Research Director
Research Director
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Job Description
About the AI Security Institute
The AI Security Institute is the worlds largest and best-funded team dedicated to understanding advanced AI risks and translating that knowledge into action. Were in the heart of the UK government with direct lines to No. 10 and we work with frontier developers and governments globally.
Were here because governments are critical for advanced AI going well and AISI is uniquely positioned to mobilize them. With our resources and the UK governments unique agility and international influence this is the best place to shape both AI development and government action.
Shape how the world responds to advanced AI.
Join the team most deeply embedded in the UKs response to AI risks. Youll lead critical research that directly impacts development and policy decisions working closely with frontier developers national security partners and allied governments.
This role is for experienced technical leaders who want their research to drive real-world action not just understanding. Youll direct one of three technical teams (Safeguards Cyber & Autonomous Systems or Control) or propose and build new ones. Youll set your teams vision ensure high output and rigour and keep it responsive to emerging developments.
As a senior technical leader youll also work with Chief Scientist Geoffrey Irving and CTO/Prime Ministers Advisor Jade Leung to shape org-wide strategy set the bar for research excellence and develop researchers across our 100-person technical team.
The timing is critical: weve scaled significantly our government influence is growing and this is the moment governments worldwide are deciding how much to prioritize AI security. With access to global decision-makers and AISIs well-resourced mission-driven team youll be positioned to drive some of the most consequential research of this decade.
What youll do
- Lead a 10-30 person team: set the vision roadmaps standards and talent strategy. Propose a new area you could lead or take on leading one of our current research areas. Among our current areas we are especially excited about leaders in:
- Mentor and scale: develop our strongest mid-level and junior researchers; build momentum for more ambitious goals.
- Shape the org-wide technical agenda: help determine which research questions matter most and adapt plans to industry and governance developments.
- Engage externally at senior levels: work with frontier labs national security partners allied governments and the wider research community
- Raise our quality bar: in methodology scientific writing technical hiring and culture.
What youll need
- A proven track record leading impactful research teams whether in industry (Senior Staff or Principal roles) or as an academic lab director.
- A clear vision of what research most advances AI safety and governance and the ability to turn that into teams roadmaps and results.
- Focus on impact: ability to recognize and adapt to frontier research and policy developments
- Extensive modern ML research experience. Typically 5 years in areas like evaluations safeguards alignment interpretability or LLM capabilities.
Logistics requirements
- Spending at least 3 days per week in our London office. We support hybrid work.
- Joining for at least 12 months. We may be able to support secondments.
Salary & benefits
AISIs senior technical staff are generally paid 105-145k but we will consider higher salaries for the Research Director role.
Your talent partner will work with you throughout our assessment process to explain our internal benchmarking process.
This role sits outside of the Civil Services DDaT pay framework given the scope of this role requires in-depth technical expertise in frontier AI safety machine learning and empirical research experience.
Additional Information
Internal Fraud Database
The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud Error Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned for internal instances such as this civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil this way the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented. For more information please see -Internal Fraud Register.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check and getbaseline personnel security standard (BPSS)clearancebefore they can be appointed. Additionally there is a strong preference for eligibility forcounter-terrorist check (CTC)clearance. Some roles may require higher levels of clearance and we will state this by exception in the job advertisement.See our vetting charter here.Nationality requirements
We may be able to offer roles to applicant from any nationality or background. As such we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet the standard nationality requirements (opens in a new window).
Working for the Civil Service
Diversity and Inclusion
Required Experience:
Director
Employment Type
Full Time
