Head of Policy in London

Odyssey is an AI lab pioneering general world models: causal, multimodal systems that learn to predict and interact with the world over long horizons. This foundational technology promises to revolutionise robotics, science, healthcare, education, gaming, defence, and beyond.

Odyssey’s founders previously pioneered the most complex application of physical AI: self-driving cars. They’ve now brought together a world-class research team from DeepMind, Tesla, Waymo, Meta, Apple, and Wayve, who have made significant contributions to language models (DeepMind Gemini), video models (DeepMind Veo), world models (Wayve GAIA), and autonomous systems (Tesla FSD).

Odyssey has raised significant venture capital from GV, Amazon, AMD, EQT, NVIDIA, Natural Capital, In-Q-Tel, Elad Gil, Jeff Dean, Guillermo Rauch, Garry Tan, Kyle Vogt, and researchers from OpenAI, DeepMind, MSL, Recursive, and Thinking Machines.

Odyssey is hiring its first dedicated policy leader. As Head of Policy, you will represent the company in the rooms where the rules for frontier AI are being shaped, and help define how world models should be understood, governed, and deployed.

World models are an emerging category, and the policy frameworks around them are still being formed. You will help Odyssey navigate a fast-moving regulatory and geopolitical environment, build trusted relationships with policymakers and government partners, and ensure our research and product decisions are informed by a clear policy perspective.

This is a senior individual contributor role reporting to the CEO. You will own external engagement, advise leadership, research, and product teams, and build the policy function from the ground up. The right person is credible with regulators, policymakers, and researchers; comfortable operating independently; and able to turn ambiguity into clear strategy and action.

What you’ll do:

• Develop and maintain Odyssey’s positions across the AI governance landscape, aligned with our research direction and company strategy.
• Define Odyssey’s policy position on world models, including the governance principles and frameworks needed to establish the category.
• Lead Odyssey’s engagement with regulators, policymakers, and government partners across the US and more, and represent the company in external forums.
• Partner closely with research and product teams to assess the policy implications of what we build.
• Translate regulatory and geopolitical developments into clear recommendations for the CEO and leadership team.
• Stand up the policy function from the ground up, setting the priorities and building the playbook.

Who you are:

• 10+ years in policy, government, or a related field, with a focus on AI or other emerging technologies.
• Deep fluency in the national-security and geopolitical dynamics of AI, and how policy and global regulation shape what a frontier lab can build and where.
• A strong grasp of the AI policy landscape and the debates around governance, safety, and accountability.
• Direct experience in or with the US government. You understand how policy is actually made, and how to engage policymakers and officials to shape it.
• A strong writer who can develop a framework or point of view that shapes how others think.
• Technically fluent enough to be credible with frontier AI researchers, and able to translate between technical and policy audiences.
• Energised by building a function from zero; setting direction and operating independently before a team exists.
• Comfortable with frequent travel between the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C., and London.