Chief Steward of SIF

About SIF: The Semantic Infrastructure Foundation builds open semantic infrastructure for trustworthy AI—systems that show their reasoning, preserve provenance, and ground outputs in verifiable computation. We’re working toward the Bell Labs model: long-term fundamental research focused on infrastructure that enables entire industries. Learn more about SIF

Role Overview

The Chief Steward serves as the guardian of SIF’s mission, culture, and long-term institutional integrity. This is a governance role, not an operational role.

Primary Responsibilities

Mission Protection

  • Guards the core mission: ensuring semantic infrastructure remains open, public, and anti-captured
  • Constitutional veto power on decisions that compromise mission integrity
  • Protects against mission drift over institutional lifetime (50+ year horizon)

Governance & Oversight

  • Serves as board chair of SIF
  • Provides fiduciary oversight of foundation operations
  • Hires and oversees Executive Director
  • Ensures governance best practices

Institutional Memory

  • Maintains continuity beyond any single founder or operator
  • Ensures institutional knowledge preservation
  • Plans stewardship succession (appoints next Chief Steward)

Hiring Oversight

  • Final review on critical hires (Director of Engineering, Chief Scientist)
  • Ensures cultural fit and mission alignment
  • Guards against capture through hiring

Anti-Capture Mechanisms

  • Enforces funding diversity rules (no single funder >25% of budget)
  • Maintains mission lock in bylaws and governance documents
  • Prevents commercial or political capture of public infrastructure

What This Role Is NOT

  • Not day-to-day operations - That’s the Executive Director’s responsibility
  • Not technical decisions - That’s the Chief Architect’s domain
  • Not fundraising execution - ED handles, Steward advises
  • Not engineering management - Director of Engineering handles

Time Commitment

  • Year 1: 10-15 hours/month (board meetings, governance setup, critical hiring)
  • Year 2-3: 15-20 hours/month (strategic planning, board meetings)
  • Year 5+: 20 hours/month (mature institution, more stakeholders)
  • Spikes: Hiring cycles, major funding rounds, crisis management

Compensation

Board position (unpaid, standard for nonprofit governance). High influence and legacy impact.

Role Pattern

The Chief Steward protects institutional integrity while researchers focus on technical work. This separation—governance protecting mission, researchers building systems—has proven essential for long-term research institutions.

The pattern: Steward guards mission and culture. Researchers build systems. Neither role captures the other.

Required Skills

Truth Without Casualty

Engineering culture often produces brutal honesty that causes social damage. The Chief Steward must deliver hard truths without destroying relationships - critical for board dynamics, hiring feedback, and founder accountability.

Institutional Literacy

Most engineers excel at building but struggle with institutions. The Chief Steward must understand organizational design, nonprofit governance, and long-term stewardship - avoiding common startup failure modes.

Anti-Ego

Nonprofit stewardship requires ego suppression (mission over self). The Chief Steward must champion others, not self-promote - critical for preventing capture and protecting mission integrity.

Success Metrics

  • Year 1: Foundation formed, governance structures established, first critical hires made with steward oversight
  • Year 3: Mission protected through growth, no capture incidents, healthy culture maintained
  • Year 5: Institution sustainable and independent of any single person, steward succession planned
  • Year 10+: SIF outlives founders, mission intact, next generation of stewards prepared

The Steward’s Core Question

“Is this decision aligned with the 50-year mission, or are we optimizing for short-term convenience?”

The Chief Steward is the person who asks this question when everyone else is moving fast and breaking things.

Get Involved

Interested in this role or want to learn more about SIF’s governance model?

Last Updated: 2025-12-11