15 Unconventional Ways I Used My Generalist Background to Transition into a High-Impact Career: My journey from School Principal to AI Safety Advisor
Introduction
We read countless times that AI Safety needs people from all backgrounds, but if you’re not coming from a technical background, the path forward is not so clear.
Over the past year, I successfully transitioned into a full-time role in AI Safety, but if you looked at my career history, you’d struggle to know how I got here.
My Career History
Research Intern—Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Beirut (2010)
Program & Communications Manager—Beyond Discovery, Amman (2011-2012)
School Principal—Ittihad National Private School, Abu Dhabi (2012-2022)
Learning & Evaluation Associate—Renaisi, London (2023-2024)
Impact Consultant—Freelance (2022-2024)
Advisor, AI Law & Policy—Successif (2025-Present)
The Key Learning
Career transitions aren’t linear journeys. Some of our most valuable milestones emerge from the unique connections and unexpected intersections our background enables us to make.
What this List is Not
A comprehensive roadmap. In reality, I took more than 170 actions[1] (I kept a log) following a four-pronged ‘portfolio’ approach:
job applications/work tests (~40%)
upskilling (~20%)
relationship building (~20%)
small projects/pro bono consulting (~20%)
Void of author bias, which likely include
Hindsight bias—Now that I know the outcome, the path seems more logical and inevitable than it actually was at the time. I might be unconsciously minimizing how uncertain, chaotic, or serendipitous parts of my journey actually felt.
Survivorship bias—I’m one of the people who successfully made the transition, so I’m more likely to emphasize the strategies that worked while potentially overlooking the experiences of those who tried similar approaches but didn’t succeed.
Self-serving bias—Attributing success more to my strategic choices and hard work, while underestimating the role of timing, privilege, or circumstances beyond my control.
The 15 Ways
Note: Phrases sandwiched between asterisks (*like this*) represent hyperlinks to real artefacts (e.g. LinkedIn posts, blog posts, resources), demonstrating how I documented my journey and rebuilt my public persona in a new field.
1. Lightning talk
April 2024 - Used my personal passion for NonViolent Communication (NVC) to give a lightning talk at a Consultants for Impact (CFI) retreat. This was one of my first cheap tests for gauging how the community responds to ideas I’m passionate about and what meaningful connections might emerge. Edmo Gamelin, retreat organizer and Director of Research and Operations at CFI, would later become my career coach. Fellow attendee Hunter Muir and I connected over my NVC talk, and they also gave a lightning talk about their role as Programme Lead at Visual Meaning. Months later, we would collaborate on a project as part of an AI Governance course capstone (#12 below) - work that directly built on the software tool I learned about from their lightning talk.
2. Neurodiversity advocacy
August 2024 - Applied my dual perspective as someone who is neurodiverse and has school leadership experience creating inclusive educational environments to *request accommodations* from high-impact employers during my application process. While I’m unsure if accommodations such as work test time extensions actually improved my success rate, they improved psychological comfort, helped me experiment with if/how I share my neurodiversity with potential employers (yikes!), and served as an immediate litmus test of organizational culture based on how orgs responded. While most orgs have inclusion statements at the end of their job descriptions designed to signal that all potential candidates are welcome, I learned that how this manifests differs across orgs—at least at the level of hiring practices. As someone for whom ‘organizational culture’ weighed heavily in my weighted factor decision model, this information was useful to tease out (and otherwise difficult to access.)
3. Meet-up host
September 2024 - Again used my passion for NVC to *co-host a meetup* at EAGxBerlin titled “Practical Strategies for Navigating Conflict and Difficult Conversations” with coaches in the high-impact space (Adam Tury, Simon Haberfellner, and Tee Barnett). Simon would later become my career advisor at Successif and refer me to my current job. Adam would later become a colleague at the same org.
4. Faith intersection
September 2024 - Used my Islamic faith to *host a meetup at EAGxBerlin* titled “Exploring the Intersection Between EA and Islam”—Another cheap test of community interest in an under-explored intersection. The positive reception and subsequent conversations over several months led to Ambitious Impact contacting me about co-founding an Islamic Effective Giving charity, which I ended up not pursuing due to startup uncertainty and my shorter timeline to secure stable employment.
5. Pro bono consulting & Advisory Board membership
October 2024 - Drew on my measurement and evaluation skills to review Theory of Change for two orgs (High Impact Medicine and Effective Altruism Germany) - A way to put my consulting skills both to the test and to good use, while building visibility and credibility about my commitment to the high-impact space. The High Impact Medicine opportunity started with a 1:1 request at EAGxBerlin, followed by a post-conference meeting, and eventually an invitation to *join their advisory board*. Despite having no background in or networks within medicine, I would later carry this validation into AI safety, where I similarly lacked a technical background. The EA Germany opportunity emerged serendipitously during a scheduling mix-up—while waiting for a third person to join a call, I asked the EAG Director how I could be of value, mentioned my Theory of Change expertise, and discovered they were actually in the middle of reviewing theirs, so we immediately pivoted to spend the meeting time on that.
6. Training delivery
October 2024 - Applied what I learned as a board member at my daughter’s forest school to *train* High Impact Med’s core team on effective meetings using Roundspeak—Reinforced that seemingly unrelated experiences could bring valuable tools to high-impact orgs and that skills transfer isn’t limited to obvious professional parallels, but can come from personal roles and unconventional contexts (e.g. alternative education).
7. Alumni networking
November 2024 - Used my alumni status to create a volunteering opportunity with Ambitious Impact, seeking to build a talent pipeline between my university and the organization—Leveraged existing networks and institutional relationships to create pathways for bringing new talent into the high-impact space. This reinforced that career capital isn’t just about skills, but also about the networks you’ve built throughout your life—even from contexts that seem entirely unrelated to your target field.
8. Executive coaching
November 2024 - Drew on my people leadership experience as a school principal to offer *weekly executive mentorship* sessions to the Director of an AI Safety organisation—Discovered that my coaching skills were both valuable in this space and something I genuinely loved doing (confidence I could draw on in my final job interview). This reinforced that soft skills from education—coaching, leadership development, and project management—are highly transferable and desperately needed in technical fields where such capabilities are often underdeveloped. The work led to me joining their advisory board.
9. Journey documentation
November 2024 - Used my career transition journey to—you guessed it—write about *my career transition journey* - Allowed me to take stock of and evaluate my progress, share—even test—my reasoning and learnings with people in similar situations, and—again—demonstrate my commitment to the space.
10. Course quality support
December 2024 - Combined my background in educational leadership and project management to evaluate and propose improvements for how BlueDot Impact, a flagship AI educator, monitored course facilitation quality—Applied educational quality assurance frameworks by interviewing course participants and facilitators, and meeting with program manager Adam Jones twice throughout the process.
11. User testing
January 2025 - Used my ignorance as a non-technical person to review my course facilitator’s side project introducing machine learning to non-technical people—Turned my knowledge gap into an asset by providing authentic user testing and accessibility feedback for technical communication.
12. Framework development
February 2025, ongoing—Used my background in sociology to design a *framework* for AI safety field-building—Applied social theory and systems thinking to address coordination challenges in the AI safety field. This evolved into a *prototype* project with Hunter Muir, who I met at a retreat months earlier (#1). Working on a live project contributing to the field allowed me to mention the work in conversations throughout the space, meet with and seek feedback from experts, and explore potential use-cases with organizations—ultimately: acquiring context, context, context.
13. Program facilitation
February 2025 - Combined my experiences in teacher training and youth group facilitation to *facilitate* a 6-week structured program helping experienced professionals transition into high-impact careers—Volunteering for the Impact Accelerator Program confirmed my ability to guide professionals who were—if not in, likely on their way to—the high-impact space. It also reinforced my passion for supporting others’ professional development and provided evidence of my facilitation capabilities—learning that helped me identify a new category of potential roles around talent development and community building, which I could reference confidently in applications and interviews.
14. Cross-domain research
April 2025 - Used my experience doing peace work in Israel/Palestine to produce *research* on win-win outcomes in AI governance—For my BlueDot AI Governance course capstone project, I demonstrated how conflict transformation tools could offer fresh approaches to AI governance challenges, while contributing original research that bridges two seemingly unrelated fields.
15. Resource development
July 2025 - Used a framework I learned 15 years ago in my bachelor’s study in anthropology to write a *resource* on navigating cultural diversity in high-impact career transitions—Integrated Hofstede’s cultural dimensions framework to understand how cultural background creates unique challenges and opportunities for AI safety career transitions. This demonstrated my ability to apply academic frameworks to practical challenges while addressing an underexplored area. While too recent to assess long-term impact, this resource may help expand talent pipelines by making transitions more accessible to underrepresented groups, while positioning me as someone who thinks systematically about inclusive talent development in the field..
Career Outcome
In June 2025, I received my first offer: a Research Manager position at a prestigious AI Governance think-tank, though we determined together that work-life balance considerations made it not the right match.
In July 2025, I accepted my current role as Advisor at Successif.
What unexpected connections will you make on your journey?
Recommended Readings
Challenges from Career Transitions and What To Expect From Advising (Successif)
From rave websites to AI risk: 30 years of career lessons (Patrick Gruban)
Why experienced professionals fail to land high-impact roles (Gergő Gáspár)
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my AI alignment course facilitator, Lovkush Agarwal, who emphatically encouraged me to write this piece many moons ago, and Al-Hussein Saqr and Patrick Gruban who’ve coloured it with generous feedback.
- ^
Over one year, that’s roughly 3 actions per week, or one every couple of days (e.g. an application/work test submission, a networking call, attending an event). I was on a self-funded career sabbatical, and had the privilege to dedicate my time fully to a career transition.
Really inspiring, Moneer!
It’s reassuring to see that one’s career journey doesn’t need to be an obvious straight path, but rather a collection of learnings.
Until quite recently, I often felt that being a “Generalist” was seen as lacking a north star or depth. But I’m beginning to realize that the skills and experiences we pick up along the way show that a “Generalist” can embody adaptability & perseverance—which is such an asset for this day and age!
Thank you for sharing your story.
Executive summary: This reflective post shares how the author transitioned from school principal to AI safety advisor by creatively leveraging their generalist background, highlighting 15 unconventional but replicable strategies that illustrate how non-technical professionals can carve meaningful pathways into high-impact careers.
Key points:
The author emphasizes that career transitions are rarely linear; unexpected intersections and personal uniqueness often become valuable assets.
They pursued over 170 small actions across four categories—applications/work tests, upskilling, networking, and pro bono projects—underscoring experimentation and persistence rather than a single roadmap.
Their strategies included re-purposing past skills (e.g., school leadership → executive coaching), using personal passions and identities (e.g., NonViolent Communication, Islamic faith, neurodiversity) to host events and advocate, and drawing on lived experiences to add fresh perspectives in AI safety.
Many pivotal career breaks came from small, exploratory activities—like giving a lightning talk, co-hosting meetups, or seizing chance conversations—that led directly to advisory board invitations, project collaborations, and referrals to paid roles.
Documenting their journey publicly (via posts, frameworks, resources) both solidified learning and signaled credibility, helping build visibility despite lacking technical expertise.
The author concludes with encouragement that unconventional connections and transferable skills can open doors to high-impact work, especially when paired with persistence, openness, and thoughtful self-presentation.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.
I’m on a very similar journey (though I only began it this year) balancing a full-time job while trying to carve out a high-impact path in AI governance.
One of the biggest roadblocks I’ve encountered is that you need high-impact experience on your CV in order to land your first high-impact job. That Catch-22 is real.
The line that resonated most deeply with me in your post was:
“In reality, I took more than 170 actions (I kept a log)”—that is so daunting.
I’m curious if after taking all those steps, did you discover a more direct pathway from a non-high-impact role into something specifically in AI safety/governance? I’m trying to find a similarly streamlined route into AI governance, if one exists.
Thanks!
Thank you for sharing, Christen. Trying to break into a space that seems to require the very experience you’re seeking is tricky. Actually, your comment prompted me to realize some biases I’m likely operating under, which I’ve now included in the section ‘What this List is Not’.
I’d think about “high-impact experience” in a CV differently. It doesn’t have to come in the form of formal job titles. What hiring managers could find equally valuable is evidence that you understand the space and can contribute meaningfully which can be demonstrated in several ways.
In my own CV, I didn’t have traditional AI governance experience either (I had “school principal” and “consultant”). After several months of ‘journeying’, though, I included:
X# of conversations in the space
Y# of volunteering/pro bono consulting projects (here is the doc I’d hyperlink, which of course started with only one project)
Z# of high-impact events attended
All relevant courses I’d completed
(To see an example, visit my LinkedIn --> Experience --> Career transition)
This approach essentially “substituted” formal experience with what I call “acquiring context”.
Regarding those 170 actions—let me break that down because it’s less daunting than it sounds! Over one year, that’s roughly 3 actions per week, or one every couple of days. I acknowledge that available time greatly affects this, especially while holding down a full-time job.
I was never good at keeping a diary, but I found tracking actions helpful as a project management tool (I used RAG colors—red for rejected/door closed, amber for pending, green for accepted/success), with hyperlinks to easily retrieve previous applications or contacts, and finally as a way to motivate myself with small sense of progress (it’s a game mechanic that works for me).
As for a more direct path—while there isn’t really a “streamlined” route, there are definitely “conveyor belts” or “nodes” with high traffic under those three prongs: networking, small projects/pro bono consulting, and upskilling:
EAGs—I attended 2 during the year and found them (extremely) helpful for developing context and walking away with warm networks (I prefer the term ‘relationships’), volunteering opportunities, etc. Not sure where you are in the world or what your capacity is, but the next couple months is EAG season.
Upskilling courses like BlueDot Impact (apart from the content) are positive market signals and connections to networks. The capstone projects were an opportunity for me to work on something directly in the space (e.g. milestone #10, #12, #14).
Other conveyer belts (alternatively: on-ramps?) include direct career transition support, such as 80k Hours (one-off career advising), Successif (long-term, relationship-focused career advising specifically in AI risk mitigation for professionals with any 5+ years experience), and the Impact Accelerator Program (6 week structured program within a cohort). AI Safety Collab (8 week course) and fellowships (e.g. GovAI; Arcadia Impact) are likely conveyer belts, although I did not do these myself.
The whole point of my post is to show that you won’t find a streamlined path, but to invite you to create your own path and take full advantage of your circle of control. And perhaps to sound less cliche—whatever time you’re spending on career transition, consider redistributing to ~40% applications, ~20% deep networking, ~20% upskilling, ~20% small projects/volunteering/pro bono consulting. (i.e. a portfolio approach!). Then again, increasingly conscious of my stated biases.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply, Moneer. I really appreciate the detail you shared, it made me realize I’d been approaching this in a pretty naive way. I’ve started logging my own actions now, and it’s already helping me see that I’ll need to apply to many more programs and opportunities than I initially thought. I’m grateful for the time you took to break things down, and I’ll be using your experience as a guide while I continue to track my own journey.