 years of relevant experience in public policy, government, think tanks, philanthropy, international organizations, or a related field (internships and fellowships count).

• Arrive with strong policy instincts - an ability to read the landscape, understand what matters, and engage credibly with senior stakeholders - even if your knowledge of mirror life specifically will develop over time.

• Are an excellent writer, able to draft concise briefs, meeting notes, and follow-up emails that are clear and usable for senior decision-makers.

• Enjoy digging into new topics and can quickly synthesize information from multiple sources into coherent recommendations.

• Are organized and reliable: you keep trackers up to date, follow through on commitments, and help others not drop balls.

• Are comfortable working with a range of stakeholders (e.g. policy staffers, scientists, civil society groups) and can represent MBDF professionally in writing and in meetings.

• Are proactive: you notice when something might fall through the cracks and step in with practical suggestions.

• Are curious about biotechnology, biosecurity, or adjacent science-and-technology policy questions—even if you don’t yet see yourself as a technical expert.

You don’t need prior experience specifically in mirror life or biosecurity, but you should be excited to learn and comfortable working with scientific content.

We don’t want to miss candidates that could do great things at MBDF. Practically, that means an MBDF staff member reviews every application carefully, considering the whole picture of your background and potential. If you’re on the fence about applying because you meet some but not 100% of our preferred qualifications, we encourage you to apply anyway.

What you’ll do

In this role, you will oversee execution of the Policy Team’s work, helping the Director of Policy track the global policy landscape, prioritize opportunities, and maintain the relationships and materials needed to inform outcomes. Day to day, the incumbent will provide support for the following: 

1. Project management 

• Manage the Policy Team’s workflow, ensuring execution on a timely basis.

• Track and prioritize which actions MBDF needs to be taking to achieve its policy goals, ensuring that no balls get dropped or opportunities missed. 

• Maintain team project plans and knowledge repositories to ensure information is flowing within the Policy team and between the Policy Team and the rest of MBDF, including keeping key policy documents up to date (e.g. trackers, stakeholder maps, opportunity lists, timeline views).

• Build and improve the Policy Team's project management and tracking systems — not just maintaining what exists, but identifying gaps and developing solutions. This includes building a prioritization framework for policy opportunities and a system for proactively identifying and monitoring live opportunities.

• Proactively help the Director of Policy manage and prioritize her own workflow, ensuring her limited time is directed to the highest-priority work.

• Take responsibility for ensuring our team is prepared for meetings with external stakeholders, tracking any follow-up. 

2. Events and support engagement strategy and prioritization

• Work with the Director of Policy to turn a long list of possible engagements into a prioritized set of opportunities, based on mission fit, tractability, and MBDF’s bandwidth.

• Own our policy events portfolio, including thinking about what events will best serve MBDF’s strategic objective, and taking responsibility for making them go well.

• Plan policy events, including identifying and coordinating with speakers and attendees, planning materials, and working with MBDF’s operations team to manage execution.

• Maintain documentation so that MBDF leadership can see, at a glance, how we’re doing on each opportunity and what’s next.

• Ensure materials are prepared and vetted for in advance of critical engagements and develop a reusable content repository for future engagements.

3. Track policy developments and live opportunities

• Monitor relevant policy processes, consultations, reports, hearings, and initiatives across key jurisdictions and institutions.

• Maintain a list of “live” policy opportunities (e.g. consultations, legislative processes, multilateral discussions) and keep it up to date with status, timelines, key contacts, and MBDF’s goals for each.

• Prepare short internal notes summarizing what’s happening, why it matters, and what options MBDF has for engagement.

• Help ensure MBDF is not surprised by major developments in areas that are relevant to our mission.

4. Policy research, analysis, and drafting

• Support the Director of Policy in drafting and polishing MBDF contributions to policy processes (e.g. consultation responses, RFCs, joint statements, letters, and policy memos).

• Help ensure MBDF’s recommendations are substantive, realistic, and grounded in the best available science by coordinating with scientific colleagues as needed.

• With the Director of Policy, own MBDF's actions on key policy initiatives, planning the necessary steps to achieve our goals and ensuring that they are executed. 

5. Support relationships and coalition-building

• Help maintain and grow MBDF’s network of policy, civil society, and industry contacts (e.g. keeping a contact database/CRM up to date).

• Coordinate meetings, roundtables, and calls with key stakeholders (scheduling, agendas, background briefs, note-taking, and follow-up).

• Draft clear, timely follow-up emails and next-step summaries that keep relationships warm and workstreams moving.

Practicalities

• Compensation:$90-120k USD + full benefits; exact offer reflects experience and fit.

• Location: Remote, within the United States, ideally Washington, D.C. (based in EST Timezone).  

• Start: As soon as practical—applications reviewed on a rolling basis.

• Reports to: Director of Policy

• Deadline: Round 1 application deadline: 11:59pm, Friday, May 15th.

MBDF is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive team.