Research Scientist (Virologist), Chem-Bio

Role requirements

• Deep virology or microbiology expertise. You have a PhD in virology, microbiology, infectious disease, molecular biology or a closely related field, or equivalent practical experience. You have worked deeply on pathogenic viruses, bacteria, host-pathogen interactions, infectious disease, agricultural pathogens or another relevant area of applied microbiology, and can bring real scientific judgement to questions about what is biologically meaningful and experimentally plausible.
• Credibility with technical researchers. You can work directly with researchers and engineers on difficult, ambiguous technical problems. You do not need to be a machine learning researcher, but you need to be fluent enough in frontier AI and AI-enabled biology to engage seriously with model evaluations, experimental design, research trade-offs and what “good” evidence looks like. 
• Strong empirical judgement. You know how to design, critique and interpret evaluations or experiments where the answer is not known in advance. You can identify limitations, confounders, weak proxies, evidential gaps and cases where results are being over- or under-interpreted. You care about turning ambiguous risk questions into rigorous empirical claims. 
• Dual-use/biosecurity risk assessment experience. You have experience applying biosecurity principles to emerging technologies, ideally including AI systems, large language models, biological design tools or other AI-enabled scientific workflows. You can reason clearly about capability, tacit knowledge, real-world bottlenecks and the difference between theoretical and practically meaningful risk. 
• Discretion and sound judgement. You understand that work at the intersection of AI and biology carries dual-use sensitivity. You are comfortable operating with appropriate discretion, working within sensitive or classified constraints where needed, and making sound trade-offs between openness, security, pace and scientific rigour. 
• Clear communication for decision-makers. You can translate complex scientific, technical and safety evidence into clear reports, briefings and recommendations for senior decision-makers, within and outside government. You can communicate uncertainty without blurring the bottom line. 
• Collaborative interdisciplinary working. You can work effectively with researchers, engineers, policy specialists, biosecurity experts, security stakeholders and external scientific partners. You influence through expertise, clarity and good judgement, not authority or process. 

Strong candidates may also have: 

• Clinical or wet-lab virology experience. Experience in clinical virology, molecular virology, infectious disease research or relevant wet-lab environments, including experience working in BSL-2 laboratories or higher. 
• AI safety framework familiarity. Understanding of AI safety frameworks, model evaluations, responsible capability assessment, release governance or other approaches to managing risks from advanced AI systems. 
• Dual-use biology knowledge. Knowledge of dual-use biology, biological weapons issues, relevant mitigation approaches, and key governance frameworks such as the Biological Weapons Convention. 
• Technical tooling fluency. Experience using command-line tools, coding, data analysis workflows or bioinformatics tools, sufficient to work productively with technical researchers and evaluation engineers. 
• Relevant institutional experience. Experience working in or with organisations such as Dstl, MOD, DHSC, UKHSA, academia, public health bodies, frontier AI labs, biotech companies, national security organisations or equivalent institutions in other settings. 
• Existing security clearance. Existing SC or DV clearance 
• AI-enabled research experience. Experience using AI tools to accelerate research, analyse biological data, support literature review, develop benchmarks or improve scientific workflows. 

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 at least 3 days/week.
• You should be UK-based. 

Security Clearance

Appointment is conditional on successfully completing UK Government SC clearance. Prior clearance is not required—we will sponsor and support you. You should normally have been a resident in the UK for the past 5 years.  

You will also be required to undergo Developed Vetting (DV). DV typically requires a longer period of UK residency (around 10 years). Employment is conditional on obtaining and maintaining the required clearance(s). More detail on clearance eligibility can be found on the UK Government website: National security vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK.

Selection process  

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. We encourage you to apply early.  

• Application - CV and short application questions. 

• Screening interview - Lightweight conversation on relevant skills, motivation and fit.  

• Technical take home test - A take-home exercise designed to test your applied subject matter expertise and judgement in context. You will receive this after the screening interview. 

• Technical interview - Discussion of your work test with a current AISI SME. 

• Behavioural interview - Deeper dive on non-technical skills needed to succeed in the role: communication skills, judgement and team dynamics. 

• Senior leadership interview (30 min) - Final conversation with AISI senior leadership.