Senior Full Stack Software Engineer - CoreTech Human-AI Interactions Team
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.
Role Description
The AI Security Institute (AISI) is looking for exceptionally motivated and talented Senior Full-Stack Engineers to join our CoreTech Human-AI Interactions team. Our platform is the core of our project to build and run safety evaluations for next-generation frontier AI systems: in this diverse role you’ll collaborate with our research teams and blend web development, UX engineering and data visualisation to provide inference channels, facilitate hosting our own models, and create expert interfaces for evals development. This position offers a unique opportunity to push forward an emerging field while part of an organisation that is a unique and fast-growing experiment in AI research and governance.
In this role, you’ll receive mentorship and coaching from your manager and the technical leads on your team. You'll also regularly interact with world-famous researchers and other incredible staff (including alumni from Anthropic, DeepMind, OpenAI and ML professors from Oxford and Cambridge).
Person Specification
You may be a good fit if you have some of the following skills, experience and attitudes:
- Have proven full-stack web development skills and expertise in technologies such as JavaScript / TypeScript, Node, React, testing libraries like Jest or React Testing Library and bundlers like webpack or Vite to write quality production code, evidenced by past projects or tools developed. Bonus points if you have experience with asynchronous communication concepts like streams and web sockets.
- Have experience in developing and maintaining component libraries and standards, ensuring consistency and usability across various machine learning tools and platforms.
- Have experience in Frontier AI.
- Excel in agile development teams, showing the ability to work iteratively and collaborate with our research and policy colleagues.
- Have led or been a significant contributor to high-stakes greenfield and/or established software products, demonstrating cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Work independently and in a self-directed way, thriving in an R&D environment and a steadily growing team, while cutting through ambiguity and break down new projects & requirements into deliverable chunks.
- Bring your own voice and experience but also an eagerness to support your colleagues, being ready to do whatever is necessary for team’s success.
- Take responsibility for problems from beginning to end, demonstrating problem-solving abilities, responsiveness and preparedness to acquire any missing knowledge necessary to get the job done.
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.
We select based on skills and experience regarding the following areas:
- Writing production quality code
- Writing code efficiently
- Node, React
- Written communication
- Verbal communication
- Teamwork
- Interpersonal skills
- Tackling challenging problems
- Learn through coaching
- Frontier AI Experience
Desired Experience
We additionally may factor in experience with particular areas that the Platform team requires:
- Expertise in Cloud Infrastructure or Dev Ops (AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, Terraform, CDK, Docker, etc.)
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).
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