No10 AI Engineer

Job summary

The Team:

The No10 data science team, 10DS, offers an unparalleled opportunity to develop your career personally and within the Civil Service. Formed in mid-2020, 10DS is here to radically improve the way in which key decisions are informed by data, analysis and evidence. We do this by:

1. Enabling No10 to utilise the best available evidence by combining cutting-edge data science with clear, engaging communication throughout the policy and decision-making process, ensuring that the Prime Minister and staff are intelligent customers of analysis, and embedding a culture of evidence-informed policy
2. Provoking positive change across central government through providing challenge and feedback, and collaborating across Whitehall to drive long-term systems change and collectively solve the most pressing policy challenges

We actively encourage applicants from a wide range of backgrounds, as we see the value in housing a wide range of skillsets across the team. Our current team members bring experience from a host of industries, including management consulting, technology, and academia.

The role:

As an AI engineer in Number 10 Data Science, you will build the AI systems that change how the centre of government works. You will own products end to end, from a problem raised by a policy or analytical user, through model and architecture choices, to a production-grade service deployed on our platform and used by real customers on live priorities. Your work will directly support PM policy and delivery priorities, and your customers will be senior ministers, the Prime Minister and Civil Service leaders.

You will work at the frontier of applied AI: putting the latest models to work on real government problems, building agentic systems that can reason over our data estate, and creating tooling that turns hard questions into evidence and insight on demand. You will work closely with colleagues across No10 and government to get this capability into the hands of the people making critical decisions, and to spread good practice across departments.

You will also help lead the cross-government data science and AI community, engaging a wide range of stakeholders to champion ambitious, responsible use of AI in the public sector. 10DS runs a strong programme of technological development drawing on AI and cloud computing, and you would be central to it.

10DS is strongly committed to learning and development, and is more interested in your aptitude and attitude than your pre-existing expertise. Significant on-the-job training can be provided for the right applicant.

Job description

Main responsibilities:

• Ship AI products that change how No10 and the wider Civil Service work, putting genuinely useful capability in the hands of senior users, up to and including ministers and the Prime Minister.
• Lead the push to put modern AI to work across government, getting the latest models into the hands of other departments for high-stakes tasks such as drafting policy advice, interrogating large evidence bases, and quantitative analysis, and building reusable patterns that let good practice spread fast without sacrificing rigour.
• Champion responsible and ethical AI practice: set the bar for how AI systems built in this team are evaluated, bounded, and documented, ensuring tools that reach ministers and senior officials are reliable, auditable, and designed with fairness and transparency at their core.
• Design and build a semantic layer over a large and varied data estate so that AI systems can match any question to the right data, drawing across internal data, the open web, and external providers.
• Stay at the frontier: track the fastest-moving developments in AI and translate promising new models and techniques into practical capability faster than the field moves.
• Build at the frontier of applied agentic AI: autonomous systems that plan their own approach to a question, gather evidence, run their own analysis, and return a fully reasoned, auditable answer, taken from prototype to production. The hard problems here, keeping a self-directing system reliable, bounded, and analytically sound, are open research questions you would help solve.

Person specification

If you are interested but feel you don't yet meet every requirement, please apply. We value enthusiasm, aptitude for growth, and diversity of thought and experience, along with the skills and experience outlined.

You will be able to competently demonstrate:

• Hands-on experience building with AI (LLMs, agentic systems, ML), and the judgement to pick the right approach and prove it works through proper evaluation.

• Strong software engineering, with a track record of taking systems from prototype to reliable production.
  
  
• The ability to explain complex technical work clearly to senior, non-technical audiences and build trust across government.
  
  
• Delivery of high-impact results at pace under pressure.
  
  
• Comfort with ambiguity and competing priorities.
  
  
• A genuine drive to use AI for public benefit.

Essential Skills/Experience:

• Experience building AI applications
• Excellent understanding of Machine Learning and Deep Learning models
• An understanding of deploying and monitoring AI systems in a cloud environment
• Proficiency in Python
• Strong software engineering skills with a focus on building production-ready systems
• Skilled at in dynamic environments and navigating ambiguity, prioritising ruthlessly where necessary
• Ability to navigate complex, multi-stakeholder landscapes, driving progress and consensus amidst competing priorities and perspectives.

The following are desirable (but proficiency can be developed in post):

• Building AI agents, or products that rely on AI agents
• Experience delivering applications to production
• Experience with containerisation using Docker and Kubernetes
• Familiarity with CI/CD and tools like Github Actions and Terraform

On the job training can be provided, however pay will be commensurate with technical experience as per the DDaT allowance process.

Additional information:

Cabinet Office policy is that a minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. For some roles, due to their nature and the business need, this may be up to 100%. Requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.

Behaviours

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

• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture

Technical skills

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

• Building AI applications
• Software engineering

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £73,690, Cabinet Office contributes £21,347 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and employer contributions of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.

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, Experience and Technical skills.

Application process

Please include a CV and use the Personal Statement to explain how your skills and experience make you a suitable candidate for the role. You can refer to the skills/experience outlined in the job description.

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

Selection process

Candidates successful at sift will be invited to a technical assessment held virtually as part of stage 1 interviews. This will require access to your preferred analytical software - typically people use a programming language that is good for data analysis such as python or R. Further information about the exercise will be shared with shortlisted candidates.

Candidates successful at stage 1 assessment will be invited to an interview where Behaviours and technical skills will be assessed.

We may also offer ‘near-miss’ opportunities – meaning at the end of the recruitment campaign you may be offered a similar role at a lower grade.

Expected timeline (subject to change)

Expected sift – w/c July 6 2026

Expected assessment – w/c July 20 2026

Expected interview – w/c August 3 2026

Interview location - Your interview will either be conducted face to face or by video. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for interview.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Government Recruitment Service via cabinetoffice.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

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

Further Information

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to Cabinet Office 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.

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

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.

Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

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

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

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.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

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.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).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 : 10DS Recruitment
• Email : DataScienceRecruitment@no10.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : cabinetofficerecruitment.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 in the first instance you should contact Government Recruitment Service by email at : cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission at info@csc.gov.uk. For further information on the Recruitment Principles and bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission, please visit their website at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/.

Attachments

Cabinet-Office-Employee-Offer Opens in new window (docx, 762kB)Cabinet Office Terms and Conditions - External 2025-02-20 Opens in new window (docx, 83kB)