Workplace Technology Engineer

Job summary

UK AI Security Institute (AISI) exists to make frontier AI systems secure, trustworthy, and beneficial for society. We work at the heart of the UK government with direct lines to No. 10—advancing our understanding of how to evaluate and govern advanced AI systems so they can be deployed safely and responsibly.

Our mission is to strengthen state technical capacity in AI security research to support both government and global partners in managing the risks and harnessing the opportunities of this transformative technology.

We’re building a world-class team of scientists, policy specialists, and operational professionals united by one goal: ensuring AI benefits all humanity.

Job description

The Talent and Operations team is the engine that powers AISI’s mission. We need to move at the pace of frontier AI development while operating within government. That's an unprecedented challenge; we're the team making it happen.

We increase the effectiveness, efficiency, and talent density of every team at AISI, supporting world class research and enabling the organisation to achieve its objectives.

You'll join AISI's new Internal Products team: a small, high-leverage team whose mission is to build the internal tools and automations that let AISI operate at the speed of frontier AI.

The frontier AI companies we evaluate are compounding their advantage at an accelerating pace, using AI to accelerate their own research, engineering, and operations. Across the sector, leaders expect AI to take on a growing share of coding and other routine knowledge work in the near term.

AISI has to keep up. If our processes run at traditional speed—weeks for spend approval, hours to draft a routine document—our research becomes untimely and our impact erodes. The gap between how fast AI can move and how fast institutions can move is one of the defining governance challenges of the next few years. If AISI can't operate at the pace of the labs we evaluate, we can't succeed at our mission.

Internal products is a new team to solve this problem. We're treating AI as core organisational infrastructure, as fundamental as email or Slack, and redesigning how AISI works from the ground up. Every hour of friction we remove is an hour redirected to the mission of making frontier AI secure, trustworthy, and beneficial.

You'll work closely with AISI's Core Tech team, world leading AI researchers and process owners across the organisation who will help you find the highest-value problems and drive adoption of what you build.

What you’ll do

• Build internal products and automations for AISI’s highest-friction workflows across teams such as People, Talent, Finance, Commercial, and Grants.
  
  
• Redesign processes: map how work happens today, identify the real bottlenecks, and create AI-native workflows that materially reduce cycle time and manual effort.
  
  
• Building reusable prompts, templates and guardrails so non-engineers can safely automate low-risk work without starting from scratch.
  
  
• Maintenance of tools: testing, version control, peer review, observability, documentation, incident response, and retiring brittle or low-value solutions.
  
  
• Explore and integrate new tooling across AI platforms, workflow tools and the MCP ecosystem, and turn useful advances into AISI’s roadmap and operating stack.
  
  
• Drive adoption across the organisation and build capability by working with super-users, training teams, and making sure products are understandable, trusted and used in practice.

What success looks like

• 90 days: you’ve built strong relationships with key process owners, established a prioritised pipeline of high-value opportunities, shipped 2+ production automations or internal tools, and put core engineering and monitoring practices in place.

• 6 months: 5–8 automations or lightweight apps are live and in regular use; at least two core processes have been reduced from days to hours or from hours to minutes; reusable self-serve patterns are in place for low-risk workflows.

• 12 months: Internal Products is a trusted part of how AISI operates; multiple end-to-end processes have been transformed; staff across several teams can safely extend or launch automations using paved paths rather than bespoke support; and there is a clear roadmap for the next phase of AISI’s internal AI platform.

Representative projects

• Automating new-joiner onboarding end-to-end, including account provisioning, communications, tracking and failure alerts from a single trigger.

• Rebuilding AISI’s spend management workflow with approvals, budgets, requests and dashboards for forecasting and risk.
  
  
• Building a library of reusable Claude/Co-work skills, n8n templates and approval patterns that let non-technical teams safely self-serve routine automations.

Person specification

We're flexible on the exact profile and expect successful candidates will meet many (but not all) of the criteria below.

Essential criteria

• Product and process judgement. You can sit with a team, see how work flows, and propose a redesign that solves the problem.

• 2+ years in fast-paced tech environments, in a role like RevOps/BizOps engineering, tech consultancy, or digital product delivery/management,

• Software engineering good practice: version control, peer review, CI/CD, observability.

• Scripting and API proficiency: comfortable writing Python or JavaScript/TypeScript to glue systems together, debug integrations, and work with webhooks and auth flows.

• Hands-on experience applying AI to real workflows. You've shipped real things with Claude Code, Co-work, Codex, Cursor, or similar. You understand LLM API-powered automations, production prompt engineering, Claude skills, and MCPs. You have opinions about what LLMs are good and bad at.

• High ownership and reliability mindset, you document, monitor what you ship, and fix things when they break.

• Ability to work with non-technical users, translating between operational needs and technical solutions.

Desirable criteria

• Experience navigating large enterprise IT environments, like government, financial services, or highly regulated industries.

• Strong low-code/workflow automation skills, with hands-on experience in at least 2 of: n8n, Zapier, Power Automate, Airtable automations.

• Motivated by AI security, you care about AISI's mission to make frontier AI safe, and you want the systems you build to directly accelerate that work.

Technical skills

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

• Presentation task in interview 2

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,850, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £16,469 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.

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.

Application: You will be assessed on 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 tell us why you want to be a Workplace Technology Engineer at AISI and what you'd bring.

Please include:

1. One concrete example of an AI-powered internal tool or automation you've shipped: the problem, what you built (be specific about models, APIs, low-code platforms), the outcome, and what you'd do differently.

2. A view on where you think LLMs are genuinely useful today versus over-hyped for operational work.

Interview 1: Short screening interview to understand your motivation to join AISI and this role

Interview 2: Task-based Interview

Interview 3: Senior interview panel

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.

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.

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 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 : Joanna Ruan
• Email : joanna.ruan@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)