Strategy & Operations Manager - AI Security Institute, Alignment Team

Job summary

The AI Security Institute is the world's largest and best-funded team dedicated to understanding advanced AI risks and translating that knowledge into action. 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, unique agility and international influence, this is the best place to shape both AI development and government action.

AISI’s Alignment team aims to develop robust methods for aligning highly advanced AI systems with human values before AGI is developed. We’re doing this to avoid the potential harms from advanced systems autonomously pursuing unintended goals or behaviours. Our approach is to systematically break down key technical problems in AI alignment and then find solutions to those problems.

To move at scale, we use a hybrid research model: our team conducts research in-house and we also commission and steer research via the Alignment Project, the only active grant-making programme focused on alignment research. By identifying external researchers with relevant expertise who aren't currently working on alignment and funding their efforts on these subproblems, we hope to substantially increase parallel progress on alignment.

In the past 6 months we’ve:

• Launched the Alignment Project, and distributed tens of millions of pounds to high-priority research projects.

• Publishedthreepapers on scalable oversight methods.

• Grown from 4 to 16 staff.

• Run a 100-person invite-only conference of world-leading academics.

• Briefed key parts of government on what it would take to solve the alignment problem on time.

Job description

As a member of Alignment’s Strategy & Operations team, you’ll work alongside entrepreneurial operators from consulting, start-ups, and fintech. In your first year, you would accelerate progress on AI alignment by owning 2-3 of the following projects:

• Secure >£100m from government, VCs, and philanthropists to spend on alignment research.

• Streamline and scale our active grant-making programme into a machine capable of distributing this money quickly, effectively, and with good user experience.

• Re-run our alignment conference while increasing both scale and quality.

• Manage a portfolio of >100 research projects including working with world-leading research scientists to scope project goals, source external talent, and ensure the right technical questions get answered on time.

• Advise other parts of government on AI alignment and a potential government scale-up of alignment research.

• Run special projects and support the Alignment team in other ways to achieve our goals.

We’re a new fast-growth team with ambitious goals. Depending on fit, your responsibilities could scale up rapidly in your first year.

Person specification

We’re looking for an experienced operator who is comfortable working autonomously at pace. You might be a great fit if you have most of the following traits:

• Strong project management. You have a track record of delivering complex projects on time and to a high standard. You can structure ambiguous problems, build efficient processes, and manage multiple workstreams concurrently. Your project plans are clear and comprehensive.
• Excellent execution skills. You write well, and have built products in tools like Excel, Air-table, or Asana. You know when to push for excellence vs. when to ship and iterate.
• Strategic thinking. You’re ambitious, focused, and communicate clearly in writing. Given a goal and some constraints, you can use structured thinking to propose a path forward.
• Entrepreneurial mindset. You like to move quickly towards ambitious, novel goals. You might have experience founding or rapidly scaling a project. You're comfortable operating without a perfect playbook and can adapt when plans change.
• Strong people skills. You build good working relationships with different types of people. You ask questions, flag when you're unsure, and know when to escalate decisions.
• Desire to learn. You’re curious, and eager to expand your knowledge and skills. You actively ask for feedback and use it to improve.
• Motivation to work on AI security. You understand the mission of AISI and the Alignment Team, and want to ensure the safe development of frontier AI systems.

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

As part of the application process, split across four stages, 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 answer the below questions:

• Explain a project you managed or executed where success required getting many complex details right. What problem were you trying to solve, why was it hard, and how did you achieve success? (250 words)

• Why are you interested in joining AISI’s Alignment Team specifically? (250 words)

• What makes your skills and experience a fit for this role? (250 words)

Sift will be conducted on the CV and personal statement. The CV is anonymised, which means you shouldn’t include information like your name or gender. You should include company names and job titles.

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.

INTERVIEW 1: Interview focused on experience and working style (30 mins.)

INTERVIEW 2: Task-based assessment including a pre-submitted exercise and a presentation (60 mins.) You will receive the exercise details when invited to second stage.

INTERVIEW 3: Meeting AISI senior stakeholders (30 mins.)

The interviews will be conducted via MS Teams

Sift and interview dates

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

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.

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 : Alex Holness-Tofts
• Email : Alex.HolnessTofts@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)