About the job

Job summary

Summary

The AI Safety Institute (AISI) is looking for an exceptional information security leader to serve as our inaugural Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). You will spearhead the development of robust information security strategies, build and lead a dynamic team, and forge key partnerships with top AI firms and national security agencies. This is a rare opportunity to lead on mission-critical information security at a unique and rapidly-growing experiment in AI research and governance.

The AI Safety Institute

The AI Safety Institute is the first state-backed organisation focused on frontier AI safety for the public interest. We launched at the AI Safety Summit because we believe taking responsible action on this extraordinary technology requires a capable and empowered group of technical experts within government. Our staff includes senior alumni from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, startups and the UK government, and ML professors from Oxford and Cambridge. We are now calling on the world’s top technical talent to build the institute from the ground up. This is a truly unique opportunity to help shape AI safety at an international level.

We have ambitious goals and need to move fast. Our top priorities are to:

• Develop and conduct evaluations on advanced AI systems. We will characterise safety-relevant capabilities, understand the safety and security of systems, and assess their societal impacts.
• Drive foundational AI safety research. We will launch moonshot research projects and convene world-class external researchers
• Facilitate information exchange. We will establish clear information-sharing channels between the Institute and other national and international actors. These include policymakers, international partners, private companies, academia, civil society, and the broader public.

Job description

The role

As the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of the AI Safety Institute (AISI), you will lead on building a cyber resilient AISI. This will include efforts to harden our systems and protect our people, information and technologies. You think big picture about organizational risk based on mission objectives and a calibrated understanding of existing and potential attacks. You want to coordinate meaningful security with creative solutions rather than being limited to the compliance playbook.

This role also benefits from familiarity with modern machine learning (ML) systems, as you will work alongside ML engineers to secure all aspects of our internal infrastructure, from compute resources, to model-building and testing, to storing and serving data efficiently. You should have strong software engineering experience, and knowledge of building and maintaining safe and secure computing systems.

Person specification

Responsibilities

• Ensure AISI security is legal, compliant and ethical.
• Assess how and where the AI Safety Institute (AISI) might be vulnerable to attack, especially from cyber threats. Focus particularly on developing security threats that may be unique to AISI.
• Develop, implement and maintain our internal IT & security program.
• Drive high leverage initiatives in corporate IT, infrastructure and physical security.
• Develop, implement and maintain information security policies for sharing commercially sensitive information associated with evaluations and model access. Develop access controls and information protection systems to implement said policies.
• Coordinate external security consultants, services, and vendors.
• Advise AISI’s platform team on software architecture, development practices, and various system design questions from a security perspective.
• Develop, exercise, and lead incident response plans and processes. Work with existing government security function to monitor for and respond to immediate threats, data breaches, and security incidents.
• Grow the security team through hiring, managing and mentoring.
• Work closely with all teams across AISI to build enduring and high-trust partnerships, including with government agencies.
• Represent AISI to stakeholders, especially AI companies and the national security community, to ensure that we are trusted with sensitive information and understood to be mature in our security practices.
• Communicate best practices in security to members of technical staff at AISI.

You might be a good fit for this role if:

• You have significant cybersecurity experience, including guarding against sophisticated attackers.
• You have a proven track record in managing and securing fast-moving technically complex software engineering projects.
• You have experience of implementing NCSC advice and guidance.
• You have significant experience and familiarity with working with governments in the context of security.
• You have experience being responsible for internal security and leading teams.
• You enjoy working as part of a team and supporting the work of other researchers and engineers.
• You are a strong and resourceful problem solver.
• You are a jack of all trades in security - policy, architecture, operations, incident response.
• You keep up to date and have working knowledge of modern adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures.
• You are adaptable, with broad experience in cyber security – including: policy, architecture, operations and incident response.
• You have strong organization and project management skills.
• You have strong communication skills - interaction with the rest of the company and clear explanations of security expectations or policies is critical to overall security.

Experience with the following would be a bonus

• Tooling of a range of different cloud compute providers.
• Machine learning / deep learning / NLP concepts and applications.
• You care about AI safety risk scenarios and have thought about how transformative AI will change the security landscape.
• UK national security data handling processes

Core requirements

• You should be able to spend at least 4 days per week on working with us.
• You should be able to join us for at least 12 months.
• You should be able work from our office in London (Whitehall) for parts of the week, but we provide flexibility for remote work.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £125,000, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £17,820 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Please apply with a copy of your CV and a personal statement (500 word limit) setting out your answers to the questions below:

• Why are you interested in joining the AISI right now?
• What are the most important technical projects UK government needs to undertake within the next few months to advance AI Safety?
• What do you want to be doing to drive those projects forward?
• Is there anything else about your skills, experience or background you’d like us to be aware of

Sift and interview process

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the personal statement.

Candidates should expect to go through some or all of the following stages once an application has been submitted:-

Stage 1:- Initial Interview

Stage 2: Presentation preparation

Stage 3: Second interview

Stage 4:- Third stage interview

Stage 5: Senior Civil Servant interview

Sift and interview dates

Expected Timeline subject to change

Sift dates: w/c 29/01/2024

Interview dates: w/c 05/02/2024

Interview Location: MS Teams.

Candidates are asked to note the above timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process.

If you have any questions about the role or your application, then please send an email to AISI-TalentRecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Further Information

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

We fully support adjustments throughout our recruitment process and we encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section.

We do not have an exhaustive list of adjustments that we support but just some examples include additional time to complete your application form, behaviour questions up to 72 hours prior to interview and having extra time at interview.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home). 

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. 

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• 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

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.