Research Director

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 UK AISI is uniquely positioned to mobilise them. With our resources 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:
  • Safeguards
  • Cyber and Autonomous Systems
  • Control

• 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.
  
  

What We Offer

Impact you couldnt have anywhere else

• Incredibly talented mission-driven and supportive colleagues.
• Direct influence on how frontier AI is governed and deployed globally.
• Work with the Prime Ministers AI Advisor and leading AI companies.
• Opportunity to shape the first & best-resourced public-interest research team focused on AI security.

Resources & access

• Pre-release access to multiple frontier models and ample compute.
• Extensive operational support so you can focus on research and ship quickly.
• Work with experts across national security policy AI research and adjacent sciences.

Growth & autonomy

• If youre talented and driven youll own important problems early.
• 5 days off learning and development annual stipends for learning and development and funding for conferences and external collaborations.
• Freedom to pursue research bets without product pressure.
• Opportunities to publish and collaborate externally.

Life & family

• Modern central London office (cafes food court gym) or option to work in similar government offices in Birmingham Cardiff Darlington Edinburgh Salford or Bristol.
• Hybrid working flexibility for occasional remote work abroad and stipends for work-from-home equipment.
• At least 25 days annual leave 8 public holidays extra team-wide breaks and 3 days off for volunteering.
• Generous paid parental leave (36 weeks of UK statutory leave shared between parents 3 extra paid weeks option for additional unpaid time).
• On top of your salary we contribute 28.97% of your base salary to your pension.
• Discounts and benefits for cycling to work donations and retail/gyms.

Salary

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