Product Lead, Strategic Awareness

Job summary

The UK AI Security Institute is the world's largest and best-funded team dedicated to understanding the capabilities and impacts of advanced AI and developing practical risk mitigations. We’re in the heart of the UK government with direct lines to No. 10, and we work with frontier developers and governments globally.

We’re here because governments are critical for advanced AI going well, and UK AISI is uniquely positioned to mobilise them. With our resources, agility and international influence, this is the best place to shape both AI development and government action to ensure AI systems are deployed safely and responsibly.

Job description

Strategic Awareness:

The mission of our team is to harness technical insights on AI trajectories to inform governmental preparedness for the greatest challenges of transformative AI. To achieve this, we conduct deep dives on critical uncertainties regarding AI trajectories and impacts, track key indicators and warning signals, and produce briefs for key government decision makers. We also provide technical assistance on preparedness and policy development.

Role Summary:

As Product Lead, you will be responsible for the team’s rapid briefs for key decision makers. This involves writing products that focus on reporting on the latest developments and analysing their implications for AI trajectories and preparedness work. You will also develop more in-depth products on particular questions of importance, such as open weight model capabilities. You will be responsible for making sure that the products produced by the team reach key decision makers and establishing feedback loops so that we continuously make our products more insightful and impactful. You will closely collaborate with the team’s researchers and policy experts with experience in government engagement.

We are looking for candidates who have broad AI expertise and deep expertise on particularly important areas of AI trajectories, such as the open weight capability gap. Additionally, you need to have exceptional written communication skills, and a track record of communication strategy. Day-to-day, you might write a fast turnaround reporting product on a new model release and its implications for different policy areas, draw together our research on AI trajectories into a regular product, monitor online sources for new developments to report on, or conduct customer interviews to identify feedback on how to improve our products. You will be working with other colleagues that are focusing on oral briefings and making developments salient.

Person specification

Person Specification

The ideal candidate will demonstrate broad expertise on AI trajectories and implications, alongside exceptional written communications abilities. They will have a track record of creating technical content on AI for non-specialist audiences. They will have a strong foundation of knowledge of AI and its impacts. They will have deep expertise on particularly important areas of AI trajectories, such as the open weight capability gap. They will have strong strategic sense of communicating about key AI developments and risks, tailoring engagements to an audience, and iterating on messaging based on feedback loops.

Our work is fast moving and highly focused on doing work that is relevant for policy making – thus, we are looking for candidates who are happy to work in an agile workplace with fast turnaround times and frequent pivots of focus.

Required Experience

We select candidates based on skills and experience in the following areas:

• All-round knowledge on AI trajectories and implications, including frontier AI training, capability trajectories, the AI supply chain, and implications, such as labour market impacts, societal impacts, geopolitical impacts, and loss of control risks.
• Strong track-record of exceptional written communication skills
• Science communication

Desired Experience

You may be a good fit if you have some of the following skills, experience, and attitudes:

• Policy or government experience
• Journalistic reporting experience, or experience writing successful newsletters or blogs
• AI safety research knowledge, model evaluations knowledge, or forecasting and foresight experience
• Masters/Bachelor’s degree in an AI/ML discipline (Ph.D. not necessary) or equivalent professional experience.

Technical skills

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

• Written submission on a Technical AI Development, including implications for a Senior AI- interested policy maker audience this will be followed by Q&A from the panel.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £85,000, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £24,624 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 Experience and Technical skills.

Candidates will apply with their CV outlining relevant experience required for the job.

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

The AISI Talent Team will then sift all applications based on essential criteria outlined in the personal specification.

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

Those successful at sift will be invited to attend an interview which will comprehensively assess experience related to the role.

You will be asked to submit a written submission ahead of this interview on a Technical AI Development of your choice over the past week, including implications for a Senior AI- interested policy maker audience this will be followed by Q&A from the panel.

This role sits outside of the DDaT pay framework given the scope of this role requires in depth technical expertise in frontier AI safety, robustness and advanced AI architectures.

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.

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

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.

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 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 : Ben Sams
• Email : ben.sams@dsit.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : ben.sams@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)