Research Associate in Detecting Unverbalized Dangerous Capabilities in Frontier Models

We are looking for a motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA/PostDoc) to join the Safety&Alignment lab at Imperial College London led by Dr. Oana-Maria Camburu in a fully funded research role.

The position is fully funded in the context of Dr. Oana-Maria Camburus grant on the project Detecting Unverbalized Dangerous Capabilities in Frontier Models. The project focuses on the detection of frontier models dangerous capabilities that are not verbalized in their Chain-of-Thoughts (CoTs). Externalized reasoning oversight is a safety paradigm focusing on monitoring the CoTs of large language models (LLMs). As frontier models learn that they are monitored they can become incentivized to hide their dangerous capabilities from their CoTs. Moreover as these models become increasingly capable their obfuscation capabilities also increase allowing them to bypass monitors. This project investigates ways to detect and defend against such emerging scenarios.

The post is based in the Department of Computing at Imperial College London at the South Kensington Campus. The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science in the UK and worldwide and has consistently been awarded the highest research the previous REF assessment the Department was ranked third (1st in the Research Intensity table published by The Times Higher) and was rated as Excellent in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

We strive in publishing in top-tier conferences and journals. Some of the areas you will work on are:

• Designing and developing novel algorithms for detecting and defending against unverbalized dangerous capabilities in frontier models.
• Conducting independent and collaborative research within the group.
• Publishing results in top-tier conferences and journals (e.g. NeurIPS ICML ICLR ACL EMNLP AIJ TACL etc).
• Contributing to research projects involving frontier models.
• Contributing to the life and development of the Safety & Alignment lab such weekly meetings presentations etc.
• Mentoring PhD and MSc students.

Candidates should have or expect shortly to obtain a PhD in Computer Science Mathematics Physics or a closely related discipline or equivalent research/industrial experience. You will have practical experience within a research environment and publications in relevant and refereed journals/conferences such as NeurIPS ICML ICLR ACL EMNLP TACL AIJ etc as well as experience in a broad range of techniques including model checking monitoring and CoT. Research experience in frontier models and in coding with deep learning libraries such as Pytorch is also essential.

Please see job description for a full list of requirements.

• The opportunity to continue your career at a world-leading institution and be part of our mission to continue science for humanity.

• Grow your career: gain access to Imperials sector-leading dedicated career support for researchers as well as opportunities for promotion and progression.

• Sector-leading salary and remuneration package (including 43 days off a year and generous pension schemes).

• Be part of a diverse inclusive and collaborative work culture with various staff networks and resources to support your personal and professional wellbeing.

Full-time fixed term for 12 months to start ASAP and before 8th April 2027.

*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhDwill be appointed as Research Assistant within the salaryrange45399- 48876per annum.

In addition to completing the online application candidates should attach:

• A full CV with a list of all publications

• A research statement indicating what you see are interesting research issues relating to the above post and why your expertise is relevant

Informal enquiries related to the position should be directed to Dr Oana-Maria Camburu

For queries regarding the application process contact Jamie Perrins: