Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Founder's Associate - Sovereign AI Fund
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London, Manchester. Office attendance 2-3 days a week in London. If based in Manchester travel costs will be reimbursed.
Job Summary
Sovereign AI:
In January 2025, the Prime Minister launched the AI Opportunities Action Plan, placing artificial intelligence at the centre of the UK’s economic and national security strategy. The Sovereign AI Fund sits at the heart of this mission, with a clear mandate: to identify, back and scale the companies that will define the UK’s position in one of the most consequential technologies of our time.
Backed by up to £500 million, the Fund exists to turn ambition into action, supporting high-potential AI startups and scaleups to become national champions and strengthening the UK’s sovereign capability in frontier AI.
The Team:
SovAI’s Private Office team is a small, fast paced team whose goal to is support the investment team to operate efficiently and effectively. The primary remit of the team is to provide executive support to the Managing Partner, Investors, Chair and Deputy Director.
The team will play a critical role in ensuring the Managing Partner and Investment Team are well briefed, that decisions do not fall through the cracks, and that they have clear and effective information flows including via the CRM. This team also plays a key role in ensuring effective cross-team governance and comms, and can represent Sovereign AI to founders and Government stakeholders.
Beyond this core remit, the role will provide project-based and operational support as SovAI scales. This could include leading on operational projects such as appointing a new fund administrator or setting up a new office, acting as the lynchpin between the investment team and wider organisation. Inputting the investment team's view into ministerial engagement. There may also be scope to lead on the venture team's perspective on strategic initiatives, such as the potential expansion of SovAI.
This is unique opportunity to be at the centre of one of the UK Government's most high-profile and globally significant initiatives, as we build the Sovereign AI Unit.
Job Description
You will own:
- Founder communication: You will coordinate founder and government stakeholder communications, following up promptly with founders to confirm decisions, references, and next steps
- Dealflow follow-ups: You will convert discussions from investment meetings into clear, actionable trackers with defined owners, deliverables, and deadlines
- CRM data integrity: You will maintain CRM hygiene and data integrity, ensuring all deals discussed are accurately logged and updated in the CRM (Attio), proactively flagging any gaps
- Closing ownership gaps: You will identify ownership gaps across the investment team, escalating or clarifying accountability rather than making assumptions
- Cross team communication: You will liaise across teams within the Sovereign AI Unit, connecting the investment team with other functions (e.g. compute team) to surface relevant context on companies. You will also help ensure the investment team's perspective is reflected in wider organisational asks and external requests (e.g. government correspondence, parliamentary questions).
- Operations and Projects: You will be involved in both operational work and projects. This could include business management activities such as software and recruitment approvals, sourcing a new office, or appointing a fund administrator. You will be actively involved in new projects and strategic initiatives, such as expanding the Fund.
- Scheduling: You will own the scheduling and cadence of key meetings, ensuring critical checkpoints (e.g. Investment Committee) have confirmed dates, and follow up when timelines are vague
- Meeting agendas: You will design and circulate structured meeting agendas, preparing clear, time-boxed agendas for recurring meetings to drive efficient decision-making
- Judgement and discretion: You will exercise judgement and discretion, knowing when to make a reasonable assumption versus flagging ambiguity back to the team for clarification
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You Will Support The Wider Team On:
- Resourcing and staffing on deals: You will support resourcing and staffing on deals, helping coordinate additional support (e.g. second reviewers) when requested by Investment Principals.
- Legal and diligence processes: You will support legal and diligence processes, tracking outstanding actions on signed term sheets and legal documentation through to completion
What Success Looks Like:
First 6 months:
- You have a strong grasp of SovAI's investment process, systems (CRM, trackers), and key stakeholders
- Dealflow tracking and CRM are running smoothly, with consistent follow-ups
- You’ve had direct experience engaging with founders, senior leaders, or external stakeholders in a way that builds confidence and strong working relationships
- You've gained direct experience supporting the operational set-up of the team, such as business management processes, office set-up, fund administrator selection, or software procurement.
6-12 Months:
- You're contributing to strategic discussions about the Fund, such as expanding the Fund or evolving parts of our offer
- You're fully owning the operating rhythm of the team (agendas, scheduling, follow-ups) with minimal oversight
- Founders and government stakeholders see you as a reliable point of contact
- You're beginning to add value beyond coordination, e.g. spotting patterns in dealflow, proactively flagging risks or opportunities
Beyond 12 Months:
- You're informing the strategic direction of the Fund, and owning operational aspects of its delivery
- You've helped shape and improve how the Private Office team operates, not just executed within it
- You're owning higher-judgement tasks (e.g. supporting diligence, engaging directly with founders on more substantive questions)
- You've contributed to strengthening SovAI's reputation and network within the wider VC/startup ecosystem
Person specification
You'll Thrive If You Bring:
- Agency – You're a self-starter who takes ownership and drives actions through to completion. You can evidence examples of proactively closing loops, for instance, chasing outstanding actions, following up with stakeholders, or ensuring nothing falls through the cracks, rather than waiting to be told what to do.
- Organisation – You use structure and systems to stay on top of complex, fast-moving work. You can provide strong evidence of building trackers, managing CRM data with accuracy, and juggling multiple deals or workstreams simultaneously without losing sight of deadlines.
- Judgement & Discretion – You know when to make a decision independently and when something is too ambiguous to assume, choosing to flag it back rather than guess. You can evidence examples of exercising sound judgement in fast-paced or high-stakes environments.
- Stakeholder Management – You build effective working relationships across different teams and seniority levels. You can evidence examples of coordinating between multiple stakeholders, for example, Investment Principals, founders, or teams working on different priorities, to keep information flowing and actions on track.
- Communication – You turn complex or unstructured discussions into clear, actionable outputs. You can evidence examples of producing structured trackers, agendas, or summaries that others have relied on to make decisions or drive a meeting forward.
- Genuine Passion for the Mission – You have a real interest in venture capital and the startup ecosystem, and you're genuinely motivated by the opportunity to help build the UK's sovereign capability in frontier AI. You can evidence this through personal projects, prior experience, or a demonstrable curiosity about how deals, founders, markets, and national AI strategy come together.
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Eligibility for SC Clearance - You should normally have been resident in the UK for the last 5 years. Applications with a minimum of 2 out of the last 5 years of UK residency will be considered, at least one year of which must be 12 consecutive months.
This Might Not Be The Role For You If:
- You prefer clear, well-defined tasks and structured processes, rather than navigating ambiguity and figuring things out as you go
- You'd rather wait for direction than take ownership and drive things forward yourself
- You find it uncomfortable to flag gaps, ask questions, or push back when something isn't clear, rather than making assumptions
- You find it difficult to stay on top of multiple moving parts (e.g. trackers, CRM records, deadlines) simultaneously
- You're looking for predictable rhythms, rather than a fast-moving, high-stakes environment where priorities can shift quickly
- You don't have a genuine interest in venture capital, startups, or the mission of building the UK's sovereign AI capability, this role works best for someone who's excited by the substance of the work, not just the process
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
Benefits
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.
- A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.
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