Deputy Director, Talent & Operations - AI Safety Institute

Job summary

The AI Safety Institute (AISI)

AISI sits within DSIT's AI and Emerging Technology DG group. It is the first state-backed organisation focused on advancing AI safety for the public interest, established at the Bletchley Park AI Safety Summit in November 2023. AISI conducts frontier AI safety research, evaluations and standards domestically and internationally and has grown rapidly to around 250 staff. It employs researchers and engineers who would typically work at frontier AI labs alongside experienced civil servants and professionals from other sectors. AISI believes that in order to reap the benefits of this extraordinary technology, it must be developed and deployed safely.

Job description

Reports to: AISI Director / CTO

The role

The Talent & Operations team is AISI's operational backbone – effectively a COO function covering Talent (Sourcing and Recruiting Operations), People/HR, Finance, Core Operations, Business Operations, and Security Engineering. Over the past year the team has built significant operational infrastructure: an AI-powered internal knowledge chatbot, a centralised ticketing system, automated workforce tools, a custom 360-feedback application, live finance dashboards, and much more. The team has a strong foundation and a clear operating model.

You will take on leadership of this team during a period of parental cover backfill, maintaining the high standard of delivery the organisation expects, continuing to develop the team's capabilities, and driving forward the next phase of operational improvement.

What you will be responsible for

Talent attraction and closing. AISI's specialist Talent function proactively sources and recruits people who would not normally be available to government – researchers and engineers from frontier AI companies, builders from startups, and outstanding professionals from other sectors. You will lead this function, ensuring AISI continues to compete effectively for world-class talent, delivers an excellent candidate experience, and maintains a rigorous hiring bar. This includes overseeing AISI's presence at conferences and in the AI safety community.

People and performance. Leading AISI's People function and owning the organisation's approach to performance management, retention, line-manager development and employee experience. AISI runs a structured performance process including mandatory 360-degree feedback and cross-team calibration panels; you will lead and continue to develop this.

Core operations and business operations. Ensuring AISI's day-to-day operations run smoothly - ticketing, self-service systems, office and facilities management, knowledge management - while also setting up a new dedicated business operations team focused on identifying, building and shipping internal tools and process improvements. The team will operate on a principle of strict prioritisation, focused delivery cycles (4–8 weeks per project), and active permission to stop work that isn't landing.

Finance and business management. Providing AISI with financial transparency to support strategic decision-making and resource prioritisation. Ensuring the organisation lands on its annual budget. Leading workforce planning and supporting commercial and procurement delivery.

Infrastructure. Securing the physical and digital infrastructure AISI needs – buildings, compute, software approvals – and managing the cross-government stakeholder relationships these require.

Security. Overseeing AISI's security engineering function and working with the CISO to maintain information security across the organisation.

Internal AI deployment. AISI's operations team has been an early adopter of AI tools for internal workflows, and the expectation is that this continues, from leadership down. You will drive AI adoption across non-technical staff and operations workflows, maintaining the team's position at the forefront of how government operations teams use these tools.

Senior leadership. Sitting on AISI's Executive Committee and actively contributing to the organisation’s strategy, priorities and organisational culture.

What makes this role distinctive

AISI operates at an unusual intersection: it employs people who hold the expectations of the technology sector for operational speed and quality, within the constraints and opportunities of government. The Talent & Operations DD needs to be comfortable navigating Treasury processes and central HR frameworks in the morning and discussing internal AI model deployment with research engineers in the afternoon. The role requires genuine comfort with technology – not just overseeing it, but using it – alongside the stakeholder judgment and institutional fluency to get things done across Whitehall. You will be joining an established team with strong sub-team leads, high expectations, and a clear sense of mission.

Person specification

What the role requires

Operational leadership at pace. You have built or transformed operations functions in complex, fast-moving environments. You know the difference between process that enables speed and process that kills it, and you have a track record of delivering the former. You have shipped real operational improvements – not just written strategies about them.

Exceptional people leadership. A proven track record of selecting, recruiting, coaching, developing and retaining high-performing teams. You care about talent density and are comfortable not making a hire rather than making a mediocre one. You invest meaningfully in feedback and development. You can lead teams spanning a wide range of professional backgrounds and get the best out of each.

Systems thinking and a builder instinct. You instinctively look for the system behind the problem — the self-service tool that prevents a hundred future tickets, the dashboard that replaces the weekly email chase, the automation that frees a team to do higher-value work. You are excited about deploying AI and technology to transform how internal operations work, and you lead by example.

Balancing BAU with BizOps. You have a theory of when to hand off work across business-as-usual ops delivery and ‘special projects’, and how to design an integrated narrative of operations across both. Both teams are scaling BizOps functions that can solve problems in short sharp sprints, and know when to confidently stop work that is not progressing to impact.

Senior stakeholder credibility. You build trusted relationships rapidly with Directors General, Permanent Secretaries and equivalents across government and beyond. You are a confident communicator who can translate operational reality into strategic language and vice versa.

Comfort with ambiguity and government complexity. You thrive where the answer isn't clear, the constraints are real, and the politics matter. You can navigate Treasury processes, central HR frameworks and cross-Whitehall dynamics without losing pace or ambition. If you come from outside government, you are a fast learner who picks up the operating environment quickly.

High agency and ownership. You take responsibility for outcomes, not activities. You are the kind of leader who will personally unblock a stuck procurement, rewrite a broken process, or pick up the phone to the right person, not wait for someone else to escalate – and you lead and build teams that live and breathe this culture.

Strong judgment and prioritisation. You can identify the few things that actually matter this quarter and focus your team's energy there, while keeping core operations running reliably. You have the confidence to stop work that isn't landing and the communication skills to bring stakeholders with you when you do.

Desirable (not required) for the role

• Experience building or leading BizOps, special projects, or internal tools/product functions — particularly where this was hands-on, not solely managerial

• Experience operating in organisations that compete with the private sector for specialist talent (e.g. digital, data, technology, research professionals)

• Hands-on comfort with modern productivity and collaboration tools (e.g. Linear, Notion, Slack workflows) and willingness to use AI tools as part of daily work
• Familiarity with the AI safety, digital government, or government transformation landscape

Security Clearance

Applicants must hold active Security Check (SC) clearance or higher to be eligible for this role. Applicants without active SC clearance or higher will not be considered.

Please include your clearance level in your application.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Big Picture

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.

To apply for this post please forward both the following following documents no later than 23:55 Monday 6th April 2026 to adam.beaumont@dsit.gov.uk

1. A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
2. A Statement of Suitability (no more than 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the person specification.

Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only has limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

Please note that we are unable to provide feedback to those candidates who are not shortlisted for interview. Written feedback will be made available (on request) to those candidates who attend interview.

If you are unable to apply direct please contact Georgia.Stone@dsit.gov.uk.

Security Clearance

Applicants must hold active Security Check (SC) clearance or higher to be eligible for this role. Applicants without active SC clearance or higher will not be considered.

Please include your clearance level in your application.

Selection Process

A panel chaired by Adam Beaumont, Director of the UK’s AI Security Institute (AISI),DSIT will assess your application to select those demonstrating the best fit with the role by considering the evidence you have provided against the criteria set out in the ‘Person Specification’ section. Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application.

Adam will be supported by a selection panel made up of other senior stakeholders from across the department, full details of this panel will be
shared with shortlisted candidates.

Alongside other departments, DSIT is committed to making the Civil Service more inclusive and recognises the value of diverse interview panels. Helping candidates, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, to feel comfortable and at ease during the interview process, to reduce bias and increase the objectiveness of decisions. In line with the Civil Service’s Inclusive Board initiative we aim to ensure that, as well as being gender diverse, DHSC’s interview panels for Senior Civil Service
will include at least one panellist who is from an ethnic minority background and/or who has a physical or non-physical disability (which may not be visible).

Shortlist

The panel will select a shortlist of candidates whose applications best demonstrate suitability for the role, by considering the evidence provided against the essential criteria set out in the ‘Person Specification’.
Candidates applying under the Disability Confident Scheme and A Great Place to Work for Veterans Scheme who meet the minimum selection criteria in the job specification are guaranteed an interview.

In the event of a high volume of applicants, applications will be sifted on CV alone.

Interview 1

If you are shortlisted, you will be asked to attend a virtual interview in which we will discuss your experienced in further detail.

Panel Interview

You will be asked to attend a panel interview in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification.

The Success Profile Framework will be used to assess and recruit the most suitable candidate.

Shortlisted candidates may be asked to prepare a 5-minute presentation or be given a scenario at interview. This task will be designed to assess each candidate’s experience within the sector. Full details will be provided prior to interview.

The following behaviours will be explored at interview stage:

Leadership
Making Effective Decisions
Seeing The Bigger Picture.

Interviews are expected to take place face-face in London, full details of the interview format will be provided to shortlisted candidates prior to interview.

Discussion with Senior leadership Team.

Shortlisted candidates may have the opportunity to speak to the Senior leadership team after the final interview. This is an informal discussion to allow candidates to learn more about the role, and is not part of the assessment process.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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

Further information on 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 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 : Peter Anstey
• Email : Peter.Anstey@dsit.gov.uk
• Telephone : Peter.Anstey@dsit.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Georgia.Stone@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/

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