Join us.
Open Call for Proposals
This summer we're listening closely to how you want to use the Starling Framework.
Open Call for Proposals
Join the Starling Lab as it takes flight
The Starling Lab is launching an open call for proposals from now until August 15, 2021.
If you have an idea for how your organization could use the Starling Framework to advance your mission with decentralized web protocols, we want to hear about it.
Successful applicants will be given priority consideration in the Lab’s upcoming grant, fellowship, and affiliate programs that are launching in Fall 2021. Here are the steps:
1. Understand the Starling Framework
Learn more about our mission to advance human rights with cryptography and Web3 tools by watching our overview video:
You can also dive deeper by watching our technical primer video.
2. Fill our the following application:
A team member will reach out to you within 3-4 weeks to discuss your application.
Why Join the Starling Lab?
We see the chance to build Web3 as a once in a generation opportunity to advance the Internet and human rights. We are seeking candidates who are fearless, inspired, and caring in equal measure.
If you want to work at the cutting edge of technology and ethics, then read on and see if the jobs below are a good fit. Don’t see the right position for you? Drop us a line anyway, telling us how you could contribute to the Lab.
Executive Director, Starling Lab
Job Description:
Join the founding team and board of the Starling Lab to define and execute our vision. The ideal candidate brings a depth of experience and passion to keep the Lab at the forefront of thought leadership and social impact on Web3 and human rights.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES WILL INCLUDE:
1. Establish the Lab’s Vision and Strategy
- Defining a strategic, operational, and fiscal vision for the Lab
- Building a diverse and inclusive community across the Lab’s stakeholders in academia, industry and human rights
- Liaison with University administration and the Starling advisory and leadership boards
2. Design the Lab’s Research and Fellowships
- Work with the Lab’s faculty directors to define the Lab’s core academic research, technical roadmap, curriculum, and training
- Work with the Lab’s program directors to define fellowships that bring the Starling Framework into the field
- Represent the Lab in conferences, media engagement and authoring contributing articles and whitepapers
3. Lead Partnerships, HR/Recruitment, and Fundraising
- Recruiting new faculty/student/industry researchers and affiliates to the Lab to expand our capabilities and impact
- Oversee the Lab’s HR ops to optimize performance and support leadership development for all staff
- Leading all fundraising efforts and ensuring the Lab maintains its academic independence and integrity
Minimum Qualifications:
- Masters Degree
- A minimum of 10+ years of experience in senior positions in relevant non-profit, academic or industry organizations.
Skills:
- Experience managing and operating large organizations end-to-end, working cross-functionally across R&D operations, finance and human resources.
- Previous experience in academic work is a plus, but not a requirement
The Starling Lab is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
The current position is advertised as a temporary hire. The job duties listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classifications and are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, tasks and responsibilities. Specific duties and responsibilities may vary depending on department or program needs without changing the general nature and scope of the job or level of responsibility. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned.
Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of their job.
Deputy Director, Starling Lab
Job Description:
This position will support the Lab’s executive director to help lead all the Starling Lab’s strategy and operations. The ideal candidate is a self-starter that will bring a start-up mentality into our university program to seize this unique opportunity to create a lab that works across academia, industry, and human rights organizations.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES WILL INCLUDE:
1. Primary: Operations and program management
- Supervise day-to-day activities to ensure that the Lab’s programs get the resources they require and are able to succeed across the execution cycle
- Promote collaboration, clear communication, and innovation across the Lab’s members
- Support financial oversight to keep programs operating within budget parameters
- Liaise with university departmental administrators
2. Define the Lab’s long-term vision and strategy
- Help shape the lab’s leadership and impact in the Web3 and human rights ecosystem
- Structure the lab’s existing funding commitments and look to a secure new source of funding with research grants from private, public, and non-profit sources
3. Collaborations and Marketing
- Lead all external-facing communications across earned and owned channels.
- On-board new faculty/student/industry researchers and affiliates to the Lab to expand our capabilities and impact
Minimum Qualifications:
- B.A.
- A minimum of 2-3 years of experience in program management.
Skills:
- Experience in managing projects with or for strategic consultants.
- Ability to work independently to set and meet deadlines and schedules.
- Previous experience in academic or nonprofit program work is a plus, but not a requirement.
The Starling Lab is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
The current position is advertised as a temporary hire. The job duties listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classifications and are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, tasks and responsibilities. Specific duties and responsibilities may vary depending on department or program needs without changing the general nature and scope of the job or level of responsibility. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned.
Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of their job.
Principal Engineer, Starling Lab
Job Description:
This position will lead all the Starling Lab’s technical execution and technical thought leadership. The director will report to the Lab’s executive director and work closely with the Lab’s program directors and industry partners to design and build technical prototypes, pilots, and systems. Knowledge of applied security is a must given the Lab’s focus on cryptography and its handling of sensitive human rights data.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES WILL INCLUDE:
1. Primary: Directly programming and/or leading developers and dev shops to develop the lab’s key open source prototypes:
- Mobile image authentication with messaging apps (ex: Signal), middleware (ex: Proof Mode), and/or firmware (ex: Zion Library)
- Professional camera firmware
- Secure distributed storage solutions (using Web3 protocols such as IPFS and Filecoin)
- Secure distributed verification modules into programs such as UWAZI and Meedan CHECK.
2. Research, design, and implement the lab’s technical strategic vision:
- Proactively identify technical and ethical solutions for the human rights community that can be enabled with encryption, decentralized protocols, and blockchain systems.
- Provide direction on emerging threats and security solutions to guide the Starling Lab’s partners and participants
- Lead the lab’s participation with technical standard organizations
3. Building an open source community of developers to test, contribute to, and deploy the lab’s prototypes:
- Publishing clear code documentation and blog posts to drive engagement
- Hosting meet-ups, conference, and hack-a-thons to build awareness of the Lab’s technical findings and methods
- Creating technical partnerships to expand the Lab’s resources
Minimum Qualifications:
- B.A. or equivalent practical experience.
- 3-5 years of experience in the Security field, e.g. vulnerability testing, code auditing.
Skills:
- Knowledge of mobile security engineering, computer and network security, authentication, security protocols and applied cryptography.
- Some experience developing ethical technical design strategies, with knowledge of human-rights centered design a plus.
- App development in Python, JavaScript, and Kotlin
The Starling Lab is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
The current position is advertised as a temporary hire. The job duties listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classifications and are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, tasks and responsibilities. Specific duties and responsibilities may vary depending on department or program needs without changing the general nature and scope of the job or level of responsibility. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned.
Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of their job.
Director, Starling Accountability Program
Job Description:
This position will create and lead the Starling Lab’s joint initiative on accountability. The director will report to the Lab’s executive director to pioneer new approaches to the collection and preservation of data on human rights and international criminal law violations for accountability purposes using decentralized and cryptographic technology.
KEY PROJECTS WILL INCLUDE:
1. Primary: Standing up the Lab’s flagship yearly seminar at USC and Stanford that brings law school, policy, and engineering students together to apply cryptographic tools to international human rights investigations.
- Designing course curriculum and recruiting guest lecturers
- Testing learning modules with hack-a-thons and small pilots
- Teaching the course and supervising TAs
- Recruiting project partners from the field
2. Establishing a center of excellence for legal training and expert witnesses testimony
- Establishing best practices and protocols to securely capture, store, and verify human rights data for accountability proceedings. (Examples include: authenticated images/video, secure vaults, digital chains-of-evidence, and digital forensic analysis).
- Developing conferences, CLE workshops, and judicial training programs to help bring a wider understanding of how these new tools can be used in the courts.
- Recruiting and training a network of experts qualified for expert witness testimony on digital provenance and cryptographic storage and authentication.
- Contributing to the scholarship in the field of tech and human rights.
3. Archiving
- Helping to architect decentralized storage capabilities for human rights accountability collections
- Identifying new collections to bring into the archive
- Leading an archive accelerator for human rights organizations
- Building bridged with leading human rights archival programs at other universities
Qualifications:
- J.D.
- 5-7 years of experience in international human rights or criminal law
- University or professional teaching experience
Skills:
- Demonstrated thought leadership in international human rights and/or cyber policy
- University or professional teaching experience
- Some applied knowledge working on the legal dimensions of digital evidence and encryption systems
- Some familiarity with blockchain and distributed systems is a plus, but not a requirement
The Starling Lab is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
The current position is advertised as a temporary hire. The job duties listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classifications and are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, tasks and responsibilities. Specific duties and responsibilities may vary depending on department or program needs without changing the general nature and scope of the job or level of responsibility. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned.
Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of their job.