Incubator for AI (i.AI) – Onboarding Lead

Job summary

The Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI) is the UK government’s engine room for building products that shape national outcomes. We will be building tools used daily by thousands of civil servants, directly impacting millions of citizens. We take on the hardest problems in government, backed directly by No10, and solve them with a small, high-performing team. Our work is shaping how government adopts AI in practice; through what we build, who we hire, and the standards we set.

Job description

AISI's Recruitment Operations team is responsible for attracting, selecting and onboarding the exceptional technical and policy talent needed to deliver on our mission. We are a small, high-performing team that sits at the heart of the organisation — enabling AISI to hire and retain the world-class researchers, engineers and policy professionals who do the work that matters.

The team covers end-to-end recruitment for all of AISI, including the i.AI incubator, as well as onboarding, process improvement and operational delivery. We work closely with Hiring Managers, the People Team, GRS, and a range of internal and external stakeholders. The team is building out its infrastructure and processes as the organisation scales rapidly.

This is an exciting time to join Recruitment Operations. We are building something from scratch, and the person in this role will have genuine scope to shape how AISI onboards its people — with a direct and visible impact on the experience of every new joiner.

Primary objective: To improve the efficiency of AISI's onboarding processes and enhance the new joiner experience — ensuring every candidate who joins AISI, however complex their circumstances, has a smooth, well-managed and professional onboarding journey.

Core responsibilities:

1. Complex Candidate Onboarding (~50% of time): Own the end-to-end onboarding journey for all non-standard candidates — those requiring visa sponsorship, security clearances, non-standard pay arrangements, or other bespoke handling. Candidates include secondees, Amber contractors, fellows, SCS and above, and those with conflicts of interest.
2. Process Improvement & Efficiency (~35% of time): Lead a programme of work to improve onboarding processes and self-serve capability. This includes working with GRS, facilitating workshops, defining and documenting onboarding SLAs, and creating new joiner and contractor guidance.
3. Recruitment Account Management (~15% of time): Maintain recruitment accounts for up to 8 live roles across the Research Unit, supporting Talent Partners with campaign administration and candidate management.

Success in the first 90 days looks like: all non-standard RU candidate journeys are actively managed and on track; initial GRS engagement has taken place; onboarding SLAs are drafted for review.

Success at 6 months: self-serve onboarding guidance is live; GRS workshop completed; onboarding process is measurably faster and more consistent.

Success at 1 year: the function is running smoothly and the postholder has taken on all complex candidates across both CS and RU pipelines.

Person specification

Essential criteria:

Experience managing complex HR, onboarding or people operations processes — including cases with non-standard requirements (e.g., visa, security clearance, contractor arrangements)

Strong organisational skills — able to manage multiple cases, deadlines and stakeholders simultaneously without losing accuracy or pace

Process improvement mindset — comfortable identifying inefficiencies, designing solutions and building guidance that reduces manual efforts

Excellent written communication skills — able to produce clear, accessible guidance and documentation for a range of audiences

Strong stakeholder management — able to work confidently with candidates, hiring managers, HR teams and external partners

High level of discretion and sensitivity — this role involves handling complex personal circumstances, pay cases and sensitive information

Self-starter — able to work independently and make sound judgements without close supervision

Preferred Criteria:

Experience working with visa, immigration or security clearance processes in a government or large organisation context

Familiarity with government recruitment systems such as GRS, Civil Service Jobs or equivalent ATS platforms

Experience facilitating workshops or cross-team process improvement initiatives.

Behaviours

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

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,620, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £12,926 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.

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 750 words) to demonstrate how your skills and experience would allow you to succeed in the role' keeping in mind the essential criteria.

Candidates should demonstrate their experience against the essential criteria, with particular focus on their ability to manage complex onboarding or HR processes and their approach to process improvement.

Sift: Applications will be assessed on CV and personal statement.

Candidates who pass the sift will be progressed to an assessment/interview.

Interviews

Stage 1 : Experience Interview

Stage 2 — Interview: Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a structured interview assessing experience and behaviours against the person specification. The interview will include a short exercise or presentation element — details to be confirmed at shortlisting stage.

Stage 3 – SCS Leadership Panel

Sift and interview dates

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

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.

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 adjustments are available at every stage

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 /Disclosure Scotland 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.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

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.

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 : Sian McGrowder
• Email : sian.mcgrowder@aisi.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Farah.chowdhury@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 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)