Open Source Community Manager

Current AI | €70,000-€100,000

Steph's Notes:

Current AI's goals sure are lofty, but man, do I hope they can make them happen.

There's a part of me that, having worked in non-profits, will always be wary of the way they tend to chew people up and spit them out in the name of the mission. However, this is not an American non-profit, nor does it even list the United States as a partner country, and I have no idea if that capitalism-lite culture extends beyond our shores.

I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for a few reasons. First, there's this very grounded list of traits they're looking for in the person who would assume this role:

We’re looking for people who:

Put the mission before personal credit and work well in low-ego, highly collaborative teams
Exercise good judgment and integrity, including knowing when to push back or say no
Enjoy building from scratch and making progress with imperfect information
Have a bias to action, shipping useful things and helping others do the same
Are comfortable moving between strategy and hands-on execution as needed
Work effectively across cultures, time zones, and disciplines
Believe AI can serve the public interest - and are willing to do the practical, unglamorous work to make that true.

And two, the pay is €70k-€100k, which I understand is pretty fantastic for a Community role in Europe. For those reasons, and because it makes me feel hopeful about AI, I'm tentatively putting this in Green Means Go.

Original Job Description: Open Source Community Manager

About Current AI

‍Current Al is a first-of-its-kind global public-private partnership that brings together governments, foundations, and the private sector to build public interest AI at scale. Launched at the AI Action Summit in Paris in 2025, the organisation has already raised hundreds of millions through partnerships with the French government, AI Collaborative, and other leading governments, philanthropic, and industry partners. 

If AI is the transformative revolution we perceive it to be, it needs to serve the public interest today and tomorrow. At Current AI, our goal is to help build a collaborative, collective, and global vision for AI, not one governed by a specific country or a company. 

Today there are builders and researchers around the world developing public interest AI building blocks (datasets, models, compute, audits and applications), but efforts are not always co-ordinated or additive. To have a genuine shot at being an alternative, we must harness the full breadth of work happening across open source and public interest AI. That means helping transform individual, decentralised initiatives into a coherent Public Interest AI movement, and helping unblock builders via funding or tool development or connecting efforts together.  

Why this role matters  

To achieve our mission, we're going to build alongside the community. Our output will not be research or policy papers, but actual open and auditable technology. To do this, we are drawing from three ecosystems:

• Open source, for its values of openness, transparency, and collaboration
• Startups, for their agility, speed, and focus on real users
• The public interest and philanthropic ecosystem, for their commitment to impact and societal benefit

We will build a different kind of non-profit: transparent by default, agile in execution, built from the ground up on open source AI methodology, and most importantly, close to the work — meaning both the builders and the use cases.

We view our team as not just the internal team but the entire public interest and open source AI ecosystem. Our role is to help that community collaborate and to unblock it where we can through funding, investment in infrastructure and tools, or by connecting people together.

As our first Open Source Community Manager, you will define how our open-source platforms, tools, and communities grow — and how they are governed.

This is a ground-floor role that sits at the intersection of engineering, programs, and global partners and has real influence over how our work lands in the world. 

What you’ll do

Build and grow open-source communities

• Shape how builders, researchers, and institutions engage with Current AI.
• Help turn open-source projects into living, healthy communities, not just code repositories.
• Develop and execute plans to attract, engage, and retain contributors across Current AI’s open-source platforms.
• Design clear contribution pathways so people can move from first interaction to meaningful, sustained contribution.
• Foster a positive, inclusive and welcoming environment where contributors feel supported and valued.

Act as an active community steward

• Participate directly in community discussions across GitHub, Discord, and other channels.
• Moderate interactions to maintain respectful, constructive collaboration.
• Apply and evolve community guidelines and codes of conduct fairly and consistently.

Bridge contributors and internal teams

• Work closely with engineering, programme, and product teams to identify work suitable for open collaboration.
• Ensure external contributors have the context, documentation, and support needed to succeed.
• Listen to community feedback and feed insights back into internal teams.

Support learning, recognition, and contributor growth

• Design lightweight recognition practices that celebrate meaningful contributions.
• Help contributors develop skills, confidence, and long-term engagement.
• Share community learnings to strengthen Current AI’s products and programmes.

Manage community programs and operations

• Track and report on community health metrics including growth, engagement, and contributor activity, to guide engagement and improvement.
• Plan and coordinate outreach activities (events, workshops, conferences).
• Support simple planning and budgeting for community initiatives.

Help shape Current AI’s culture and norms

• Model low-ego, respectful collaboration internally and externally.
• Help establish community and governance practices appropriate for a global public-interest organisation.

What we are looking for  

‍Must-haves

• 4+ years of experience building and/or managing open-source communities, ideally in a global, distributed context.
• Deep understanding and demonstrated commitment to open source, open standards, and collaborative development.
• Strong technical and AI fluency and prior developer experience or sustained, hands-on work with engineers and technical contributors.
• Working knowledge of version control systems (Git; GitHub/GitLab workflows) and capable of using git workflows
• Experience moderating forums, issue trackers, mailing lists, or chat platforms (e.g. GitHub Discussions, Slack/Discord, Discourse).
• Strong organisational skills; comfortable managing multiple initiatives and stakeholders in parallel.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Genuine commitment to building AI that serves the public interest.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience working with or alongside public-sector, academic, or mission-driven organisations.
• Experience supporting global or Global-Majority communities.
• French or additional languages beyond English.

Character traits

We’re looking for people who:

• Put the mission before personal credit and work well in low-ego, highly collaborative teams
• Exercise good judgment and integrity, including knowing when to push back or say no
• Enjoy building from scratch and making progress with imperfect information
• Have a bias to action, shipping useful things and helping others do the same
• Are comfortable moving between strategy and hands-on execution as needed
• Work effectively across cultures, time zones, and disciplines
• Believe AI can serve the public interest - and are willing to do the practical, unglamorous work to make that true.

The offer

We’re committed to ensuring that team members are supported, well-compensated, and able to thrive.

Expected Salary Range: €70k-€100k depending on experience and location.

How to apply

Please email your CV to Christian Kenny from the search firm helping us with this hire, using the button below, and attach a covering note answering each of the following questions in no more than 500 words in total:  

“What draws you to Current AI’s mission, and how it connects to your own professional journey”

Equal opportunity commitment  

Current AI is committed to ensuring equal access to employment and preventing all forms of discrimination. All applications will be reviewed fairly, without regard to origin, sex, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, disability, religious beliefs, views held, or any other criteria unrelated to professional qualifications. Selection will be based solely on skills, experience, and suitability for the role.  

Current AI does not accept unsolicited applications from recruitment agencies with whom we do not have a signed agreement. Current AI will not be liable for any fees or commissions in the event that a candidate submitted in this manner is subsequently hired.