Principal Data Scientist, AI Security Research

at  Alan Turing Institute

Named in honour of Alan Turing, the Institute is a place for inspiring, exciting work and we need passionate, sharp, and innovative people who want to use their skills to contribute to our mission to make great leaps in data science and AI research to change the world for the better.
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POSITION:

The Defence & National Security Grand Challenge (D&NS) at the Alan Turing Institute is seeking to establish a new research and innovation team to work on AI Security. The aim is to further cutting-edge research and engineering approaches to solve real-world problems in AI/ML security, working in close collaboration with government partners such as select UK universities.

REQUIREMENTS:

• A PhD degree or equivalent professional experience in a field with significant use of both computer programming and advanced algorithmic, statistical or numerical techniques.
• DV Security Clearance.
• Direct experience developing and deploying technologies in support of UK Defence and National Security organisations.
• Professional experience in a field or sector with significant use of both computer programming and advanced algorithmic, statistical or numerical techniques.
• Fluency in one or more modern programming languages used in data science. In particular, we predominantly work in Python, but demonstrable use of other programming languages (e.g. modern C++, Java, Scala, Julia, R, Javascript, Rust, Go) together with a facility for learning new languages.
• An understanding of the importance of good practices for producing reliable software and reproducible analyses (e.g. version control, issue tracking, automated testing, package management, literate analysis tools such as Jupyter).
• Experience in making or evaluating the case for new projects (e.g. authoring or evaluating research proposals or business cases) and leading projects from ideation, scoping including developing budgets, and delivery through to impact.
• Experience in managing a team and setting strategic direction at a team level.

ROLE PURPOSE

The Principal will take lead in forming a new research group and develop an R&D portfolio to reflect the biggest challenges in the AI security domain. These challenges, held in a ‘problem book’, will reflect areas where government partners are most in need of new paradigms, tools and techniques, as well as where Turing as the national AI research institute is best placed to support this agenda. The challenges could range from AI model provenance to security of compressed ML and the post-holder will be expected to shape the research direction. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a national effort and build a world-leading group within this field.
The role is suited to candidates who are both familiar with the national security domain and the application of research to national security challenges and are themselves a researcher or engineer in data science and artificial intelligence with an outstanding track record of research or similar experience across related disciplines and with deep interests in methods and approaches for tackling real-world problems.
DV security clearance is an essential requirement for this role. Eligibility criteria and further information on the process can be found on the UK Government security vetting website.

DUTIES AND AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

You core responsibilities will be as follows:

• Defining and maintaining the research strategy of the team, specifically providing scientific leadership on ‘AI security’ with responsibility for developing and delivering on the problem book. This means driving the research agenda through an applied lens, whereby the outputs are of high utility to our national security partners.
• Undertake wider approaches as necessitated to establish an effective R&D effort, i.e. more ‘upstream’ research to solve thorny problems that are meaningful in the context of national security.
• Provide technical leadership and oversight of research development, responsible for delivering high quality outputs including code, technical reports, demos and papers.
• Establish an R&D team with the appropriate skills and expertise to meet research needs of the team, and line manage staff, supporting their career development aspirations.
• Prioritise and promote an iterative, experimentation-led and outcome-focused R&D culture.
• Engage key stakeholders, maintaining positive and productive relationships with required partners in Government and UK universities.
• Work collaboratively across Turing business areas to ensure the smooth running of the group and reporting to partners, including Programme Management team to ensure effective and timely reporting.
• Support appropriate governance protocols by helping to establish these and providing ongoing contributions to enable effective oversight of the group.
• Participate in the D&NS Leadership Group by attending team meetings and contributing where appropriate with updates, ideas and/or technical knowledge to support the Institute’s wider aims.

Please see the job description for a full breakdown of the role.