Senior Research Associate – Networks and Systems Security, Machine Learning – Defence & Nationa[...]

Senior Research Associate – Networks and Systems Security, Machine Learning – Defence & National Security

The Alan Turing Institute is a place for inspiring, exciting work and we need passionate, sharp, and innovative people who want to use their skills to contribute to our mission to make great leaps in data science and AI research to change the world for the better.

Background
The Defence & National Security Grand Challenge at the Turing is developing an ambitious programme of research to create an immune system for critical national infrastructure (CNI). Working at the intersection of machine learning and cyber security, you will initially focus on either red (i.e., offensive) or blue (i.e., defensive) teaming a CNI network environment. Increasingly you will then work to automate these techniques (e.g., using GenAI and/or deep reinforcement learning), supporting both the ongoing development of an open source CNI environment for autonomous cyber research and an open competition we plan to launch in 2025.

Main duties:

1. Undertake high-quality collaborative research.
2. Take the lead on writing up findings and writing papers for submission to high quality peer review venues (e.g., S&P, USENIX, CCS, AAAI, ICML, NeurIPS, etc).
3. Developing and applying red and/or blue team strategies in the context of CNI network environments.
4. Developing red and/or blue team tools, techniques and strategies that are enhanced or automated using modern AI for control techniques.
5. The application of modern AI techniques including: DRL, GenAI, transformers and attention techniques, multi-agent approaches (e.g., competitive or collaborative training), sample-efficient exploration methods, meta-learning and generalisability approaches, genetic algorithms, explainable and/or interpretable AI.
6. Supervising junior researchers and line managing direct reports if required.

Person Specification

1. PhD (or equivalent experience and/or qualifications) in cyber/systems/network security, computer science, AI, machine learning, statistics, engineering, or a closely related discipline.
2. A passion for networks or systems security, and an ability to demonstrate the application of offensive and/or defensive techniques.
3. A demonstrable interest in machine learning, AI, and data science.
4. Prior experience developing software in a scientific computing context, ideally in Python. Experience in frameworks such as NumPy, Tensorflow, PyTorch, Ray/RLLib, Stable Baselines. Experience in development suites, systems and versioning products (e.g., Git, IDEs, Linux).
5. Experience of working with research partners to drive collaboration.

Terms and Conditions
This post is offered on a full time, fixed-term basis for 3 years. Part-time (0.8 FTE) applications can be considered. The annual salary is £55,184 – £63,971 plus excellent benefits, including flexible working and family friendly policies.

The Alan Turing Institute is based at the British Library, in the heart of London’s Knowledge Quarter. We expect staff to come to our office at least 4 days per month. Some roles may require more days in the office; the hiring manager will be able to confirm this during the interview.

Equality Diversity and Inclusion
We are committed to making sure our recruitment process is accessible and inclusive. This includes making reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability or long-term condition. Please contact us at adjustments@turing.ac.uk to find out how we can assist you.