Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Workplace Technology Engineer
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Job Summary
The UK AI Security Institute (AISI) exists to make frontier AI systems secure, trustworthy, and beneficial for society. We work at the heart of the UK government with direct lines to No. 10, advancing our understanding of how to evaluate and govern advanced AI systems so they can be deployed safely and responsibly.
Our mission is to strengthen state technical capacity in AI security research to support both government and global partners in managing the risks and harnessing the opportunities of this transformative technology.
Job Description
You'll join AISI's Workplace Technology team, a sub-team of Business Operations, which is part of the Talent & Operations directorate. Business Operations looks at how AISI runs as an organisation and how to improve it, and we're its technical arm.
AISI needs to keep pace with the frontier AI labs it works with. We're also part of government, so we carry a public body's legal duties and security obligations, and much of our infrastructure is shared with other departments. Bringing in a new tool can need sign-off from several approval boards and changes to identity, devices, and networking, each owned by a different provider.
Our Job Is To Close That Gap While Keeping AISI Secure And Accountable. We Don't Think Anyone In Government Has Fully Cracked This Yet, And We Find It An Exciting Problem To Work On. We Have Three Missions:
- Identify and strategise. Work out what software and systems AISI needs, and how they should be run and governed.
- Procure, build and integrate. Buy or build the tools AISI needs, get them through government security and assurance, and automate the workflows that cause the most friction.
- Enable and upskill. Help staff adopt new tools and ways of working, and raise the quality of AI use across AISI.
AISI is also deciding how much of its technology it should own and run itself, and you'd help shape that.
We're a close group (4-5) of curious problem-solvers who care about each other. We like messy problems and we're honest with each other when something isn't working. If that sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.
What you'll do: examples from the team's current work
This is what the team is working on at the moment, to give you a flavour of the job. The work is varied, and most weeks involve some coding, some time with stakeholders, and some strategy work.
- Connecting AI assistants to everyday work tools. We're securely linking our in-house AI assistant platform to staff email, calendars, Teams, and documents in Microsoft 365, and building the controls needed for data protection sign-off.
- Improving our AI assistant platform, which staff across AISI use every day. We ship new features and UX improvements, and we're fixing findings from a recent independent security test.
- Automating identity and access. We're designing an Okta-based setup, backed by a single reliable source of people data, so that joiners, movers, and leavers get (and lose) the right access automatically.
- Rebuilding operational workflows. We've replaced spreadsheet and email processes in Finance and Grants with Airtable systems, and we're building small web apps with proper approvals and dashboards for other teams.
- Evaluating and deploying new AI tooling. Scanning the market for emerging AI productivity and agentic tooling, assessing options against AISI's security, data protection, and operational requirements, and taking the strongest candidates through evaluation, governance, and rollout.
- Fixing tech issues that cause a lot of friction. We recently worked with our IT provider and a vendor to diagnose a network security issue that kept cutting off engineers' remote development sessions.
- Shaping AISI's long-term technology. We're working out how AISI's devices, identity, Microsoft 365, and software should be run and governed in future, and how much of that AISI should own itself. That means mapping dependencies and weighing up options with senior leaders.
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Person Specification
We're flexible on the exact profile. We expect strong candidates will meet many of the criteria below, but not all of them.
Essential
- Has solid software engineering experience. Has worked 2+ years as a software engineer and/or equivalent academic or production experience. Comfortable writing Python or TypeScript, working in shared codebases with peer review and CI, and debugging integrations from logs and documentation. Experience in infrastructure engineering and building in environments with stronger security needs highly appreciated.
- Enjoys improving the way people work. Cares about the person stuck with a clunky process and enjoys turning painful workflows into ones that work.
- Thinks in systems and works well within constraints in a resourceful way. Looks beyond symptoms to understand root causes, dependencies, and trade-offs. When there are challenges, whether it's from a stakeholder perspective or a security perspective, can come up with creative and pragmatic solutions.
- Prioritises well and follows through. Can identify what matters most, make sensible trade-offs, and focus effort where it will have the greatest impact. Sees important work through to completion rather than leaving it 80% done.
- Communicates clearly, in writing and in the room. Can write concise documents for senior leaders, explain workflows in plain language, and discuss design decisions confidently with an architectural review board.
- Exercises good judgement about risk. Handles sensitive data appropriately, knows when something needs additional scrutiny.
- Uses AI critically as part of day-to-day work. Day-to-day workflow integrates latest AI tools and models, whilst reviewing their outputs critically.
- Builds trust within and across teams. Works effectively with operators, engineers, security colleagues, and external providers. Keeps people informed, takes concerns seriously, and makes collaboration straightforward.
Desirable
- Experience with enterprise IT or platforms, such as identity and access management (Okta, Entra), Microsoft 365 administration or integration, device management, or cloud platforms.
- Experience in government or a similar environment, such as another public body or a regulated industry, where decisions go through formal governance and you've had to work within it.
Benefits
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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 (opens in a new window).
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.
Selection Process Details
As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. In the event of high volume applications we will sift on CV only.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Applications will be sifted on the CV and personal statement.
Please use your personal statement (in no more than 750 words) for the following:
- Tell us why you want to join AISI's Workplace Technology team as an engineer, and what you'd bring.
- Please include:
- One concrete example of a product, internal tool, or automation you've shipped: the problem, what you built (be specific about the design, architecture, APIs, or low-code platforms used), the outcome, and what you'd do differently.
And answer to one of these two:
- What motivates you to come into work every day? What gives you a sense of fulfillment in work?
- What's a product, tool, or solution that you particularly admire. Whether it is in its design, in the way it solves a problem elegantly or efficiently, or changes how people interact with a system or task, or something you wished you had built yourself.
Interviews
- Interview 1: Short screening interview about your motivation for joining AISI and this role
- Interview 2: Task-based interview
- Interview 3: Senior interview panel
Further Information
Former DSIT recruitment campaigns are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government moves and will ultimately be in one of the new departments. We will provide more information if you are selected for a role. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.
Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs are eligible to apply, and can be considered on loan basis (Civil Servants) or secondment (accredited NDPBs). Prior agreement to be released on a
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