Delivery / Product Manager — Loss of Control Observatory

Summary

Job title: Delivery & Product Manager (contractor) 

Type: Part-time contract – 1 day per week for 6 months, with possible extension 

Salary: c. £500 per day

Reports to: Tommy Shaffer Shane, Senior Policy Manager (Loss of Control) 

Location: Remote (UK-based), with opportunity to work from our office in Westminster

Start date: As soon as possible

Application deadline: Friday 18th of September

Recruitment process: One round of interviews taking place w/c 21st and 28th of September

About CLTR

 

The Centre for Long-Term Resilience (CLTR) is a UK-based, non-profit, independent think tank with a mission to transform global resilience to extreme risks. We achieve this by working with governments and institutions, offering targeted, evidence-based advice designed to enhance understanding, decision-making, and governance — with a particular emphasis on advising the UK government.

 

You would join a committed team working on some of the world’s most important problems, with industry-leading experience spanning academia, government, non-profits, and the private sector.

About the AI Policy Unit

 

CLTR’s AI Policy Unit works to secure a world resilient to extreme AI risks, with a particular focus on risks of loss of control of highly capable AI systems, risks of AI-driven extreme power concentration, and broader national security risks from advanced AI. To get a sense of our current areas of focus, you can take a look at our substack Governing Transformative AI.

About the Loss of Control Observatory

 

The Loss of Control Observatory is a world-leading capability developed by the AI Policy Unit that uses open source intelligence (OSINT) to detect and monitor AI loss of control incidents in order to better understand the threat and to inform policymaking. Its prototype was funded by the UK AI Security Institute, and its findings have been covered in international news. CLTR now plans to significantly scale up the Observatory to track more data sources and increase its outputs, which requires tackling a range of technical and analytical challenges in Q1 2026 and Q2 2027.

The role

 

This role offers a unique opportunity to be at the heart of a small, three person team impacting global responses to loss of control risks. You will enable effective decisionmaking on what we ship to ensure we scale the platform effectively with maximum impact.

 

We are looking for an experienced delivery/product manager to oversee the delivery of the Observatory’s scale-up. The policy lead will set the strategy, and the infrastructure engineer will write the software; your job is to turn strategy and our technical resource into well-run delivery practices and flows, making sure the team is always working on the highest-value things, that progress is monitorable, plans can be iterated based on new information, and decisions and blockers surface early rather than late.

 

This is a hands-on role for someone who wants to create a lot of impact in one day a week. You will need to be highly organised, decisive, and comfortable running lightweight processes for a small, partly-contractor team rather than a large agile organisation. You will have a high amount of agency to set up and oversee the right processes to ensure we deliver the right things in the right order.

Responsibilities

 

• Translate product strategy (set by the policy lead) into a deliverable roadmap and backlog
• Run agile ceremonies proportionate to a small team (weekly stand-ups, regular planning, and periodic retrospectives) to enable effective delivery
• Track progress against milestones, flagging slippage and trade-offs early
• Work with the policy lead and infrastructure engineer to Identify and manage delivery risks and blockers, escalating where needed
• Keep a decision log and ensure decisions get made, forcing choices where work is stalled
• Coordinate dependencies between technical work, analysis, and communications outputs
• Provide concise progress reporting suitable for internal leadership, wider CLTR team, and funders

Person specification

 

Essential

 

• Experience as a delivery manager, product manager, or scrum master on a technical or data project, including a track record of running agile processes (backlogs, sprints, stand-ups, retros) and strong experience using project management software (e.g. Asana)
• Ability to operate autonomously and create momentum on a one-day-per-week engagement
• Strong prioritisation judgement to focus the team on the highest impact deliverables
• Clear written and verbal communication, including reporting to senior stakeholders, and comfort with providing a challenge function

 

Desirable

 

• Familiarity with data pipelines or machine-learning-based products
• Interest in AI policy and extreme risk

 

 

To apply for this role, please send us: 

 

• Your CV
• A short note (150 max. word count per question) answering the following questions: 
  • Tell us about a project where you were responsible for delivery. What was your role, and what’s one thing you changed about how the team worked?
  • Describe a time you recommended stopping, descoping, or deprioritising a piece of work. What happened as a result?
  • This role is one day a week. Tell us about a time you made real progress on something despite limited time — how did you decide what to focus on?

 

Please email both of the above to beth@longtermresilience.org 9am UK time, Friday 18th September 2026. 

 

Equal opportunities

 

As an employer, we encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply and do not discriminate based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. We also warmly welcome applicants returning to work after career breaks.

 

We know that our organisation is strengthened by the rich variety of perspectives that a truly diverse workforce brings. We want to make sure that our selection processes are as fair as they can possibly be, providing a level playing field for anyone who wants to come and work at CLTR.

Therefore, if you have any special access requirements or other support needs throughout the application process, including interview, please contact us via hiring@longtermresilience.org so we can talk through any adjustments you need in complete confidence, and make arrangements on your behalf.

 

Adjustments can be whatever you need them to be, whether that’s around accessibility, preparation time and space, or just travel expenses to get you to an interview. Let us know what you need, and we’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re getting a fair opportunity to succeed.

 

How we use AI 

We use AI-assisted tools to support the initial sifting of applications. These tools help us assess CVs and application materials against the criteria set out in this job description. AI outputs are reviewed by a member of the CLTR team before any shortlisting decisions are made. No purely automated decision-making takes place. For more information on how we process your personal data during recruitment, including your rights, please see our candidate privacy notice. If you have questions about how AI has been used in assessing your application, you can contact recruitment@longtermresilience.org.