Grants Manager - AI Security Institute

Job summary

The UK AI Security Institute (AISI) exists to make frontier AI systems secure, trustworthy, and beneficial for society. We work at the heart of the UK government with direct lines to No. 10—advancing our understanding of how to evaluate and govern advanced AI systems so they can be deployed safely and responsibly.

Our mission is to strengthen state technical capacity in AI security research to support both government and global partners in managing the risks and harnessing the opportunities of this transformative technology.

We’re building a world-class team of scientists, policy specialists, and operational professionals of united by one goal: ensuring AI benefits all humanity.

AISI’s Grants team sits in Talent & Operations and exists to turn AISI’s research priorities into high-impact funding programmes. We set-up, deliver and manage end-to-end grant schemes so that cutting-edge AI security research can happen at pace.

Grants are one of AISI’s sharpest levers for impact: we can accelerate priority technical research, seed new areas, and build capability across the AI safety ecosystem. Being part of government gives AISI distinctive advantages: (1) strong credibility with funders and institutions (2) the ability to coordinate across departments, regulators and international partners (3) a uniquely comprehensive view of the AI safety landscape, enabling us to target funding at the gaps where it will make the biggest difference.

You will lead a small team of delivery-focused operators. Day-to-day, you’ll manage this team to project manage all of AISIs grant programmes, partner closely with AISI’s research teams to shape schemes that match their technical goals, and work with external partners and experts to strengthen our grant strategy, programme design and approach to impact.

At AISI, we run end-to-end grant programme: from designing each scheme and running the application process, through to awarding funding and managing delivery.

We also own the systems that power this work (e.g., FlexiGrant, Airtable) and are always looking to improve our processes. To date, we’ve delivered three schemes (Systemic Safety Grants, Challenge Fund and the Alignment Project), enabling over £34m in 2025 funding on cutting edge research on AI security issues with some of the most prestigious research organisations in the world. We’re continuing to scale our grants scheme into 2026 while improving speed, applicant experience, and operational maturity.

Job description

This is a challenging, high pace position that requires team leadership skills and strong strategic instincts. You will lead AISI’s grants delivery team to turn frontier AI security priorities into high-impact funding programmes, setting up and project managing multiple grant schemes in parallel, and ensuring we deploy significant public funding quickly, credibly and effectively.

You’ll directly shape which AI security research gets funded and how effectively that funding translates into real-world progress by building a grants “engine” that can scale to much larger portfolios while maintaining a high bar for delivery.

Your day-to-day responsibilities:

• Lead and coach a small team of delivery operators (SEOs/HEOs): set direction, unblock delivery, quality-assure outputs, and develop capability.

• Project manage new grant schemes from idea to launch: shape business cases, design the applicant journey and assessment process, and stand up the delivery plan and governance.

• Own delivery for live grant programmes: keep schemes on track across timelines, risks, stakeholders and budgets; ensure awardees have a high-quality experience from contracting through to reporting.

• Own and evolve AISI’s grants strategy and pipeline: recommend what we should fund next, based on AISI priorities and what’s happening in the AI safety landscape.

• Build and improve the grants operating model: strengthen systems and automation (e.g., FlexiGrant, Airtable), simplify processes, and raise the team’s delivery speed and quality.

• Manage key stakeholder relationships: work closely with AISI research teams, DSIT colleagues, and external partners to align goals and deliver at pace.

• Work effectively with senior leads: author briefing papers, presentations and reports for senior audiences, chair decision boards at key grant-making milestones.

What success looks like

• First 90 days: you’ve built a clear view of the portfolio, risks and delivery plan; the team is operating with crisp weekly cadence; priority issues in systems/process are identified with fixes underway.

• By 6 months: at least one new scheme is stood up end-to-end; live programmes are running smoothly with strong applicant/awardee experience; core tooling and reporting are materially improved.

• By 12 months: AISI has a repeatable operating model for running multiple schemes at scale; measurable improvements in speed, quality and stakeholder confidence; a clear forward grants pipeline aligned to AISI priorities.

Person specification

Essential criteria:

• Motivation and mission alignment: clear motivation to support AISI’s mission to make frontier AI systems secure, trustworthy and beneficial, and to use grant-making as a lever to accelerate progress in AI security research.

• Team leadership and management: experience leading and developing a small team by setting clear direction, coaching and giving feedback.

• Excellent programme and project management: proven ability to plan, prioritise and deliver multiple workstreams at pace; maintain a clear view of risks, dependencies and milestones; and drive decisions through to completion.

• Strategic judgement and “taste”: ability to step back from day-to-day delivery to form a clear view of what matters most, make good trade-offs under uncertainty, and translate organisational goals into a coherent plan and strategy.

• High-quality written communication: ability to write clear, compelling and accurate business cases, briefings, applicant communications and decision papers for senior audiences.

• Analytical acumen: comfort working with budgets and forecasts. Ability to estimate costs/overheads, interpret data, and use analysis to improve delivery.

• Process improvement / automation mindset: track record of improving operational systems and processes (e.g., using low-code tools such as Airtable, Excel/Sheets, automation workflows, CRM/grants platforms) to increase speed and quality.

• Stakeholder management and influence: ability to build productive partnerships with technical teams and external organisations

Desirable criteria:

• Experience in managing grant-making programmes: knowledge of what makes grant programmes work (good scheme design, assessment, governance, awardee experience and monitoring).

• Creative thinker who understands AISI’s risk appetite: you relish opportunities to think creatively and identify pragmatic solutions to complex problems. You are comfortable taking calculated risks to achieve your team’s objectives.

• Experience in or alongside frontier research environments: e.g., AI/tech R&D, academia, research funding, advanced technology programmes.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £54,415, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £15,764 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.

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home-based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

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

The process for this role will be split across 4 stages, as follows:

1) Application / sift: This will be in an anonymous format which will remove information that could identify you, such as your name, age or gender. You should include company names and job titles. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

You will submit a CV and personal statement via the application form, including:

• Employment history
• Qualifications
• Additional experience
• Personal statement (750 words) responding to the prompts below.

1. Why do you want to join AISI, and why this role specifically?
2. If you could recommend one valuable area for AISI to spin up a new grants programme over the next 12 months, what would it be and why? (We’re interested in your reasoning, not a “right answer”.)
3. One complex project you led or delivered. What was your role, what made it hard, how did you organise delivery, and what was the outcome?

In the event of a high volume of applications, we may score the CV only.

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

2) Interview 1 (screening):

Light-touch conversation focusing on experience and fit.

3) Interview 2 (panel) + presentation task:

You will complete a short presentation task shared in your interview 2 invitation, and we will assess key behaviours and skills relating to this role

4) Interview 3 (senior panel):

Senior interview panel

Sift and interview dates

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs are eligible to apply, and can be considered on loan basis (Civil Servants) or secondment (accredited NDPBs). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

Information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that we offer to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during our recruitment process can be found in our DSIT Candidate Guidance. A DSIT Plain Text Version of the guidance is also available.

We encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants' section.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

A location-based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Candidates who meet the minimum benchmark may be placed on a Reserve List for consideration for similar roles, including those at a lower grade. Candidates who narrowly miss the benchmark and are not placed on the Reserve List may still be considered for an offer in a similar role at a lower grade.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e., working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign.

DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information, please See our vetting charter

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

Feedback

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 counter-terrorist 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 : Libby Jones
• Email : Elizabeth.Jones@dsit.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : DSITrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.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 DSITrecruitment.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: Click here to visit Civil Service Commission/Complaints.

Attachments

DSIT T&Cs v1.2 Opens in new window (docx, 179kB)