AI Specialist - AI - Hybrid

Posted Wednesday 18 February 2026 at 01:00

Salary: c£38,000 per annum (negotiable based on experience) + comprehensive benefits package

Jisc grade: PPM2

Job Type: Permanent

Hours: 35 hours per week

Reports into: Director / Head of AI

Working style: Hybrid - A blend of working from home and your nominated hub office. We have hubs located in London, Bristol, Manchester and Oxford.

For 30 years Jisc has pioneered digital solutions for UK education and research, transforming how knowledge is created, shared and used.

We are uniquely positioned to protect, promote and lead the sector in digital and data transformation, making a difference to students, communities and society. Together, we are

working to build a better digital future for education and research.

Raise your potential through our culture of lifelong learning. At Jisc, we're all about growth, so embrace new challenges, sharpen your skills and shape a career that excites you.

The role: Are you passionate about the power of Artificial Intelligence to transform education? This is an exciting opportunity to help universities and colleges enhance their AI maturity and accelerate meaningful adoption across the UK's tertiary education sector.

As an AI Specialist, you'll play a pivotal role in driving the development and practical application of AI knowledge within education. You'll bring strong expertise in emerging AI technologies and understand how they can shape the future of learning, teaching, and operations.

In this role, you will:

• Support institutions by providing practical guidance and hands on assistance to advance AI adoption.
• Apply your in depth expertise within a specific AI specialism to influence sector strategy and policy.
• Work collaboratively with internal experts and senior professionals, contributing to impactful, high profile projects.
• Help shape the UK's AI in education landscape through knowledge sharing, thought leadership, and real world implementation.

If you're excited by the opportunity to make a sector wide impact, work on cutting edge AI initiatives, and grow your expertise in a rapidly evolving field, we'd love to hear from you.

What you'll be doing:

• Build and maintain broad technical expertise in AI, including LLMs, diffusion models, multimodal systems and RAG - and translate these concepts clearly for non technical audiences.
• Develop deep specialist knowledge in specific AI domains and turn your insights into practical, accessible guidance through training, presentations, reports and blogs.
• Lead evaluation activities to understand the effectiveness of AI tools and techniques, using data analysis, interviews, surveys and focus groups to generate high quality reports.
• Create impactful, practical resources for a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Identify improvements and drive continuous optimisation across AI team activities.
• Act as a sector facing subject matter expert, sharing knowledge through blogs, conferences, forums and community engagement.
• Partner closely with universities and colleges to scope, deliver and refine impactful AI initiatives that meet their evolving needs.
• Attend events to explore emerging AI technologies and build strong relationships with suppliers and partners.
• Produce compelling product case studies and evaluations, showcasing real world applications of AI in education.
• Represent the organisation as a trusted specialist at external events, conferences and workshops, strengthening our reputation as a thought leader in AI for education.

Why this role matters This is your chance to influence AI adoption across the UK's education sector, working with cutting edge technologies while helping institutions innovate responsibly and effectively.

What we are looking for:

• A broad understanding of modern AI approaches, including generative AI models such as LLMs and diffusion models, as well as traditional methods like classifiers.
• Familiarity with a wide range of machine learning techniques, including supervised, unsupervised and reinforcement learning.
• Strong awareness of AI ethics, fairness and bias mitigation, with a commitment to responsible and explainable AI.
• Insight into how AI is transforming education, with deeper expertise in specific areas.
• A proactive approach to identifying problems and proposing effective solutions.
• Experience facilitating discussions and workshops with a variety of audiences.
• Proven ability to act as a specialist expert within your field.

Nice to have

• Experience building and maintaining a strong professional network.

Skills and personal attributes

• Strong ability to identify key arguments and insights from research papers, articles and technical content - and summarise them clearly for different audiences.
• Confident communicator, able to explain complex concepts effectively at external events and to varied stakeholder groups.
• Commitment to continuous learning, staying current in a fast moving AI landscape.
• A generous approach to knowledge sharing within the team and across the organisation.
• Willingness to seek support when needed and collaborate openly with colleagues.
• Resilience, adaptability and a flexible mindset within a rapidly changing environment.
• Ability to work effectively as part of a distributed, remote enabled team.

Nice to have

• Willingness to share expertise broadly across teams and the wider organisation.
• A consistently positive, flexible attitude that contributes to a motivating team culture.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, building constructive relationships to advance project outcomes.
• Proactive in gathering and integrating feedback and valuing diverse perspectives.
• Ability to provide constructive feedback to colleagues, supporting growth and improving overall team performance.

Qualifications

• A good degree and/or a relevant professional qualification.

We know that sometimes people can be put off applying for a job if they think they can't tick every box, so we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet 100% of the requirements, but you feel this role is perfect for you. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles!

Specific patterns for working in the office are not mandated, and the frequency of time worked in the office is agreed with your manager. Meeting in person is something we value so you may need to travel on occasion to any of our hub offices.

Why work for us? At Jisc, every role is meaningful, and every individual is valued. We foster a culture of continuous learning and personal growth, offering opportunities to develop new skills and make a real impact in education and research. With a strong focus on work-life balance, we embrace flexible working that prioritises outcomes over hours, empowering you to create a rhythm that energises both your professional and personal life.

Jisc's culture is powered by our four guiding principles: putting customers first, driving innovation, creating impact, and championing inclusive collaboration to deliver sustainable outcomes and shape a better future.

Discover the amazing benefits we provide! Here's what you can look forward to:

• Flexible work pattern, which can adapt to suit your schedules and personal commitments
• 31 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) that includes three closure days over Christmas
• Buy up to an additional 5 days leave during the flexible benefits window
• A range of wellbeing lifestyle benefits including company paid health care cash plan, mental health first aiders and support
• A company culture of continuous learning with access to thousands of LinkedIn Learning courses, and lots of resources and opportunities to support your development
• Allocated allowance of up to £250 to equip your home office
• Financial well being support including access to preferential loan and savings plans, mortgage advice, will writing tools and support and resources to help you make the most of your money
• A wide range of discounts and cashback from retailers and big name high street stores
• Family friendly policies including enhanced parental, maternity and paternity and co parental leave as well as opportunity for career breaks
• Support your volunteering with up to 3 days volunteer leave

Equity, diversity and inclusion: Jisc believe our people make all the difference in cultivating an inclusive culture that welcomes ideas, encourages innovation, and values belonging.

We work hard to create an equitable experience for our candidates and workforce which embraces all aspects of their identity including race and ethnicity, religion and belief, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, trans identities, age, class, disability, neurodivergence, or veteran status.

Application process: Please let us know how we can best accommodate you throughout the recruitment process. We're committed to making our process accessible and comfortable for everyone - just tell us what works best for you.

Just so you know, we review CVs as soon as we can and aim to provide an update on your application within 4 weeks of receiving it. However, you may hear from us a lot sooner, so please keep an eye out for our emails or calls!

We're really looking forward to getting to know the real you . click apply for full job details