Deputy Director, Portfolio and Impact – I.AI
Job summary
About the team
The Incubator for Artificial Intelligence is a team of ~60 entrepreneurial technologists and operators working at the centre of UK Government. We exist to do one thing: build and ship frontier AI systems that materially change how government works.
We move at start-up speed, operate under real-world constraints, and deploy at national scale. Our work sits directly behind the Prime Minister’s priorities and is used by Ministers, departments, and millions of citizens.
Our team is based across Bristol, Manchester and London, and we work in a hybrid manner as default. A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace (which for this role is London), although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance. We will consider part-time and flexible working arrangements - we encourage you to discuss your needs with the hiring manager if you are offered the role.
Job summary
This role is to lead the i.AI Strategy team to identify and deploy AI for the public good. This role will support that mission by overseeing the outputs of the team, prioritising activities to deliver on government objectives, and building strong relationships across government and externally so that i.AI is joined up with the thriving UK AI ecosystem.
The successful postholder will lead critical branches of our work: delivery of our largest projects, and key functions that make that delivery possible. The role manages the Strategy & Engagement, Delivery, Impact & Evaluation, and Operations teams alongside broad delivery oversight. This role will report into the Chief AI Officer and sits on the CAIO SLT.
This will be a dynamic and changing brief, given the rapidly evolving nature of AI in government, and the enormous appetite for change from Ministers including the Department for Science and Innovation (DSIT) Secretary of State and the Prime Minister. This is an exciting and innovative team - we are looking for change makers who want to challenge how government operates, leading from within, and driving enormous impact through harnessing the power of AI for the public good
Job description
Role responsibilities
- Oversight of the portfolio: Provides central oversight and strategy to help ensure products within the portfolio are meeting government aims and overall delivering on our strategy. This will involve working closely with other leaders across the Government Chief AI Officer’s organisation who each own a number of products at any given time.
- Deliver and scale up citizen-focussed AI missions: Work closely with Senior leaders across government, including No10 and the PM’s AI Adviser, as well as with industry and AI labs to develop and deliver a series of AI “Big Bets” to improve outcomes for citizens. This will include delivering the existing portfolio in Education and Planning, and scaling up to deliver additional Bets.
- Solidifying the Directorate’s role as a systems leader: Provide thought leadership on public sector adoption of AI, contributing to policy papers, proposals and business cases around AI, data and technology where appropriate, for example to build a case for new projects, in partnership with technical experts. Represent and profile-build our work externally, including hosting meetings with industry, representing work at conferences or events with the tech or public sector.
- Funding, commercial models and partnerships: Runs core processes relating to P&L, including Spending Review, Business Planning, cross-charging arrangements, and potential future commercialisation strategies. Oversight of partnerships to ensure they meet our strategic aims.
- Team enablement: Oversees Strategy, Delivery, Impact & Evaluations team and the Operations team, including a focus on hiring AI talent into the team
- Running an excellent team: In collaboration with other i.AI Exec members, provide oversight of delivery in the team, ensuring that technical product teams remain in line with ministerial and external expectations of the work, as well as external best practices
Person specification
Essential skills:
- Excellent communication and written skills, with a proven track record of influencing effectively at CEO, Ministerial and Permanent Secretary level or equivalent.
- Proven experience of operating effectively in a relevant field, ideally with experience in AI implementation, wider digital/analysis functions, strategy and change.
- Evidenced ability to build and maintain relationships with, and secure the confidence and trust of stakeholders, senior leaders, and peers, through the provision of expert advice on strategy, partnership working, and collaborative project delivery.
- Experience of working with external business partners/collaborators to drive change within complex organisations, ideally with stakeholders relevant to the mission of i.AI.
- Comfort and ability to engage externally, both yourself (for example keynote speaker at events) and through press and media teams to engage the public around your work.
- An empowering leader who sets a clear strategic direction to deliver key priorities through teams and with a track record of motivating and developing successfully leading diverse, high performing teams.
Experience of any of the following would be beneficial but not essential:
- Direct experience in an AI start-up, venture capital, consultancy or incubator style team.
- Experience of working in government in a high performing and fast paced environment.
- Experience in setting up new teams, establishing good ways of working and effective partnership models.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Leadership
- Making Effective Decisions
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £81,000, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £23,465 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.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
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.Application time line
- Applications close 18th May 23.55pm
- Sift W/C 19th May
- Interviews 2nd June
- Final Outcomes by the end 3rd June.
Dates subject to change.
1. Sift based on CV and Personal Statement (750 words), with reference to the criteria listed in the job description, please outline how your skills and experience demonstrate your suitability for this role.
Please email your CV and personal statement to Sian.McGrowder@dsit.gov.uk , please use the subject heading “460768 Deputy Director i.AI Application”, of the email.
2. Short-listed applicants will then attend an interview, and be assessed on 4 behaviours and 1 Presentation:
At interview the following will be assessed:
Communicating and Influencing
Leadership
Seeing the Bigger Picture
Making Effective Decision
Presentation: Topic to be sent prior to the interviews.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 1 year. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.
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.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
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 theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Sian McGrowder
- Email : Sian.McGrowder@dsit.gov.uk
- Telephone : Sian McGrowder
Recruitment team
- Email : Sian.McGrowder@dsit.gov.uk
Further information
Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance dsitresourcing.GRS@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/contact-us/Share this page
Salary range
- £81,000 - £117,800 per year