Tech Policy Fellow

How to Apply

Please email your resume and cover letter to [email protected]. Due to the high volume of applications, only the top candidates selected for interviews will be contacted. Only candidates who are based in the Bay Area will be considered for the role. If you plan to move prior to starting, please let us know in your application email.

Please note that this posting is for a Fellow role that will be one year in duration. The individual in this role will be a contractor to Duco. Non-US citizens are welcome to apply and may be eligible for the role pending individual sponsorship and work authorization needs.

About Duco

Duco’s mission is to empower leading companies to operate safely, securely, and responsibly by mobilizing the world’s leading experts to help solve complex challenges. Duco is reinventing the way executives access and hire experts to meet the elevated demands of the most competitive organizations in the world. With a roster of thousands of world-class experts and partner organizations in over 70 countries, Duco builds and manages project-specific teams to deliver innovative and impactful solutions.

The world’s largest and fastest-growing internet companies depend on Duco to surge their international capacity and expertise, and help navigate urgent, high-stake, and multilingual initiatives. Duco’s proprietary technology platform and unique business model allow us to outpace other firms on agility, speed, and quality. Our primary areas of focus are artificial intelligence safety, digital threats, security, intelligence, and technology policy–including content policy, policy development, enforcement, privacy, regulation, public policy, and international stakeholder engagement.

Duco is a venture-backed company and our leadership and investors sit at the intersection of the Silicon Valley tech industry, international business, and foreign policy. Duco is a woman-owned small business headquartered in San Francisco, California.

You can read more about what it’s like to work at Duco on Glassdoor.

Duco Culture & Values

You will join a talented and high-performing team that delivers the industry-defining product and service our clients expect. Our team is diverse in background and worldview. Inclusion, integrity, collaboration, and innovation are the foundation of our work. We maintain a meritocratic organization with opportunities for ambitious employees to grow their careers and network in the field. Our company values reflect these aims and expectations for our staff:

  • Think like a CEO

  • Focus on impact

  • Build relationships and trust

  • Obsess over solving clients’ problems

  • Innovate and simplify

  • Grow

Your Opportunity

The Fellowship Program is a year-long immersive educational training at Duco. The purpose of this program is to provide hands-on tech policy experience to early-career professionals who are seeking graduate school opportunities or would like to pursue a career in the technology industry.

The Fellow will collaborate across our Tech Policy team and Duco experts to support our technology policy client priorities—including some of the biggest misinformation, human rights, and online safety challenges the world is facing—and navigate complex geopolitical issues, trends, and outcomes. This role will require candidates to build upon their current skill set and will provide an unparalleled immersion into all aspects of global consulting and tech policy industries. We are looking for someone who is a self-starter, always two steps ahead, excited to learn about global tech policy opportunities and challenges, and goes the extra mile to ensure outstanding research beyond what is required. As part of this position, you will:

  • Identify leading tech policy experts across a variety of fields impacting the technology sector

  • Lead ongoing research efforts on high-profile projects spanning tech policy, trust & safety, digital threats, AI, human rights, and other strategic areas

  • Identify, recruit, and eventually manage a team of experts as they assist with your various projects, and create an engaging learning environment for them

  • Brief Duco leadership and other senior colleagues on business development opportunities based on current events

  • Collaborate with national security, technology, international business, and government-industry leaders

  • Support the Duco team with research, writing, editing, and meeting preparation/execution.

  • Conceive and pitch creative solutions for current and potential stakeholders.

  • Collaborate with colleagues on and across teams to build and shape Duco as we grow!

Key Qualifications & Responsibilities

  • Bachelor’s degree (preferably in political science, international relations, economics, sociology, anthropology, statistics, data analytics, global communications, or related)

  • A minimum of one year of relevant experience (including through internships), ideally in some combination of the technology sector, academic & industry research, business & finance, report writing, and data analytics

  • Strong interest in all things technology – emerging tech, user safety, regulations and policy, etc.

  • Demonstrated ability to craft clear, persuasive written communications and articulate ideas effectively in various settings, and catered to various audiences.

  • Meticulous attention to detail, ensuring all work products are error-free, polished, and adhere to the highest professional standards

  • Ability to excel in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, and challenging environment

  • Ability to work on and prioritize multiple, ongoing and quick-turn projects

  • Ability to accept and incorporate multiple iterations of feedback

  • “Team player” who can balance individual responsibilities and team projects

  • A bias toward speed, and finding creative ways through or around thorny issues

  • A resourceful and adaptable approach to tackling complex issues, leveraging critical thinking, creativity, and a sense of urgency to deliver impactful solutions

  • Some familiarity with the consulting industry, but a willingness to rethink or overturn its conventions

  • Bonus: experience creating and monitoring research processes, extrapolating from varied data sources to present information.

At Duco, we prioritize recognizing and nurturing the strengths and growth areas of both you and your team members. As individuals join our team and opportunities develop, we customize aspects of roles to align with their strengths and areas of interest and development.

Location & Hours

Duco's headquarters is in the Mission neighborhood in San Francisco, CA. We operate on a hybrid work model: all employees are required to work from the office two designated days per week and may work remotely the other days. Employees attend about three week-long offsites each year. Occasional travel and other in-person activities, conferences, trainings, etc., may be required. Regular hours of operation are 9 am to 5 pm PST, though employees will be required to work at other times as needed.

Compensation & Benefits

This role is for a contractor position. This individual will be compensated on a bi-weekly (twice monthly) basis aligned to their Fellow agreement. Approved vacation is unlimited and Duco is closed at least 15 days per year, including the day after Thanksgiving and the full week between Christmas and New Year's Day.

The compensation for this position will be determined by a variety of factors including the functions of the role, experience, and geographic location. Individual compensation will be determined by additional factors, including job-specific skills, professional experience, and relevant education or training.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race; creed; color; religion; national origin; sex; age; disability; sexual orientation; gender identity or expression; genetic predisposition or carrier status; veteran, marital, or citizenship status; or any other status protected by law.