Research Unit Deputy Director, AI Safety Institute
Department for Science, Innovation & Technology
Apply before 11:55 pm on Monday 21st October 2024
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About the job
Job summary
The AI Safety Institute (AISI) is a start up in Government, established in November 2023 at the world’s first AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park. AISI’s mission is to advance AI safety research, evaluations and standards both domestically and internationally. AISI is the first state-backed organisation focused on advancing AI safety for the public interest and we believe that to reap the benefits of this extraordinary technology, this requires it to be developed and deployed safely.
At the core of AISI’s work is our research: we equip governments with an empirical understanding of the safety of frontier AI models.
This work is driven by the Research Unit, a team of around 50 AI researchers, engineers and programme managers who build state of the art evaluations, produce novel research and collaborate with researchers externally.
We are advertising for two Deputy Director roles to lead the Research Unit. We envisage one role focused on national security relevant evaluations, and the other focused on our grant programmes, research into the societal impacts of AI and our academic collaborations.
These Deputy Directors will first and foremost be leaders of the Research Unit, focused on project delivery, managing the team and delivering timely research. But they will also be responsible for making this work useful for the rest of Government, translating research outputs into insights that can drive Government’s policymaking and assessments of risk. The Deputy Directors will therefore be comfortable both managing a technical team and guiding that team’s engagement with the wider system.
These are exceptionally challenging – but rewarding – roles, bridging developing and implementing policy within AISI’s technical research unit made up of some of the world’s most sought-after AI talent from academia and leading AI companies. You will have significant senior leadership and Ministerial exposure as well as at C-suite level with leading AI companies and other AI Safety Institutes internationally.
Job description
These are stretching Deputy Director jobs. They combine technical complexity, leadership challenges, stakeholder management and policy impact. Given the exponential pace of AI development and AISI’s growth the responsibilities of this role will evolve over time. However, the postholder can expect to be responsible for:
- Leading the development of AISI’s technical workstrands (more information on several of them here ), supporting the team leads and Research Directors in defining these, setting strategy and expectations and overseeing the delivery of these pieces of work. You will need to have an ability to swiftly get up to speed with technical issues, succinctly translate these into tangible policy objectives and oversee the delivery of unique work.
- Establishing AISI’s partnerships programme with academic institutions – a new programme to support academics in conducting AI safety research in decision relevant areas – as well as leading AISI’s systemic safety grants programme, allowing researchers to collaborate with the UK government to advance systemic approaches to AI Safety.
- Work in collaboration with the national security community to support our evaluation information sharing (disclosures), national security input into threat assessments and to support our broader workstreams.
- Be an active part of the wider senior leadership team of AISI, delivering and taking ownership of corporate objectives.
Person specification
We are looking for a highly motivated individual with exceptional communication, collaboration and leadership skills who is able to understand complex and technical AI topics and translate these live and novel issues into tangible and deliverable policy and projects. They will need to successfully operate in ambiguity, grip the delivery of knotty and fast-paced issues, and demonstrate exceptional judgement. We would encourage you to apply if you meet most of the following:
- An ability to quickly get up to speed on technical policy issues
- Highly developed leadership skills with a proven ability to develop, grow and inspire fast-paced and high-performing teams.
- A proven track record of working closely with senior stakeholders and creating a single, cohesive vision you lead your team towards, translating priorities into
effective outcomes and delivering these. - Exceptional communication, influencing and negotiation skills.
- Significant experience working in a fast-paced environment, providing clarity to complex tasks and gripping both reactive and strategic priorities.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
Benefits
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:
- A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
- Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
- A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
- An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
- Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
- A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
During the interview process, you will be assessed against the following competencies:
- Leadership
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
For candidates successful in the sift, there will be a multi-part interview process for applicants. This will consist of a strengths and behaviors interview, a presentation, fireside discussions with the Research Directors in AISI and a final fireside chat with our Chief Technology Officer and Director of AISI.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.
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Working for the Civil Service
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).
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Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : SCS Candidate
- Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : dsitresourcing.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
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