Strategy Lead - AI Security Institute

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.

AISI’s Strategy team exists to ensure AISI delivers on its mission to understand and communicate the risks from advanced AI. We do this by setting AISI's overall strategic direction, ensuring leadership makes effective decisions, and securing the political support AISI needs to operate.

Why this matters: AISI is one of the world's first government institutions dedicated to AI safety research and evaluation. For AISI to have real-world impact—influencing how AI is developed and deployed globally—it needs strategic clarity internally and strong backing from ministers and the machinery of government externally. We provide both.

We're a small team (currently at 9 people) combining policy expertise, strategy expertise, critical thinking, and delivery skills – with team members from a variety of civil service, tech sector and strategy consulting backgrounds. We work closely with AISI's Executive Committee, Ministerial Private Offices, DSIT leadership, Leads and Teams across AISI and the broader AI DG group, and cross-Whitehall policy teams.

With increasing political appetite to engage deeply in understanding AI risks, we're looking to grow the ministerial and DSIT-facing side of the team.

This is a team for people who want to work on problems that matter, at pace, with smart colleagues. You'll be:

• Close to the action—directly supporting ministers on one of the most important technology issues of our time

• Bridging worlds—translating between AISI's technical work and political/policy audiences

• Building something new—helping design how a young, high-profile organisation operates

We value clarity, intellectual honesty, and getting things done. We're friendly but rigorous—we see ourselves as a source of "friendly scrutiny" that keeps AISI honest about whether we're having impact.

If you want to shape how government engages with AI risk—and help ensure AISI has the political backing to do its most important work—this is the role.

Job description

We are looking for a seasoned Whitehall operator to join the AI Security Institute’s Strategy Unit within the AI Director General's Group, playing a pivotal role at the heart of departmental decision-making. This is a high-profile position for someone who thrives on complexity, knows how to get things done across government, and can navigate the machinery of Whitehall with confidence and credibility.

You will be the connective tissue between ministerial priorities and departmental delivery – coordinating across teams, managing sensitive business, and ensuring the AI Security Institute always on the front foot.

You will be responsible for:

• Leading all cross-cutting AI security advice to Ministers. AISI covers a complex range of national security and societal risks from AI. You'll be responsible for defining the strategy, securing ministerial support and translating complex technical and geopolitical trends into exceptional advice for Ministers.

• Leading complex policy problem solving that enables our work to continue at high velocity. AI security introduces novel policy challenges - and our research treads new ground. You'll be responsible for a portfolio of policy challenges that we need to resolve to unlock and scale our work. Recent examples involved reforms to the computer misuse act and reforms to testing for explicit materials. You'll need to bridge technical requirements, our research ambitions and policy/regulatory worlds.

• Leading high-quality briefing and advice to Ministers for Parliamentary business. Political salience of AI security is growing: the field is complex. It’s essential that you can translate technical nuance into clear messages and lead a team in doing so.

• Building strong relationships across AISI, the AI DG Group, and wider government, to spot connections between AISI's research and wider government priorities, and advocate for AISI's security position while engaging with other teams to deliver outcomes that support both security and growth.

Person specification

Essential criteria

Working with complex and technical content

• Proven ability to quickly grasp complex or technical material, distil and situate it within broader context into clear, accurate advice.

Advising ministers and senior officials

• Experience providing direct advice to ministers or senior officials on complex or sensitive issues

• Sound judgement on what ministers need to know and how to frame advice

• Clear ability to interact with Ministers and other senior officials as a clear, compelling and trusted advisor.

Leadership and collaboration

• Strong relationship-building skills, able to operate across organisational boundaries

• Experience working with diverse teams and bringing people together around shared objectives

• Credibility and influence with senior stakeholders.

Understanding of government

• Deep understanding of how Whitehall works and how to navigate it effectively

• Experience in roles that required working across government or coordinating with central departments.

Desirable criteria

• Experience in a Private Office (ministerial or Permanent Secretary) or Cabinet Secretariat

• Familiarity with Cabinet Office processes and cross-government coordination

• Background in national security, science/technology policy, or digital/AI policy

• Experience working with technical or research organisations.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

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.
• 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 submit your CV and a personal statement addressing how your experience and skills align with the key responsibilities and essential criteria outlined in this advert

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 ensure you specifically address:

• Your experience navigating Whitehall processes and building relationships across government
• An example of managing complex, sensitive, or time-critical business
• Why you are interested in this role at AISI

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the CV alone.

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

Selection Process

Candidates who are successful at sift will be invited to a three-stage interview process:

Stage 1: Screening Interview (approximately 20 minutes)

A brief conversation to explore your interest in the role, your understanding of AISI's mission, and your relevant experience.

Stage 2: Task and Behaviours Assessment (approximately 45-60 minutes)

Task: Prior to the interview, candidates will be sent a short scenario and asked to prepare a ministerial briefing (maximum 2 pages) on a topical AI-related issue – you are encouraged to use AI to support you.

At the interview, you will be asked to talk through your briefing, explaining your approach and the judgements you made, we’d also like to know how you used AI, which model you used, and what your prompts were.

The task is designed to assess your ability to:

• Distil technical details and communicate them clearly for a non-expert audience

• Set the issue in context of broader political, policy and security concerns

• Structure advice in a format suitable for senior decision-makers

Behaviours Assessment: A structured interview assessing the following Civil Service behaviours:

• Seeing the Big Picture – understanding how your work fits into wider government objectives

• Making Effective Decisions – using sound judgement on complex and sensitive issues

• Communicating and Influencing – engaging effectively with senior stakeholders

Candidates should prepare examples using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Stage 3: Fireside Chat (approximately 30-45 minutes)

An informal conversation with senior members of AISI leadership. This is an opportunity for us to explore your approach to the role in more depth, and for you to ask questions about the team, AISI's work, and what success looks like in this position.

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 : Alice Poorta
• Email : Alice.Poorta@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 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)