Principal Cyber Artificial Intelligence Specialist

At Dstl, our vision is to have a modern way of working efficiently, accommodating and enabling our people to create, collaborate and deliver. To do this successfully in this job will require attendance at a Dstl location, Government Departments including wider MoD or Delivery and Mission Partner premises for at least 80% of your working time.

About the job Job summary

We are seeking an exceptional Principal Cyber Artificial Intelligence Specialist to play a leading role in shaping the future of AI-enabled capabilities for defence and national security. This is a rare opportunity to influence how advanced AI technologies are researched, developed, evaluated and deployed within some of the UK's most complex and high-impact environments.

As a recognised technical authority, you will provide strategic leadership across multiple AI and cyber programmes, guiding decisions on emerging technologies and ensuring AI capabilities are safe, effective and fit for purpose. Working at the intersection of cyber security, artificial intelligence and national security, you will collaborate with senior stakeholders across government, industry and academia to solve challenging problems and deliver operational advantage.

Why join us?

This role offers the opportunity to influence future technology strategy, drive innovation and build organisational capability through mentoring, technical leadership and community development. You will help shape policy, governance and assurance approaches while leading multidisciplinary teams tackling some of the most complex challenges facing defence today.

The successful candidate will combine deep expertise in AI technologies with outstanding leadership, communication and strategic thinking skills. You will be comfortable operating in highly complex environments, providing evidence-based advice to senior decision-makers and creating clarity where there is uncertainty.

This role is eligible for an additional specialist allowance of £2758 annually subject to meeting extended onboarding requirements. The role may be eligible for additional skills allowances depending on the skills and experience of the applicant.

Job description

What you'll do;

• Provide technical leadership and strategic direction across AI-enabled cyber research, development and capability programmes.
• Identify, evaluate and exploit emerging AI technologies and methodologies to shape future capabilities.
• Lead the assessment, assurance and governance of complex AI systems, ensuring informed and evidence-based decisions are made.
• Act as a senior technical authority, providing expert advice to customers, stakeholders and delivery teams.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships across government, defence, industry and academia.
• Lead multidisciplinary teams to solve complex technical and operational challenges.
• Influence technology strategy, policy development and future research priorities.
• Mentor senior practitioners and enhance organisational capability through knowledge sharing and professional development.
• Promote innovation, technical excellence and the responsible adoption of AI within cyber and national security environments

For more information on the job responsibilities, please see the job profile attached below.

Person specification

What we're looking for

• A degree in a relevant STEM discipline or equivalent professional experience.
• Extensive experience working with artificial intelligence technologies in development, evaluation, assurance or operational settings.
• Deep knowledge of AI concepts and technologies, including generative AI, large language models, foundation models and autonomous systems.
• Experience providing technical leadership across complex programmes, portfolios or strategic initiatives.
• Strong understanding of AI governance, assurance, risk management, safety and responsible AI principles.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical issues to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and support strategic decision-making through evidence-based advice.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and delivering outcomes in complex, high-consequence environments.
• Strong analytical and systems-thinking capability, combining technical depth with strategic insight.

For more information the essential criteria, please see the job profile attached below.

Important Information:

Our work in defence, security and intelligence requires our employees to be UK Nationals who are able to gain a high level of security clearance to undertake the projects we are involved in to protect us from security threats.

For this reason, only UK Nationals will be able to apply for this role. If you are an international or dual-national candidate, and you think you have the skills we need, please consider applying to any of our government, security or defence partners.

This role will require Develop Vetting and you should have resided in the UK for the past 10 years.

Qualifications

Relevant STEM-based degree such as Electronic Engineering, Embedded Systems, Computer Science, Physics or Mathematics. Individual with equivalent skills qualifications or experience are also actively encouraged to apply.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Changing and Improving

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £51,568, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory contributes £14,939 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).

Benefits

Dstl's full range of great benefits can be found in the information pack which includes:

• Financial: An excellent pension scheme starting from 26% employer contribution ( find out more here ). In Year Rewarding Achievement bonuses and thank you vouchers. Rental deposit scheme and cycle to work scheme.
• Flexible working : Options include alternative working patterns such as; compressed hours, job shares and annualised hours (agreed number of hours per annum paid monthly i.e. working term-time only).
• Working hours: Flexibility around your working day (e.g. start time, finish time). Ability to bank hours in a 12 month reference period including the ability to accrue and use 3 days per calendar month.
• Where you work: This role requires a minimum of 80% on site attendance.
• Annual leave: 25 days pro rata (rising to 30 after 5 years) plus 8 public holidays with the ability to buy/sell 5 additional days per annum.
• Family: Maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks with full pay, an additional 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid
• Learning and Development: Dstl encourages and supports charterships, accreditations and provides employees access to fully funded apprenticeships up to level 7 (Masters Degree). Dstl will pay for 2 memberships with relevant bodies/institutions. Employees also have access to Civil Service Learning.
• Facilities: Onsite parking, EV Charging points, restaurants, cafés and gyms.