Deputy Director, AI Biosecurity Lab

About the role 

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is working to ensure the UK is at the forefront of safe, responsible and strategically important uses of frontier AI. This includes building new capabilities that help the UK and its allies understand, manage and respond to the most consequential risks from advanced AI systems. 

The AI Biosecurity Lab Build Team is a new, time-limited team within DSIT, working closely with the AI Security Institute and partners across government, science, industry and philanthropy. Its purpose is to stand up a new government-adjacent non-profit organisation focused on AI-enabled biosecurity, following collective agreement at NSC(R): using frontier AI, sovereign datasets and classified threat insight to build defensive tools that strengthen resilience to biological risks. 

The proposed organisation will focus on ambitious technical programmes such as accelerating medical countermeasure design, strengthening biosurveillance and improving understanding of pathogen evolution. It will bring together capabilities that do not currently sit in one place: government threat context and data, world-class AI and biological science talent, secure infrastructure, and routes to translate outputs into UK and allied preparedness. 

This is the role for the person who builds that institution. This is an unusual opportunity to help build a new institution from the ground up in a high-priority national security and science domain. The build team will need to move quickly while maintaining strong judgement on security, governance, public value and delivery. Over the next twelve months you will set its direction, design its governance and operating model, recruit its chair and founding executive team (CEO, CTO, Chief Scientific Officer), secure the classified operating envelope it needs, and close the funding that resources it.  

What you will be responsible for 

Building the institution. Making the structural decisions that will define the new organisation for the long term: legal form, governance, board or advisor composition, operating model, relationship to Government, relationship to the National Technical Authorities. Leading the advice to Ministers on these choices. 

Senior leadership. Defining and building the strategy and culture that draws leading talent to the new institution. 

Recruiting the leadership. Personally leading the chair recruitment process, and the founding executive hires (CEO, CTO, Chief Scientific Officer) and the first wave of scientists and engineers. Setting and protecting a rigorous talent-density bar from day one. 

Unlocking the funding. Leading the HMG business case and spending approvals, and driving the philanthropic and industry fundraising strategy. Being credible, personally, to HMT, major philanthropic funders, frontier AI companies and pharma partners. 

Securing the operating architecture. Working with the National Technical Authorities, Dstl, DHSC, UKHSA, MOD and others to secure the classified compute and data access the institution needs, and the cross-government agreements on data sharing, security controls and output release that its work depends on. 

Stakeholder leadership across Whitehall and beyond. Building trusted relationships at Secretary of State, Permanent Secretary and Director General level across government; representing the programme to ministers, parliamentarians and international partners until the institution has its own leadership in place. 

Partnerships. Overseeing model-access and red-team arrangements with frontier AI companies, pharma partnerships, and international engagement with relevant pandemic-preparedness bodies. 

What makes this role distinctive 

This is one of the most entrepreneurial jobs available in Whitehall. You are being asked to build a new institution, from a blank page, at the intersection of AI and biology. AI-enabled biological risk is a high-stakes domain; you will need to move quickly and bring people with you who genuinely care. You will need to move between frontier AI researchers, protein-design labs, philanthropic funders, Permanent Secretaries and the National Technical Authorities, and to translate fluently between them. You will be joining a small, strong existing programme team with deep substantive expertise and live cross-government engagement already in place, and build it into the engine that can set up a new institution leading its field. 

What the role requires 

A track record of building institutions. You have founded, co-founded, or led the set-up of an organisation, unit, fund, lab or equivalent, taking it from concept through to operating reality. You have personally made the early hires, negotiated the early partnerships, and closed the early funding. You have shipped new organisations, not just written strategies about them. 

Senior stakeholder credibility. You build trusted relationships rapidly with Directors General, Permanent Secretaries, Ministers and equivalents across government and beyond, and with senior figures in industry, philanthropy and academia. You are a confident communicator who can move between operational detail and strategic framing without losing either audience. 

Comfort with ambiguity and government complexity. You can turn a no into a yes, and lead teams to bring the same persistence. You thrive where the answer isn't clear, the constraints are real and the politics matter. You can navigate approvals and cross-Whitehall clearances without losing pace or ambition. If you come from outside government you are a fast learner who picks up the operating environment quickly. 

High agency and ownership. You take responsibility for outcomes, not activities. You are the kind of leader who will personally unblock a stuck procurement, rewrite a broken process, or pick up the phone to the right person, not wait for someone else to escalate, and you lead and build teams that live and breathe this culture. 

Strong judgement in a sensitive domain. You understand that work at the intersection of AI and biology carries real dual-use sensitivity, and you have the judgement to make trade-offs between openness, security and pace under genuine uncertainty. You do not need to be a scientist, but you need to be able to reason carefully with scientists, lawyers and National Technical Authorities. 

Exceptional people leadership and hiring judgement. A proven track record of selecting, recruiting, coaching, developing and retaining high-performing teams. You care about talent density and are comfortable not making a hire rather than making a mediocre one. You invest meaningfully in feedback and development. You can lead teams spanning civil servants, scientists, engineers and commercial operators, and get the best out of each. 

Strong judgement and prioritisation. You can identify the few things that actually matter in the next six weeks and focus the team's energy there, while keeping the longer-build workstreams moving. You have the confidence to stop work that isn't landing and the communication skills to bring stakeholders with you when you do. 

Desirable (not required) for the role 

• Familiarity with the UK biosecurity, life sciences, AI safety or pandemic preparedness landscape, or equivalent sectors where similar dual-use judgement is required 

• Prior experience founding, spinning out or leading a start-up, non-profit, government fund, research institute or equivalent new organisation 

• Experience of classified working environments and of working with the National Technical Authorities 

• Experience operating in organisations that compete with the private sector for specialist scientific, engineering or investment talent 

• Hands-on comfort with modern productivity and collaboration tools (e.g. Linear, Coding agents, Slack workflows) and willingness to use AI tools as part of daily work 

What we offer 

• Salary: £81,000–£117,800 (SCS Pay Band 1) 

• Location: London, with hybrid working (minimum 60% office-based) 

• Civil Service Pension with employer contribution of 28.97% 

• Minimum 25 days annual leave, rising to 30 

• Extensive learning and development opportunities 

• The chance to build a new institution that matters, at a consequential moment in both AI and biosecurity 

Selection process 

This vacancy uses Success Profiles and will assess your Behaviours (Leadership, Making Effective Decisions, Seeing the Big Picture) and Experience. 

• Application. CV and personal statement (max 750 words). 

• Interview 1. Civil service behaviours interview with a task. You will receive details of the task ahead of the interview. 

• Interview 2. Senior leadership interview. 

In the event of a high volume of applicants, applications will be sifted on CV alone. 

Security 

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check and meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. Given the classified environment in which the team will operate, a strong preference exists for candidates who already hold, or are eligible for, Developed Vetting (DV); SC (but not DV) is a formal requirement at application. 

Reports to 

AISI CTO and Director, AI Security Institute. 

How to apply 

https://job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/csjobs/jobs/4893059101

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 and 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 where applicable, 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. 

Eligibility

Not all staff working in a government department or accredited non-departmental public body are considered to be civil servants.

If any of the following statements apply to your circumstances then you should select ‘No’ when answering:

• You are a member of agency staff working in a government department
• You are employed by an external organisation contracted into government roles
• You are a self-employed contractor working in a government department

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups: (non reserved posts only - text to show depending on how vacancy was built)

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

This job is only open to UK nationals. (Reserved posts only - Text to show depending on how vacancy was built)

For more information on job nationality requirements and the right to work in the UK, see the Civil Service Nationality rules (opens in a new window) and the UK Visas and Immigration rules (opens in a new window)

Interviews under the Disability Confident Scheme

We want to encourage disabled people to apply for jobs and give them an opportunity to show their skills, talent and abilities at the interview stage. The Civil Service runs a Disability Confident Scheme, offering an interview (opens in a new window) to a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum selection criteria for the job.

To be considered for an interview under this scheme you must have:

• a physical or mental impairment, or a long term health condition which has a substantial and long term (over 12 months) adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day to day activities
• demonstrated in your application and testing stages that you meet the minimum job criteria as set out in the advert or person specification for the post

Reasonable adjustments

We want to support you if you need an adjustment in the recruitment process, even if you do not feel you qualify for the Disability Confident Scheme.

We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, diabetes, or schizophrenia.

Some of the adjustments we have offered are:

• application or interview help
• a time of day that works for you
• extra time
• sign language interpretation
• advice about assistive technology

For more information, you can read the government guidance on Reasonable adjustments for workers with disabilities or health conditions (opens in a new window)

Declaration

• All the information I've given in my application form is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and relates to my own experiences
• This is my only application for this role and accurately reflects my suitability
• I understand a check against the National Collection of Criminal Records and against other records or databases may be undertaken if I'm offered a position
• I understand that I’ll be asked for evidence of identification if I’m offered a post
• I understand my application may be rejected or I may be subject to disciplinary action if I've given false information or withheld relevant details
• I understand my application may be rejected or I may be subject to disciplinary action if evidence of plagiarism is detected. Examples of plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

If you have any concerns about what we will do with your information, please see our privacy notice (opens in a new window). (amend to greenhouse data protection information)

Additional Information