About AI and Faith
AI and Faith (AIF) is a Seattle-based nonprofit bringing the wisdom of the world’s religions to bear on the social and moral challenges of artificial intelligence. Since our founding in 2018, we have grown into a global, interdisciplinary community of over 200 volunteers—including technologists, ethicists, academics, and religious and business leaders—representing Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu faith traditions.
We now seek our first full-time Executive Director to help us scale our impact, coordinate our programs and volunteers, and strengthen our institutional partnerships and operational infrastructure.
Role Summary
The Executive Director is the senior staff leader of AI and Faith, responsible for translating the Board’s strategic vision into action. This includes managing staff and volunteers, overseeing program and content development, stewarding partnerships, ensuring operational excellence, and leading fundraising efforts. The Executive Director will serve as the primary public representative of AI and Faith and as the connective tissue across our network of experts, partners, and teams.
Responsibilities
The Executive Director will build strong and sustainable relationships that translate into successful member engagement, strategic collaborations, fundraising results, and momentum for AI and Faith initiatives. This leader is responsible for AI and Faith’s annual operating results and financial performance, as well as guiding operational systems and ensuring alignment between programs, mission, and strategic goals. The role requires strategic, relational, and purpose-driven leadership and operational fluency across a distributed, interdisciplinary community. This is a high-profile position, requiring a self-motivated individual who is comfortable working with a wide variety of experts and collaborators.
Key responsibilities include:
- Serve as the primary liaison to and report to the Board of Directors, supporting effective governance and strategic alignment and implementing Board guidance on overall strategic leadership.
- Lead the development of annual plan and budget, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and programmatic goals and monitoring progress on goals, revenue, and expenses throughout the year.
- Develop and implement a comprehensive fundraising plan and collaborate with the Board of Directors, Strategy and Finance Advisory Team, and Treasurer to secure the necessary revenue for operations and growth.
- Represent AI and Faith in donor meetings, partnerships, public forums, and media engagements, clearly articulating the organization’s vision, mission, and impact to a variety of audiences.
- Develop deep knowledge of the AIF community and build and sustain relationships with expert contributors and Partners to identify opportunities, resources, and collaborations for the community and for joint projects and programs.
- Oversee and coordinate the work of volunteers to spearhead our operations and align them with our overall vision and priorities, leading a culture of learning and reflection and fostering a pluralist, inclusive ethos consistent with the organization’s interfaith mission.
- Manage, evaluate performance, and guide development of paid staff, ensuring strong performance and opportunities for professional growth.
- Oversee the planning and delivery of AIF’s professional and educational programming and content, including events, publication, and media, and work with Partners and others to extend program reach and impact.
- Lead our day-to-day operations by maintaining active operational awareness; providing encouragement, vision, and direction to paid staff and volunteers; identifying and leveraging cross-team opportunities; and catalyzing and curating our expert and Partner network.
- Develop and refine metrics for organizational success, evaluate programmatic and operational outcomes, and strengthen internal systems and processes to support strategic growth and effectiveness.
Qualifications
The ideal candidate will have proven nonprofit leadership experience, including team management, strategic planning, and Board collaboration, along with a strong track record in fundraising and program execution. They should be skilled in coordinating volunteers and managing operations and capable of building partnerships across faith, academic, and technology communities. A collaborative mindset is essential, as is meaningful engagement with faith traditions and familiarity with AI and ethics.
Key qualifications include:
- Proven experience as an executive director or in another senior leadership role within a nonprofit organization, with demonstrated ability to guide organizational strategy, programs, and operations. Experience leading through organizational growth, transition, or complexity is strongly preferred.
- Ability to engage with and take guidance from an active board of directors and strategic advisors, while contributing vision, insight, and leadership to the strategic planning process.
- Working knowledge of nonprofit corporate governance principles and best practices with experience supporting or engaging with a nonprofit board in strategic and fiduciary roles as well as managing and developing staff teams.
- Demonstrated experience creating and implementing a comprehensive fundraising strategy and plan, including cultivating donors and corporate sponsors.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including public speaking, external representation, and grant writing for a range of audiences, with the ability to clearly articulate organizational vision and values across diverse audiences.
- Proven leadership and management skills with an emphasis on managing, motivating, and inspiring volunteer teams of highly skilled professionals, including building and maintaining strong relationships with volunteers, staff, partners, funders, and other collaborators. Prefer experience delivering measurable impact and building team cohesion around mission-aligned programs or events through the work of distributed, volunteer-led teams.
- Relevant background experience that supports effective leadership and communication across a diverse network of volunteer professionals, including those in technology, business, academia, science, and religion.
- Demonstrated ability to analyze complex situations, identify key opportunities and challenges, develop adaptive strategies across teams and partners, and generally work creatively to support a range of different outcomes and products, in alignment with AIF’s mission and values.
- Deep respect for the role that faith values and stakeholders bring to the AI ethics conversation, and a demonstrated willingness to engage deeply, creatively, and reflectively in identifying opportunities for impact in this space, preferably with leadership experience.
- Familiar with interfaith or multi-faith networks or ethical discourse across traditions and fully aligned with pluralist, multi-faith frameworks, preferably with prior experience leading or working in such environments.
- Demonstrated ability to build trust, navigate diverse perspectives, and lead collaboratively across disciplines and belief systems. Prefer experience navigating complex conversations with humility, emotional intelligence, and cross-disciplinary fluency.
- Strong understanding of nonprofit finance, including the ability to develop and manage both organizational and program-level budgets, interpret financial reports, monitor income and expenses, ensure financial accountability, and guide resource allocation aligned with strategic and programmatic goals.
- Experience managing or improving systems and tools to support small nonprofit operations (e.g., CRM platforms, budget tracking, scheduling systems, internal workflows, or reporting tools). An ideal candidate would have experience designing or building such systems that support smooth daily operations and scalable growth in small or medium nonprofit settings.
- Working knowledge of recent history and societal implications of AI development and a strong interest in the intersection of technology, ethics, and social values.
- Bachelor’s degree in a related field required; advanced degree or additional training in a related discipline (such as ethics, theology, computer science, or nonprofit management) is a plus.
To Apply
Please submit a cover letter and resume (or vita) to people@aiandfaith.org. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting June 20, 2025, until the position is filled.
