Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Government Support Policy Lead – Sovereign AI
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Job Summary
Sovereign AI:
Artificial intelligence is central to the UK's economic and national security. As countries around the world compete to develop and deploy this transformative technology, the UK must ensure it can build, attract and retain the companies that will shape the future of AI. 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.
Job Description
Role Purpose
The Government Support Policy Lead is responsible for delivering the Sovereign AI Fund's cross-government support offer to portfolio companies.
Working closely with the Ventures and Operations teams, this is a unique opportunity to shape how the UK's most promising AI companies engage with Whitehall, and position government to take advantage of cutting-edge AI capabilities. The role will identify opportunities for companies across government, unblock barriers to growth and anchoring, and coordinate support and influence outcomes across government on issues such as procurement, regulation, talent and data access. The role will also use insights from portfolio companies to shape policy changes that strengthen the UK's sovereign AI ecosystem.
Key Responsibilities
You will own:
- Cross-government support: You will lead development of the Fund's cross-government support offer, including procurement pathways, regulatory support, talent and data access, drawing on insights from the Ventures and Operations teams.
- Whitehall relationships: You will build and maintain relationships across Whitehall, regulators and public bodies to create opportunities for portfolio companies.
- Policy development: You will spot patterns in recurring company issues, developing policy proposals that address systematic barriers and influence cross-government policy change.
- Creating pathways: You will build repeatable frameworks and pathways so that support can be delivered consistently and efficiently across the growing portfolio, rather than reinvented each time.
- Unblocking barriers: You will unblock barriers faced by companies, including issues spanning visas, regulation, tax or government processes, working quickly and pragmatically to problem solve and resolve concerns.
- Legal fee reimbursement: You will lead delivery of the Fund's legal fee reimbursement offer end to end, ensuring it runs smoothly.
What Success Looks Like:
- Portfolio companies have clear routes into relevant government support and opportunities.
- Strong relationships exist across government, creating repeatable pathways rather than one-off interventions.
- Insights from companies translate into meaningful policy or process improvements across government.
Person specification
You’ll Thrive If You Bring:
- Government delivery: You have experience working across government, regulators or other organisations to deliver practical outcomes in large, complex organisations. You can evidence examples of resolving practical barriers for stakeholders, navigating bureaucracy to achieve real outcomes rather than getting stuck in process.
- Relationship building: You build credible, senior relationships quickly. You can evidence examples of influencing senior stakeholders across different organisations to unlock outcomes.
- Problem-solving: You translate complex, ambiguous problems into clear, actionable solutions. You can evidence examples of untangling a messy issue and driving it to resolution.
- Commercial judgement: You understand what matters to founders and investors, and can navigate government processes with their needs in mind.
- Comfort with ambiguity: You're confident operating without a clear playbook, building structure and pathways where none exist.
- Genuine interest in the mission: You're motivated by the opportunity to strengthen the UK's sovereign AI capability, and curious about how government, regulation and high-growth companies intersect.
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This Might Not Be The Role For You If:
- You prefer following an established process rather than building new pathways from scratch.
- You find government bureaucracy frustrating to navigate rather than an interesting problem to solve.
- You'd rather focus on one deep policy area than work across a broad range of issues (procurement, regulation, tax, talent, data).
- You're uncomfortable building relationships with senior stakeholders you don't yet know well.
- You're looking for a role with a fixed, predictable structure rather than one where you're expected to build the model as you go.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
Salary and Benefits
Alongside your salary of £56,850, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £16,469 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
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.
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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Application: Please apply here. You will be asked to submit your CV and answer the following application questions:
- What interests you in the SovAI Fund? (250 words)
- Tell us about a time you worked across organisations to remove a barrier or deliver an outcome. What was your contribution and what was the outcome? (250 words)
- How would you approach helping a portfolio company navigate government and resolve a complex barrier to growth? What barrier would you focus on and how would you overcome it? (250 words)
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Interview 1: Experience and motivations interview.
Interview 2: Civil service behaviours interview with task. (The details of the task will be send beforehand)
Interview 3: Final stage with senior leadership team.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard 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)
- 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
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code 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.
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.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact:
- Name: Georgia Stone
- Email: Georgia.Stone@dsit.gov.uk
Recruitment team
Email: Georgia.Stone@dsit.gov.uk
Further information
Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact DSITrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Click here to visit Civil Service Commission/Complaints.
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