Payroll and Benefits Manager

We want better data center deals. We need your help. Join the FAS National Task Force to Establish a Model Community Benefits Agreement for Data Centers - Sign Ups by October 30 Our work starts with listening to state and local governments, understanding their challenges, and connecting research to practical solutions. When we began researching data center Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs), we heard a consistent need: local governments wanted insight into how peer communities were approaching negotiations with data center developers. Which elements were most important to address in an agreement? Which CBAs were protecting communities the most? Which were yielding the most durable benefits to residents? But many agreements are negotiated confidentially, making them difficult to access and compare. That means too many communities are lacking a clear picture of emerging practices and their options at the negotiating table. Today we are announcing the next step into this work - developing a model CBA template. But we need help from the people who are facing these new challenges first hand. That's why FAS is launching a national task force to bring together state and local government officials, subject-matter experts, and community practitioners. Become a Task Force Member We're looking for state and local government leaders who can bring firsthand experience, policy expertise, and practical perspectives to the template's development. Time Commitment: Two meetings per month through April 2027 - one full-group meeting and one committee meeting focused on a specific topic, plus written feedback on draft templates. FAS will not publicly identify participating individuals or organizations without their permission. Join the On-Call Expert Panel We're also seeking academic, non-profit, and other subject matter experts to help address knowledge gaps and contribute relevant research, legal expertise, and historical context as the template develops. Participate in Public Comment FAS expects to release a draft for public comment in March 2027. Residents and other interested stakeholders, including people living near data centers or in communities negotiating with developers, will have an opportunity to share feedback. How the Task Force will work. FAS has developed an initial draft CBA template based on our research. Task force participants will help refine it, identify knowledge gaps, and develop recommendations that reflect the realities of local policymaking. The process will include three ways to participate: * Task Force Members: State and local government leaders and staff who will help shape the template through meetings and written feedback. * On-call Subject Matter Experts: Academic, nonprofit, and other experts who can contribute specialized knowledge, legal expertise, historical context, and emerging research. * Public commenters: All interested stakeholders are invited to review and comment on a refined draft. Drawing on the collaborative In the Lab model, FAS will prioritize evidence-based recommendations, transparency, an efficient timeline, and a community of practice among governments navigating data center development. What will the Task Force cover? Committee discussions will explore key provisions of a model CBA, including: * Definitions * Community engagement + advisory board * Betterment Fund * Construction requirements * Air quality and heat mitigation * Utility costs and energy requirements * Water supply and reporting * Residential setbacks, lighting, and noise * Decommissioning and e-waste * Enforcement, transparency, and reporting requirements * Economic incentives and local hiring requirements What success looks like. By combining research with the experience of local leaders and subject matter experts, FAS aims to give communities practical tools for more informed negotiations. The resulting template will help local governments evaluate proposals, identify potential community benefits, set clearer expectations, and strengthen accountability. The goal: help communities approach data center development with stronger negotiating tools and a clearer understanding of what's possible. Our In the Lab initiative demonstrates the value of this collaborative approach. Our Model Data Governance Policy and Practice Guide for Cities and Counties remains the most robust publicly available guide even years later. Our Gen-AI initiative was one of the first task forces created by a national organization that brought together more than 45 unique local governments, 30 universities, four federal agencies, and philanthropic organizations to develop resources on AI community engagement, AI cybersecurity risks, and AI research priorities. The CBA task force applies this same approach to a growing local policy challenge: bring the right people together, connect research with practical experience, and create the tools government can use. Why a Model CBA? To date, many negotiation efforts between local governments and data centers have been held confidentially. This makes it difficult for communities to see what others have secured or proactively identify emerging best practices. Without access to comparable agreements, local governments lack a clear baseline for negotiations. A model CBA can help communities: * Negotiate from a stronger position with a clearer understanding of potential provisions and community benefits. * Set expectations for developers around resource use, local hiring, and environmental protections. * Strengthening transparency and accountability through clearer reporting and enforcement provisions. * Adapt best practices locally rather than starting from scratch. The goal isn't a one-size-fits-all agreement. It's a flexible starting point grounded in research and shaped by experience. Why work with us? The shared experience and perspective will shape a practical, adaptable template that communities can tailor to their own laws, needs, and policy goals. This is yet another form of FAS's model of policy entrepreneurship: the practice of taking good policy ideas and turning them into actionable policy using science and evidence, and an understanding of how governments actually work. We know there are local residents and leaders already practicing policy entrepreneurship on this issue, and we want to collaborate. If you have any questions about joining the FAS Template CBA Task Force, please contact [email protected]. publications

Metascience fellowship. The federal research enterprise stands at a rare inflection point, creating an opening to radically rethink how science is funded, organized, and conducted. U.S. research agencies have a strong appetite to harness metascience to serve as the engine for that rethinking effort, with NSF and NIH both recently creating metascience units to test and evaluate research funding mechanisms. Metascience - also known as the "science of science" or "research on research" - uses the scientific method to study the scientific enterprise, seeking to understand how research is funded, conducted, and published, with the aim of making it more reliable, efficient, and useful. Metascience can provide the evidence base that the science ecosystem needs to move toward systematic, empirically-grounded change. And as AI-accelerated research reshapes what is possible across the enterprise, a robust metascientific agenda ensures that adoption of new platforms, tools, and methods, especially those fundamentally expanding data access and information sharing, is guided by evidence rather than hype, helping agencies make smarter bets during a period of transition. Integrating metascience into formal research funding priorities, policy experiments, and strategic partnerships requires not just buy-in but an engine for injecting capacity at a scale and velocity that can be truly transformative. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is seeking to recruit three full-time fellows to embed in federal research agencies for one year. With the need for evidence-based, nonpartisan science policy leadership more urgent than ever, fellows will serve a vital role in innovating and accelerating American scientific enterprise. Each Metascience Fellow will serve a pre-service residency followed by a one-year federal government placement at an agency such as NSF or DOE. Finalists will undergo a mutual placement process with the federal agencies before selection is finalized. During the pre-service residency, fellows will be based at FAS for intensive training on topics including metascience, policy entrepreneurship, and other capacity development areas designed to empower fellows to drive change within the federal government. Fellows will also contribute their expertise to ongoing aligned projects at FAS during their residency. Fellows will be required to attend in-person professional development and team building activities beyond the residency into their official placement. The one year placement may be extended further contingent on funding and performance. The positions will primarily be in-person at agency offices based in the DC metropolitan area. FAS Metascience Fellows will be expected to start at FAS no later than January 4, 2027. What you'll be doing. Metascience Fellows are embedded full-time within their government agencies and can expect to: * Support federal agency leaders to advance evidence-driven strategies for reforming federal research institutions, funding, and agenda-setting. * Generate and translate evidence on grantmaking, portfolio design, peer review, open science, and/or research governance, helping agencies understand what actually works across portfolios. This may include using modeling and simulation or data science to analyze past or current grantmaking practices. * Identify areas where evidence- and data-based approaches could be additive, subsequently designing and implementing experiments with built-in evaluation capacity to capture successes and failures. * Conduct stakeholder management, including producing memos or other background materials to inform agency leadership in engagements with interagency and external stakeholders. * Spearhead coordination across offices or interagency initiatives around metascience, including collaborating with metascience units at counterpart agencies. * Deliver hands-on technical expertise where it's needed most. What we are looking for. * Experience working in or with a research agency (e.g., NIH, NSF, DOE, ARPA-style programs), with thoughts for how to deploy policy ideas within such institutions; * Experience working at the intersection of science policy, evidence, and government operations; and * An understanding of how to apply evidence to real-world policy questions (e.g., funding, evaluation, incentives, research practice). Applications will be evaluated holistically. We are looking for applicants who demonstrate: * Experience with research and analysis, and an ability to translate evidence and analysis into practical, implementable solutions. * Experience with federal grantmaking, peer review, open science or research administration processes. * Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience briefing and communicating with senior decision makers, and experience in stakeholder management. * Comfort operating in ambiguity and shaping new policy areas. Eligibility requirements. * Mid- to senior-career professional, with an advanced degree or equivalent work experience in a scientific, engineering, or public policy field (e.g., Science & Technology Studies, Cognitive Social Science, Science Policy, Energy Policy, Economics, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Statistics, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, etc.). * Current federal employees are ineligible to apply. * Candidates must be U.S. citizens. Application materials and process. Applications are due by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on November 9, 2026. Late applications will not be reviewed. Please note that we are only accepting applications to this position submitted via this platform. When applying, you will be redirected to our application platform and will need to create an account to submit an application. To apply you must provide: * Curriculum vitae that demonstrates you have the attributes described above in the "What we are looking for" section; * Responses to the following prompts. Responses to each prompt are limited to 300 words or less: * Please describe your past experience translating research, evidence, or technical analysis into a practical policy proposal, pilot, implementation plan, or institutional reform. * What experience do you have with federal research funding agencies or funding mechanisms, such as NSF, NIH, DOE, grants, peer review, portfolio design, or research administration? * Where do you think metascience can have the greatest practical impact on federal science policy over the next few years? Which reforms feel most actionable now? Compensation. Fellows will receive compensation of $174,000 per year that will be pro-rated monthly. Fellows are not eligible to receive employer-sponsored benefits; the listed compensation is inclusive of any health or living expenses. Fellows will also receive $1,500 for travel and $1,500 for professional development funds over the course of the fellowship. Who is FAS? Does FAS sound like an organization that you would be energized to join? Is it aligned to your values? The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) takes quite seriously our role as a beacon and voice for the science community. FAS has a rich history: after the devastating bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, a group of atomic researchers - deeply concerned about the use of science for malice - created an organization committed to using science and technology to benefit humanity. The group they created - the Federation of Atomic Scientists - soon became the Federation of American Scientists in recognition of the hundreds of scientists across diverse disciplines who joined together to speak with one voice for the betterment of the world. Today, we are a group of entrepreneurial, intrepid changemakers, forging a better future for all through the nexus of science, technology and talent. We value equity, inclusion, and transparency. As a collective, we are building an organization focused on being impact-driven, customer-focused, and growth-oriented as a force for good in the world. Applications are due by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on November 9, 2026. Late applications will not be reviewed. Please note that we are only accepting applications to this position submitted via this platform. When applying, you will be redirected to our application platform and will need to create an account to submit an application.