Research Scientist/Engineer, Biological and Chemical Models

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.

Research Scientist/Engineer, Biological and Chemical Models | AI Security Institute

London, UK

The AI Security Institute (AISI), launched at the 2023 Bletchley Park AI Safety Summit, is the world's first state-backed organisation dedicated to advancing AI security for the public interest. Our mission is to assess and mitigate risks from frontier AI systems, including cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, AI-enhanced chemical and biological threats, large-scale societal disruptions, and potential loss of control over increasingly powerful AI. In just one year, we've assembled one of the largest and most respected research teams, featuring renowned scientists and senior researchers from leading AI labs such as Anthropic, DeepMind, and OpenAI.

At AISI, we're building the premier institution for impacting both technical AI safety and AI governance. We conduct cutting-edge research, develop novel evaluation tools, and provide crucial insights to governments, companies, and international partners. By joining us, you'll collaborate with the brightest minds in the field, directly shape global AI policies, and tackle complex challenges at the forefront of technology and ethics. Whether you're a researcher, engineer, or policy expert, at AISI, you're not just advancing your career - you're positioned to have significant impact in the age of artificial intelligence.

ROLE SUMMARY

• Join a small, talent-driven, multidisciplinary team evaluating state-of-the-art machine learning models for engineering biology.
• Setup and deploy frontier models and evaluate these models in line with AISI's research objectives.
• Write code to assess capabilities of frontier models in fields such as protein design, structure prediction and biological foundation models.
• Explore research questions at the intersection of AI and biosecurity and help communicate results to inform wider cross-Government efforts.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

We strongly encourage you to apply even if you feel you only meet some of the criteria listed here.

Essential Criteria

• Background in machine learning, having worked directly on training, tuning or evaluating machine learning models using PyTorch or similar.
• Experience working on biological (frontier) AI models, such as protein or genomic language models, structure prediction (AlphaFold) or protein design models (RFDiffusion)
• Proficient at coding in Python

Desirable Criteria

• A background in computational biology, with understanding of the provenance and limitations of omics data, and the challenges of building predictive models using these data types.
• Strong background in biology or chemistry, with an understanding of protein biochemistry and experimental assays used to validate protein design.
• Good scientific research experience, and a motivation to follow research best practices to solve open questions at the intersection of AI and biosecurity.
• Experience writing production-level code that is scalable, robust and easy to maintain, ideally in Python.
• Experience working in small cross-functional teams, including both scientists and engineers.
• Experience in communicating technical work to a mixture of technical and non-technical audiences.

Clearance Criteria

Whilst AISI often encourages applications from individuals of any nationality, due to the unique nature of this role and the elevated security clearances that would be required once in post, we can only accept individuals capable of meeting DV criteria which is largely restricted to UK nationals.

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.

• 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

Key Words: computational protein design, structural biology