The arXiv is separating from Cornell University, and is hiring a CEO, who will be paid roughly $300,000/year:
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That’s one of the reasons moving to NYC seemed very odd to me.
@clew @Thcoudreau @johncarlosbaez arXiv nominally moved to the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan a few years ago, though I don’t know if they have any actual infrastructure there.
The job description does say “will work closely with board member representatives of Cornell University and the Simons Foundation”, so Simons seems to be very involved.
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@dginev @MartinEscardo @johncarlosbaez
Deyan, you have an insider view. What need there is for a CEO in arxiv? Rather, more like a team lead with direct experience and with a technical background and role on daily operations?
@albertcardona @MartinEscardo @johncarlosbaez
Some structure needs to perform a leadership function. As other commenters mention, the 501c3 + CEO is a standard setup over here, and given we are working with a geo center in NYC there is quite a lot that a CEO figure can achieve not only inside arXiv, but also externally.
Our main challenge is sustaining arXiv's level of service and preserving its core mission in the face of growing scale. That doesn't require a CEO for daily operations, but it requires some leadership structure for the long-term direction. And longevity is a core part of the mission of an archive.
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@johncarlosbaez @dan131riley @Thcoudreau
I nominate John Carlos Baez.@bks @dan131riley @Thcoudreau - I would hate this job. I had some fun thinking about the salary I'd demand if someone wanted me to do it. It would be dumb of them to want that, because I'd probably do a bad job, but I might do it for $3,000,000/year.
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The arXiv is separating from Cornell University, and is hiring a CEO, who will be paid roughly $300,000/year:
They say:
"After decades of productive partnership with Cornell University, and with support from the Simons Foundation, arXiv is establishing itself as an independent nonprofit organization, marking the next stage in its 35-year history as a pioneer of open-access science."
The arXiv’s current annual budget is approximately $6 million and they employ ~27 staff members, most of whom work remotely, primarily in the U.S. The new chief executive officer (CEO) will be responsible for all aspects of arXiv, including strategic planning, financial management, technical infrastructure, personnel oversight and stakeholder engagement. They will work closely with board member representatives of Cornell University and the Simons Foundation to establish the organization’s independence.
A firm called Spencer Stuart is recruiting the CEO. For confidential nominations and expressions of interest, you can contact them at arXivCEO@SpencerStuart.com. The salary is expected to be around $300,000, though the actual salary offered may differ.
@johncarlosbaez Well, that’s about as disappointing as you’d expect from the major universities, given recent experience of administrative cowardice, incompetence and greed. Cool
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@johncarlosbaez im not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing
I assume it must be bad@demofox - We will only be able to tell when they hire the new director, and see what he or she does.
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The arXiv is separating from Cornell University, and is hiring a CEO, who will be paid roughly $300,000/year:
They say:
"After decades of productive partnership with Cornell University, and with support from the Simons Foundation, arXiv is establishing itself as an independent nonprofit organization, marking the next stage in its 35-year history as a pioneer of open-access science."
The arXiv’s current annual budget is approximately $6 million and they employ ~27 staff members, most of whom work remotely, primarily in the U.S. The new chief executive officer (CEO) will be responsible for all aspects of arXiv, including strategic planning, financial management, technical infrastructure, personnel oversight and stakeholder engagement. They will work closely with board member representatives of Cornell University and the Simons Foundation to establish the organization’s independence.
A firm called Spencer Stuart is recruiting the CEO. For confidential nominations and expressions of interest, you can contact them at arXivCEO@SpencerStuart.com. The salary is expected to be around $300,000, though the actual salary offered may differ.
@johncarlosbaez thus foretelling the end of the arXiv.
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@johncarlosbaez Oh, no, I thought the arxiv was going to be for ever, at least for as long as we last in this planet.
First we lost the mirrors in Europe. And now this.
I am not optimistic about this move.
Who gets to decide about this?
@MartinEscardo - I don't instantly assume this will be bad. I think it depends a lot on who they choose. The job description says they want to hire a prestigious mathematician, physicist or computer scientist. It will be hard to get someone like that without a fairly high salary.
It's possible they are doing this because they believe Trump will continue his campaign against universities until 2028 at least, and they want to insulate the arXiv from Cornell.
Of course it *could* be very bad.
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@Thcoudreau @johncarlosbaez The arXiv budget is just internal operations, it doesn’t make any grants or fund outside projects, so the CEO salary is going to be a larger percentage than for a place like the Simons Foundation that serves as a funder of many outside project (including arXiv).
While $300k sounds like a lot, it looks to be towards the low side of CEO compensation for a tech-oriented non-profit foundation in NYC.
@dan131riley @Thcoudreau @johncarlosbaez
I would say it's still a bit high, for current scale in NY, looking at Candid and other surveys, $250K would be quite reasonable.
But reading between the lines, my guess is they're hoping to scale well beyond the $6M. arXiv is essential for AI/ML research, so they very much should get some money from the sector to keep preprints useful in the age of slop.
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@bks @dan131riley @Thcoudreau - I would hate this job. I had some fun thinking about the salary I'd demand if someone wanted me to do it. It would be dumb of them to want that, because I'd probably do a bad job, but I might do it for $3,000,000/year.
@johncarlosbaez @dan131riley @Thcoudreau Would you take the equivalent in AI tokens?
https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/03/12/ai-companies-try-to-pay-staff-in-ai-tokens-not-money/ -
@johncarlosbaez @dan131riley @Thcoudreau
I nominate John Carlos Baez.@bks @johncarlosbaez @dan131riley @Thcoudreau
SECONDED!!!!
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@MartinEscardo - I don't instantly assume this will be bad. I think it depends a lot on who they choose. The job description says they want to hire a prestigious mathematician, physicist or computer scientist. It will be hard to get someone like that without a fairly high salary.
It's possible they are doing this because they believe Trump will continue his campaign against universities until 2028 at least, and they want to insulate the arXiv from Cornell.
Of course it *could* be very bad.
@johncarlosbaez @MartinEscardo I do wonder though if aiming to hire a person working in Maths, Physics or CS is the right call. Overseeing such crucial part of academia that _arxiv_ has become requires great understanding of cultural context and discourse, at least if the goal is to keep it the pillar that it is. While people can be brilliant at what they do, it doesn't necessarily translate well elsewhere. Of course, #NotAllFolxInSTEM but actually quite many of them are not the best when it comes to the nuances of navigating such landscapes. And unfortunately we have many examples of the disasters which happen when technical people become CEOs. I really hope _arxiv_ won't be another casualty of that.
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@MartinEscardo - I don't instantly assume this will be bad. I think it depends a lot on who they choose. The job description says they want to hire a prestigious mathematician, physicist or computer scientist. It will be hard to get someone like that without a fairly high salary.
It's possible they are doing this because they believe Trump will continue his campaign against universities until 2028 at least, and they want to insulate the arXiv from Cornell.
Of course it *could* be very bad.
@johncarlosbaez writes "It's possible they are doing this because they believe Trump will continue his campaign against universities until 2028 at least, and they want to insulate the arXiv from Cornell."
If that's the case, it is crucial that they move away from Amazon servers, or any American corporate server.
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@johncarlosbaez Oh, no, I thought the arxiv was going to be for ever, at least for as long as we last in this planet.
First we lost the mirrors in Europe. And now this.
I am not optimistic about this move.
Who gets to decide about this?
@MartinEscardo
Regarding mirrors, someone from arxiv recently answered me this https://mathstodon.xyz/@arXiv/116218497242146725
@johncarlosbaez -
@bks @dan131riley @Thcoudreau - I would hate this job. I had some fun thinking about the salary I'd demand if someone wanted me to do it. It would be dumb of them to want that, because I'd probably do a bad job, but I might do it for $3,000,000/year.
@johncarlosbaez @bks @dan131riley @Thcoudreau i'm curious what would the extra 2700000 bring you that compensates the misery of this kind of job.
I'm asking because i'm going to do a 50% management job for almost no extra soon.
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@Thcoudreau @johncarlosbaez Yes, it's called fast-track #Enshittification.
We saw the same thing with #Mozilla (#Firefox) recently.
I won't hold my breath, but chances are we'll also see #ensloppification of #arXiv soon.
@ftranschel @Thcoudreau @johncarlosbaez @pluralistic agree completely. But then it's our own fault. I've been fighting in various university/academic board of directors to reserve budget for things like arxiv. Those are the line items that get cut first
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@MartinEscardo
Regarding mirrors, someone from arxiv recently answered me this https://mathstodon.xyz/@arXiv/116218497242146725
@johncarlosbaez@MartinEscardo
I could be wrong, but I have the feeling TIB (German National Library for Science and Technology) first took the initiative to build a dark arXiv in 2025, and next arXiv and TIB secured an agreement. If this is correct, TIB initiative was great as it forced arXiv to officially recognize a non-US arXiv backup, even if disconnected from a direct access.https://blog.tib.eu/2025/05/14/protecting-science-tib-builds-dark-archive-for-arxiv/
@johncarlosbaez -
The arXiv is separating from Cornell University, and is hiring a CEO, who will be paid roughly $300,000/year:
They say:
"After decades of productive partnership with Cornell University, and with support from the Simons Foundation, arXiv is establishing itself as an independent nonprofit organization, marking the next stage in its 35-year history as a pioneer of open-access science."
The arXiv’s current annual budget is approximately $6 million and they employ ~27 staff members, most of whom work remotely, primarily in the U.S. The new chief executive officer (CEO) will be responsible for all aspects of arXiv, including strategic planning, financial management, technical infrastructure, personnel oversight and stakeholder engagement. They will work closely with board member representatives of Cornell University and the Simons Foundation to establish the organization’s independence.
A firm called Spencer Stuart is recruiting the CEO. For confidential nominations and expressions of interest, you can contact them at arXivCEO@SpencerStuart.com. The salary is expected to be around $300,000, though the actual salary offered may differ.
@johncarlosbaez is it bad to emancipate such an institution from a private US university?
the CEO salary is quite embarrassing though, I agree -
@johncarlosbaez writes "It's possible they are doing this because they believe Trump will continue his campaign against universities until 2028 at least, and they want to insulate the arXiv from Cornell."
If that's the case, it is crucial that they move away from Amazon servers, or any American corporate server.
@MartinEscardo @johncarlosbaez they should partner with the internet archive...
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@ftranschel @Thcoudreau @johncarlosbaez @pluralistic agree completely. But then it's our own fault. I've been fighting in various university/academic board of directors to reserve budget for things like arxiv. Those are the line items that get cut first
@freyablekman @Thcoudreau @johncarlosbaez @pluralistic It's surely the case that scholars need to be vocal.
However, it's also related to what the kids call #terminal #capitalism; There's only so many hills you can die on *within* faculty.
If the society at large decides* there is no money for #arXiv, then arXiv will go the way of all #enshittified platforms.
* And it should be obvious that the high-level decision-making process should be questioned, not [only] scholars fighting for #budget.
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The arXiv is separating from Cornell University, and is hiring a CEO, who will be paid roughly $300,000/year:
They say:
"After decades of productive partnership with Cornell University, and with support from the Simons Foundation, arXiv is establishing itself as an independent nonprofit organization, marking the next stage in its 35-year history as a pioneer of open-access science."
The arXiv’s current annual budget is approximately $6 million and they employ ~27 staff members, most of whom work remotely, primarily in the U.S. The new chief executive officer (CEO) will be responsible for all aspects of arXiv, including strategic planning, financial management, technical infrastructure, personnel oversight and stakeholder engagement. They will work closely with board member representatives of Cornell University and the Simons Foundation to establish the organization’s independence.
A firm called Spencer Stuart is recruiting the CEO. For confidential nominations and expressions of interest, you can contact them at arXivCEO@SpencerStuart.com. The salary is expected to be around $300,000, though the actual salary offered may differ.
@johncarlosbaez ArXiv already faces real challenges from AI generated papers, and this doesn't seem to be the way to fence off what's coming.
I was just thinking the other day that anything you can prompt AI to generate within a few minutes would not be worth publishing. Existing papers should also undergo an evaluation by AIs (one AI reads it, summarizes the main ideas, and feeds to another AI to reconstruct.) And we should probably only archive the prompts.
