About the AI Security Institute 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. About the Chem Bio team AISI’s Chem Bio (CB) team conducts research to assess evolving AI capabilities related to science R&D and CB misuse, and the effectiveness of technical safeguards that might mitigate risks arising from those capabilities. The goal of our research is to inform critical decisions on security, opportunities, policy, and risk mitigation made by governments and AI developers. We’re a close-knit, unusually interdisciplinary team—made up of machine learning researchers and engineers, software engineers, virologists and bacteriologists, behavioural research scientists, biosecurity experts, long-standing CB policy specialists and talented generalists—who work closely with other technical and policy teams across government. The team is currently led by Sophie Rose. This role would also involve collaborating closely with AISI’s Safeguards team, who work to evaluate the protections on current frontier AI systems and research what measures could better secure them in the future. The Safeguards team is currently led by Xander Davies and advised by Geoffrey Irving and Yarin Gal. Role Responsibilities Lead ambitious research projects to understand the feasibility and effectiveness of potential technical safeguards for AI system’s CB capabilities Partner with frontier AI developers and AISI’s Safeguards team to rigorously assess and strengthen existing technical mitigations designed to reduce misuse of models’ CB capabilities (e.g. strengthening biological and chemical classifiers—see our recent collaborations with Anthropic and OpenAI ). Design, build and run evaluations that stress-test CB safeguards; analyse results and deliver clear, actionable findings. Critically review developers’ CB capability assessments, safeguards safety cases, and related policies to raise the bar on safety. Translate findings into practical guidance that informs developer practices and decisions. Example questions your work might tackle: How effective is pretraining-data filtering at reducing harmful CB capabilities while preserving benign performance? What scope of filtering works best, and how does this extend to open-weight models? What would an effective differential or structured access regime look like for advanced CB-related AI system capabilities? Requirements We are looking for the following skills, experience and attitudes, but a successful candidate will not necessarily need to meet all these criteria. We can be flexible in shaping the role and salary to your background, expertise, and level of experience. Broad knowledge of frontier AI development, safety and governance: training/fine-tuning pipelines, evaluations and safeguards, developers’ frontier safety frameworks, and technical mitigations for AI–CB risk. Hands-on experience building or working deeply with general-purpose AI systems and their safety/safeguards stacks. · Experience writing production-level Python code that is scalable, robust and easy to maintain, ideally in a team. Knowledge of scaffolding, prompting, fine-tuning and/or evaluating large language models Knowledge of math, statistics, and machine learning sufficient to read and critique AI research. Demonstrated research taste and execution: originate high-leverage ideas, drive them independently, and ship impactful technical or governance products. Bias to action and ownership; quickly learn unfamiliar domains and prioritise policy-relevant technical work over purely academic novelty. High agency and adaptability; communicate clearly and collaborate effectively across disciplines while operating autonomously in a fast-paced, evolving environment. Familiarity with relevant datasets, benchmarks, or evaluation methodologies for CB risks from AI. Please note that this role requires Security Clearance (SC), which requires at least 2 years of UK residency, and a willingness to undergo Developed Vetting (DV) if required. More detail on clearance eligibility can be found on the UK Government website. National security vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK Other core requirements You should be able to spend at least 9 days per fortnight working with us You should be willing to work from our office in London (Whitehall) at least 3 days/week. You should be UK-based The deadline for applying for this role is Friday, October 10th, 2025 at 18:00 BST. What We Offer Impact you couldn't have anywhere else Incredibly talented, mission-driven and supportive colleagues. Direct influence on how frontier AI is governed and deployed globally. Work with the Prime Minister’s AI Advisor and leading AI companies. Opportunity to shape the first & best-resourced public-interest research team focused on AI security. Resources & access Pre-release access to multiple frontier models and ample compute. Extensive operational support so you can focus on research and ship quickly. Work with experts across national security, policy, AI research and adjacent sciences. Growth & autonomy If you’re talented and driven, you’ll own important problems early. 5 days off learning and development, annual stipends for learning and development and funding for conferences and external collaborations. Freedom to pursue research bets without product pressure. Opportunities to publish and collaborate externally. Life & family Modern central London office (cafes, food court, gym) or option to work in similar government offices in Birmingham, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, Salford or Bristol. Hybrid working, flexibility for occasional remote work abroad and stipends for work-from-home equipment. At least 25 days’ annual leave, 8 public holidays, extra team-wide breaks and 3 days off for volunteering. Generous paid parental leave (36 weeks of UK statutory leave shared between parents 3 extra paid weeks option for additional unpaid time). On top of your salary, we contribute 28.97% of your base salary to your pension. Discounts and benefits for cycling to work, donations and retail/gyms. Salary Annual salary is benchmarked to role scope and relevant experience. Most offers land between £65,000 and £145,000 (base plus technical allowance), with 28.97% employer pension and other benefits on top. This role sits outside of the DDaT pay framework given the scope of this role requires in depth technical expertise in frontier AI safety, robustness and advanced AI architectures. The full range of salaries are as follows: Level 3: £65,000–£75,000 (Base £35,720 Technical Allowance £29,280–£39,280) Level 4: £85,000–£95,000 (Base £42,495 Technical Allowance £42,505–£52,505) Level 5: £105,000–£115,000 (Base £55,805 Technical Allowance £49,195–£59,195) Level 6: £125,000–£135,000 (Base £68,770 Technical Allowance £56,230–£66,230) Level 7: £145,000 (Base £68,770 Technical Allowance £76,230) Selection process In accordance with the Civil Service Commission rules, the following list contains all selection criteria for the interview process. The interview process may vary candidate to candidate, however, you should expect a typical process to include some technical proficiency tests, discussions with a cross-section of our team at AISI (including non-technical staff), conversations with your team lead. The process will culminate in a conversation with members of the senior team here at AISI. Candidates should expect to go through some or all of the following stages once an application has been submitted: Initial interview Technical take home test Second interview and review of take home test Third interview Final interview with members of the senior team Additional Information Internal Fraud Database The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented. For more information please see - Internal Fraud Register. Security Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check and get baseline personnel security standard (BPSS) clearance before they can be appointed. Additionally, there is a strong preference for eligibility for counter-terrorist check (CTC) clearance. Some roles may require higher levels of clearance, and we will state this by exception in the job advertisement. See our vetting charter here. Nationality requirements We may be able to offer roles to applicant from any nationality or background. As such we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet the standard 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 the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window) .