About the AI Security Institute
The AI Security Institute is the largest team in a government dedicated to understanding AI capabilities and risks in the world.
Our mission is to equip governments with an empirical understanding of the safety of advanced AI systems. We conduct research to understand the capabilities and impacts of advanced AI and develop and test risk mitigations. We focus on risks with security implications, including the potential of AI to assist with the development of chemical and biological weapons, how it can be used to carry out cyber-attacks, enable crimes such as fraud, and the possibility of loss of control.
The risks from AI are not sci-fi, they are urgent. By combining the agility of a tech start-up with the expertise and mission-driven focus of government, we’re building a unique and innovative organisation to prevent AI’s harms from impeding its potential.
Role Description
The AI Security Institute (AISI) is looking for exceptionally motivated and talented Full-Stack Engineers to join our Platform Engineering 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.
- Excel in agile development teams, showing the ability to work iteratively and respond to changing requirements in a fast-paced environment.
- 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 a constantly changing environment and a steadily growing team, while figuring out the best way to solve a particular problem.
- 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 and preparedness to acquire any missing knowledge necessary to get the job done.
Salary & Benefits
We are hiring individuals at all ranges of seniority and experience within this research unit, and this advert allows you to apply for any of the roles within this range. Your dedicated talent partner will work with you as you move through our assessment process to explain our internal benchmarking process. The full range of salaries are available below, salaries comprise of a base salary, technical allowance plus additional benefits as detailed on this page.
- Level 3 - Total Package £65,000 - £75,000 inclusive of a base salary £35,720 plus additional technical talent allowance of between £29,280 - £39,280
- Level 4 - Total Package £85,000 - £95,000 inclusive of a base salary £42,495 plus additional technical talent allowance of between £42,505 - £52,505
- Level 5 - Total Package £105,000 - £115,000 inclusive of a base salary £55,805 plus additional technical talent allowance of between £49,195 - £59,195
- Level 6 - Total Package £125,000 - £135,000 inclusive of a base salary £68,770 plus additional technical talent allowance of between £56,230 - £66,230
- Level 7 - Total Package £145,000 inclusive of a base salary £68,770 plus additional technical talent allowance of £76,230
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.
There are a range of pension options available which can be found through the Civil Service website.
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
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).
