Research Scientist/Engineer, Biological Models

About the AI Security Institute

The AI Security Institute is the world's largest and best-funded team dedicated to understanding advanced AI risks and translating that knowledge into action. We're in the heart of the UK government with direct lines to No. 10 (the Prime Minister's office), and we work with frontier developers and governments globally.

We're 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.

About the Chem Bio team

AISI's Chem Bio (CB) team conducts technical research to assess evolving AI capabilities related to science R&D and CB misuse, and the effectiveness of technical safeguards that might mitigate risks arising from those capabilities.

The goal of our research is to inform critical decisions on security, opportunities, policy, and risk mitigation made by governments and AI developers.

We're a close-knit, unusually interdisciplinary team-made up of machine learning researchers and engineers, software engineers, virologists and bacteriologists, behavioural research scientists, biosecurity experts, long-standing CB policy specialists and talented generalists-who work closely with other technical and policy teams across government.

Role Responsibilities

Candidates who join us in this role should expect to play a critical role in driving the R&D work of the CB team through a variety of projects. The successful candidate will:

• Join a small, talent-driven, multidisciplinary team evaluating state-of-the-art AI models for engineering biology.
• Setup and deploy leading biological models and evaluate these models in line with AISI's research objectives.
• Design and deliver evaluations and experiments to assess capabilities of AI models in fields such as protein design, structure prediction and biological foundation models.
• Lead on research projects to understand the feasibility and effectiveness of potential technical safeguards for biological models
• Investigate critical research questions at the intersection of AI and biosecurity, contributing to a technical evidence base used to advise and inform wider cross-Government efforts in this space.

Requirements

We are looking for the following skills, experience and attitudes, but a successful candidate will not necessarily need to meet all these criteria. We can be flexible in shaping the role and salary to your background, expertise, and level of experience.

• Background in machine learning, having worked directly on training, tuning or evaluating machine learning models using PyTorch or similar.
• Experience working on leading biological AI models, such as protein design models, structure prediction or scientific foundation models.
• Experience writing production-level Python code that is scalable, robust and easy to maintain, ideally in a team.
• Sufficient knowledge of biology and machine learning concepts to understand and stay across the frontier of AI x Bio research literature.
• A sense of mission, urgency, and responsibility for success; demonstrated ability to solve challenging problems, implement solutions efficiently and acquire any missing knowledge necessary to get the job done. Motivated to conduct technical research with an emphasis on direct policy impact.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to work effectively in a dynamic, multidisciplinary team environment.

Please note that this is a reserved post. We can only consider applications from UK nationals (including dual nationals who hold British citizenship). Appointment is conditional on successfully completing UK Government SC clearance. Prior clearance is not required-we will sponsor and support you. You should normally have been resident in the UK for the past 5 years. You may also be required to undergo Developed Vetting (DV). DV typically requires a longer period of UK residency (around 10 years). Employment is conditional on obtaining and maintaining the required clearance(s). More detail on clearance eligibility can be found on the UK Government website: National security vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK

Other core requirements

• You should be able to spend at least 9 days per fortnight working with us.
• You should be willing to work from our office in London (Whitehall) at least 3 days/week.
• You should be UK-based.

What We Offer

Impact you couldn't 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 Minister's 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 you're talented and driven, you'll 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

Annual salary is benchmarked to role scope and relevant experience. Most offers land between £65,000 and £145,000 (base plus technical allowance), with 28.97% employer pension and other benefits on top.

This role sits outside of the DDaT pay framework given the scope of this role requires in depth technical expertise in frontier AI safety, robustness and advanced AI architectures.

The full range of salaries are as follows:

• Level 3: £65,000-£75,000 (Base £35,720 + Technical Allowance £29,280-£39,280)
• Level 4: £85,000-£95,000 (Base £42,495 + Technical Allowance £42,505-£52,505)
• Level 5: £105,000-£115,000 (Base £55,805 + Technical Allowance £49,195-£59,195)
• Level 6: £125,000-£135,000 (Base £68,770 + Technical Allowance £56,230-£66,230)
• Level 7: £145,000 (Base £68,770 + Technical Allowance £76,230)

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 fraud. In 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 service. In 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 get baseline personnel security standard (BPSS) clearance before they can be appointed. Additionally, there is a strong preference for eligibility for counter-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

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).