The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is inviting applications for a Special Projects Manager to join its Communications Team, offering an opportunity to work remotely on digital, creative and communications projects for a global audience.
The full-time position is open globally, subject to the candidate being based in a timezone between UTC-8 and UTC+1. The successful candidate will work closely with internal stakeholders and external creative and development partners to deliver projects ranging from campaign microsites and digital products to event identities, reports and international creative contests.
The position offers a salary of $100,000 to $190,000 per year, with exact compensation determined by experience and geography.
Special Projects Manager – Communications
The Special Projects Manager will report directly to the Director of Communications and will play a central role in turning ideas into completed digital and communications projects.
FLI’s Communications Team manages a high volume of design and digital work, often connected to important policy moments and fast-moving campaigns. The organisation works with a retained external studio that provides design and development services based on internal briefs, supported by a small in-house team.
The successful candidate will help make this model work effectively by taking ownership of projects from initial scoping through delivery and ensuring that the final outputs meet the required standards.
The role is suited to an experienced project manager who understands the creative digital product environment and can coordinate multiple stakeholders while maintaining a strong focus on quality and deadlines.
Key Responsibilities
A major responsibility will be developing clear and actionable creative and technical briefs. The manager will translate stakeholder requirements into practical project direction and challenge requests that are unclear, conflicting or insufficiently scoped.
The successful candidate will also oversee project performance and progress. This includes working with stakeholders to establish what success looks like, incorporating those objectives into design and content strategies and ensuring that communications projects remain aligned with organisational goals.
Another important responsibility will be identifying, onboarding and managing agencies and contractors. The manager will assess the skills required for particular projects and source appropriate web development agencies, freelancers or other external specialists.
The position will also have significant responsibility for quality assurance. The manager will define what constitutes a completed project, review deliverables against briefs and brand guidelines, and ensure that accessibility requirements, including WCAG standards, are considered before projects are launched.
Digital Product Innovation and Special Projects
FLI is looking for someone who can go beyond traditional project coordination and contribute to digital product innovation.
The Special Projects Manager will help generate ideas and develop digital products that support FLI’s mission and organisational objectives.
The position will also lead major multi-month initiatives, including international creative contests and other special projects. This requires strong planning, stakeholder management and execution skills from the initial concept through completion.
Maintaining consistency across FLI’s communications output will also be part of the role. The manager will work with the website development agency to maintain the organisation’s design system and ensure that high-volume digital output remains visually coherent.
Required Experience and Qualifications
Candidates should have a proven ability to coordinate complex, multi-stakeholder projects and manage competing priorities.
The ideal candidate will be comfortable securing alignment from senior colleagues and transforming unstructured or conflicting input into clear project direction.
FLI is also seeking someone with a demonstrated track record of building or significantly improving delivery processes. This could include developing better intake, review, quality assurance or approval workflows rather than simply operating within existing systems.
Professional project management experience across design, communications and/or digital or web projects is required. Experience managing external agencies is particularly valuable.
Candidates should have a genuine interest in FLI’s mission and the issues surrounding transformative technologies and their potential risks.
Strong quality instincts are important, as the successful candidate will be expected to review work critically and confidently request revisions when deliverables do not meet the required standard.
The organisation is also looking for someone who remains calm under deadline pressure and can say no to unrealistic requests while proposing practical alternatives.
Preferred Skills and Experience
Additional experience running participatory or multi-stakeholder projects would be an advantage. This may include contests, awards, grant rounds, festivals or similar initiatives.
Candidates with familiarity with website delivery are also encouraged to apply. Knowledge of content management systems and sufficient technical literacy to communicate effectively with developers and troubleshoot basic issues would be useful.
Working knowledge of SEO and digital audience growth is another advantage. Candidates may benefit from experience with technical and on-page SEO, analytics platforms such as Google Analytics 4 and Search Console, and an understanding of how content and campaign decisions influence online reach.
Experience in nonprofit, policy, advocacy or campaign organisations is also preferred.
Remote Work and Salary
The position is full-time and remote, with candidates required to work from a timezone between UTC-8 and UTC+1.
The advertised salary range is $100,000–$190,000 per year, with the exact amount depending on the successful candidate’s experience and location.
For US-based hires, additional benefits include health insurance, more than 24 days of paid time off per year, paid parental leave, 401(k) matching, a work-from-home allowance and a professional development budget. Benefits vary according to location.
The Future of Life Institute is an independent nonprofit organisation focused on steering transformative technologies toward outcomes that benefit humanity while reducing extreme large-scale risks.
Its work includes grantmaking, educational outreach and policy engagement. FLI operates as a largely virtual organisation with an internationally distributed team of approximately 40 people, primarily across Europe and the United States.
The organisation has offices in California, Brussels, London and Washington, DC, and brings its full team together in person twice a year.
Application Requirements
Applicants are required to submit a resume and, where available, a portfolio demonstrating design or digital products they have quality-assured.
Candidates must also provide short written responses to two questions. The first asks applicants to describe, in no more than 200 words, the digital or communications project they are most proud of and explain how their contribution was critical to its success.
The second asks candidates, again in no more than 200 words, to explain why they are particularly interested in working at FLI.
Applications must be submitted through the organisation’s website. Email applications are not accepted.
Application Deadline
The deadline to apply for the Future of Life Institute Special Projects Manager – Communications Team position is 2 October 2026.
The organisation would like the successful candidate to start as soon as possible after accepting an offer.
