Strategy Associate

Job summary

The AI Security Institute (AISI) 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 and security 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.

Working at AISI is an incredible and exciting professional challenge and provides the opportunity to work with leading experts in the field of AI Safety and a wider multidisciplinary team from a broad range of personal and professional backgrounds.

Job description

The successful candidate will be working at the forefront of AI Safety and Security. Making significant personal impact on some of the most difficult problems in the field and ensuring that this transformative technology is harnessed for good. If you want a job with high agency, high impact, and exceptional opportunities to develop and grow –then AISI is the perfect place for you.

In this role as Strategy Associate you will be

• Supporting setting AISI’s overall strategy working closely with Executive Committee including AISI’s Director and CRO.

• Run discrete strategic projects end to end: decomposing the problem, design an approach, gather the evidence, land a recommendation, and follow through to a decision.

• Do the analysis and problem-solving behind those recommendations; including research into the frontier AI landscape, the technical, policy and regulatory environment, and what comparable organisations do.

• Write and present for senior audiences: papers for ExCo, briefings and submissions for ministers.

• Work with technical and non-technical teams across AISI; researchers, engineers, experts in international policy, national security policy etc — to bring their input into strategic work and align their plans with AISI's overall direction.

• Interface with other parts of government where AISI's strategy depends on them.

• Keep projects on track: manage the plan, the stakeholders and the risks.

Person specification

Essential skills and experience:

• Has experience working in Strategy Consultancy or an in internal central strategy team, and developed the core strategy ‘toolkit’, namely

• Structured Problem-Solving: Taking an ambiguous, contested question, breaking it into parts that can be answered, and identifying what evidence would change the answer.

• Stakeholder Management: Proficiency in managing relationships with key stakeholders up to senior levels across an organisation.

• Change Management: Experience in managing and facilitating organizational change initiatives.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Ability to work effectively with different departments to drive strategic projects.

• Written Communication: Proficiency in clear, structured, precise, written communication, able to synthesize complex topics simply, tailored for different audiences.

• Verbal Communication: Strong ability to present strategic recommendations to senior leadership.

• Strives for excellence. Always aims for the best quality outputs, has a high attention to detail, catches problems/errors early.

• Is motivated by a strong desire to ensure that frontier AI systems benefit people globally.

• Proactive and self-motivated. Can operate with high autonomy, maintain delivery momentum in a fast-paced environment.

• Organised and prioritises effectively: Strong ability to manage tasks efficiently, ensuring that priorities are set and adhered to, leading to timely delivery

• Works well in a team. Collaborates effectively with colleagues, builds strong relationships, and contributes to a positive team

Desirable (not essential) skills and experience:

• Domain knowledge on Frontier AI, AI security or AI governance - or evidence of getting up to speed on technical subjects quickly.

• Experience delivering a broad portfolio of projects simultaneously.

If you have the skills, experience and motivation to help drive forward AISI's critical mission at the cutting edge of AI security, we want to hear from you. Join us and let's ensure that the immense potential of artificial intelligence benefits humanity while navigating the risks and challenges responsibly.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,620, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £17,851 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

AISI colleagues come from all walks of life. We seek to hire talented, dedicated people wi