JOB SUMMARY

Artificial intelligence (AI) capability advances are faster than our ability to ensure their safety. While AI has the opportunity to drive economic growth and transform healthcare and security, it also introduces profound risk. This includes the misuse of systems by bad actors – for example, to conduct sophisticated cyberattacks – and the potential loss of human control over advanced systems.
Governments must act decisively, but they need empirical, rigorous understanding of AI risks and mitigations to do so effectively. That’s why the UK launched the AI Security Institute – a global leader in evaluating advanced AI systems. We’re now the largest government backed AI security research lab in the world, and in the coming years we will forge a path to safe AI development in partnership with other governments, industry, and academia.
We exist to bridge the gap between AI’s rapid development, and the tools needed to manage it. If you’re passionate about shaping the future of AI safety and security, we want you on our team.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Strategy and Delivery is the enablement of high impact research. It is a profession unique to AISI, and is a hybrid of functions including strategy, policy, project management and others. In the Cyber and Autonomous Systems Team this involves:

• Management – managing, facilitating and supporting the growth of a high-velocity team of Strategy and Delivery Advisers.
• Stakeholder engagement and communication – owning and building relationships and communication with other teams at AISI, organisations within government and external collaborators.
• Project management – providing oversight and coordination of multiple complex high priority projects across a range of research areas.
• Delivery – navigating government to ensure seamless delivery of research outputs across the team and triaging and navigating bottlenecks as they arise.
• Strategic alignment – providing the frameworks to enable strategic alignment of projects across the team, facilitate goal setting processes and synergising with wider AISI strategy.
• Building the engine for the team – creating and optimising processes and projects that build future capacity within the team.

This might be a great role for you if you are someone who:

• Is motivated by a strong desire to ensure the safe development of frontier AI systems and work on reducing risk from catastrophic cyber misuse and loss-of-control.
• Has experience people managing a high performing team and can create an environment where they can turbo charge the team and thrive.
• Can coordinate and manage complex projects across multiple teams and stakeholders. Alongside willingness to lean in and understand the technical details to ensure delivery success.
• Is comfortable navigating uncertainty, and adapting quickly. Understands when to take a “trial and get feedback approach”, and take a controlled risk, and when to slow down to implement further guardrails.
• Gets things done. Hits the ground running. Has experience running a high out-put team and shipping good products.
• Self-motivates and is comfortable with agency. Can operate with high autonomy and maintain delivery momentum, engaging with experts and non-experts alike on complex, technical problems.
• Can build strong relationships. Collaborates effectively with colleagues, builds strong relationships, and contributes to a positive team dynamic. Keeps people motivated and on-side even where incentives don’t necessarily immediately align.
• Wants to learn. Curious, and eager to expand their knowledge and skills. Excited by the prospect of identifying knowledge gaps and seeking to fill them.

Candidates must be willing to apply for DV clearance.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

Open to UK nationals only.

THE ROLE

As a Research Strategy & Delivery Manager you will work as part of a high performing, friendly team – the Cyber and Autonomous Systems Team – to drive forward the design and delivery of high-quality evaluations of advanced AI systems and novel research. We are looking for an experienced operator who is comfortable working at pace and in ambiguity, who can translate complex research for policy makers and operate within Government and the Whitehall machine.

This might be a great role for you if you are someone who:

• Is motivated by a strong desire to ensure the safe development of frontier AI systems and work on reducing risk from catastrophic cyber misuse and loss-of-control.
• Has experience people managing a high performing team and can create an environment where they can turbo charge the team and thrive.
• Can coordinate and manage complex projects across multiple teams and stakeholders. Alongside willingness to lean in and understand the technical details to ensure delivery success.
• Is comfortable navigating uncertainty, and adapting quickly. Understands when to take a “trial and get feedback approach”, and take a controlled risk, and when to slow down to implement further guardrails.
• Gets things done. Hits the ground running. Has experience running a high out-put team and shipping good products.
• Self-motivates and is comfortable with agency. Can operate with high autonomy and maintain delivery momentum, engaging with experts and non-experts alike on complex, technical problems.
• Can build strong relationships. Collaborates effectively with colleagues, builds strong relationships, and contributes to a positive team dynamic. Keeps people motivated and on-side even where incentives don’t necessarily immediately align.
• Wants to learn. Curious, and eager to expand their knowledge and skills. Excited by the prospect of identifying knowledge gaps and seeking to fill them

The process for this role will be split across four stages, as follows:

• PAPER SIFT: Candidates will submit a CV, and responses to the below questions in the Personal Statement (250 words each, total of 750 words).
• Why have you applied to join the AI Security Institute?
• Describe something that has significantly shifted your view on AI risk, and why.
• What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
• INTERVIEW 1: Light-touch conversation focusing on experience and cultural fit.
• INTERVIEW 2: Task-based assessment, including a pre-submitted and presented written exercise, and one additional task.
• INTERVIEW 3: Meeting AISI senior stakeholders