Head of Communications & PR

Apollo Research is a mission-driven AI safety organization focused on identifying and mitigating high-impact risks from advanced AI systems. They are seeking a Head of Communications & PR to drive Apollo's earned media presence, ensuring the organization's research and perspectives reach the right audiences, primarily in the US.

Responsibilities:

• Develop a high-level, long-term media strategy for Apollo as an organisation: identifying where Apollo's research expertise is most relevant to public discourse, planning how research output and public engagement fit together across the year, and sequencing major communications moments (e.g. research results) proactively rather than reactively
• Move Apollo from opportunistic, reactive media engagement to a deliberate communications approach that ensures Apollo's expertise is available when important AI safety conversations happen
• Maintain and evolve a comms calendar that maps Apollo's research agenda to relevant external moments. This will also include an annual calendar of target speaking engagements (globally) for Apollo leadership and select staff
• Advise leadership on how to communicate complex technical material clearly and credibly, ensuring Apollo's research reaches relevant audiences while maintaining Apollo's commitment to honesty over organisational convenience
• Shape and execute Apollo's external communications as an organisation: establishing Apollo as a recognised, credible source on frontier AI safety issues where it has genuine expertise, ahead of individual profile work
• Build and execute a strategy to ensure Marius's (CEO) research expertise and perspective on AI safety reach the right audiences, within the context of Apollo's broader organisational communications
• Shape and execute external communications for Apollo leadership, ensuring Marius is recognised as a credible expert on AI safety issues where he has genuine knowledge. This includes identifying the research areas Apollo is best placed to speak on over the coming year, developing clear stories around those areas, and actively placing them with media outlets. This moves Apollo beyond waiting to be asked toward proactively surfacing its expertise, without prescribing policy outcomes
• Lead the translation of technical research into clear, media-relevant materials (key findings, FAQs, briefing notes, media kits) for US and, where relevant, international audiences
• Work cross-functionally with teams to ensure external messaging aligns with research integrity and organisational priorities
• Build and maintain deep, trusted relationships with US journalists across AI, technology, and adjacent beats
• Proactively place research-led and issue-driven stories, exclusives, and op-eds, with the objective of making Apollo a default source for commentary on emerging AI safety issues
• Actively pitch and secure speaking engagements for Apollo leadership and select staff; high profile speaking engagements globally with an annual outlook
• Manage inbound media interest and prepare leadership for media engagements
• UK/EU media engagement is tertiary and can largely be addressed remotely or through the COO; this should not be a primary focus of the role
• Build and maintain a communications preparedness framework so the organisation can respond quickly and credibly to unexpected developments or time-sensitive situations, including crises
• Establish response protocols, escalation paths, and pre-prepared materials as standard operational practice
• Build templates, self-serve playbooks, checklists, and sign-off workflows to establish consistent comms quality across the organisation
• Partner closely with London-based operational support to ensure consistent execution across geographies