AI Innovation Lead

Location: London, with a minimum of 3 days per week in the office

Contract type: Permanent

Reporting to: CEO

About EJF

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) is a global non-profit organisation working to protect the natural world and our fundamental human right to a secure environment. We work at the frontlines of environmental injustice, alongside communities most affected by climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and exploitation - transforming evidence into action, and injustice into lasting change. Through field investigations, rigorous research, and strategic international advocacy, we expose environmental crime, challenge impunity, and catalyse systemic reform. Our work delivers real-world impact, shaping policy, strengthening governance, protecting vital ecosystems, and defending those who risk their lives to safeguard them. Our campaigns span four interconnected areas: oceans, climate, forests and wetlands, and the training, protection, and empowerment of environmental defenders and investigative journalists. From illegal fishing and plastic pollution to deforestation, land grabs, and climate breakdown, we confront some of the most complex and urgent crises of our time - always with a focus on accountability, equity, and durable solutions. EJF has a diverse team of campaigners, filmmakers and community mobilisers working across four continents, united by a shared ambition: to protect people by protecting the planet. We are bold, evidence-led, and impact-driven. We speak truth to power - and we build pathways to a fairer, more resilient future.

About the role

EJF is looking for a Lead of AI Innovation to lead the careful, responsible adoption of artificial intelligence across the organisation. We recognise that AI may offer significant opportunities to strengthen our work - from data gathering and analysis to communications, translation, and monitoring - but we are committed to adopting it only on the basis of a structured assessment of its relevance, benefits, and risks. Any use of AI at EJF must be consistent with our values of equity and justice, with particular attention to the ethical challenges and potential harms these technologies pose to the organisation, the environment and the communities we serve.

The role has two core strands. First, you will deliver a clear, actionable assessment of how AI could further EJF’s objectives, including a review of current and emerging tools and detailed, costed recommendations on the systems, policy, and governance that would allow the organisation to keep pace with developments. Second, you will support the practical implementation of agreed recommendations: integrating AI approaches into EJF’s workflows, establishing robust governance and safeguards, and building staff capability through training.

The ideal candidate combines a strong technical understanding of AI with sound judgement on ethics, governance, and data security. Much of our most valuable material is also the most sensitive, including testimony from crew members and other at-risk individuals, so you will design systems, including secure, air-gapped environments, that protect the identities and safety of the people we work with while preserving EJF’s rigorous culture of human verification. You will be equally comfortable advising the CEO on strategy, evaluating vendors and tools, and training non-technical colleagues in confident, responsible day-to-day use.

Key responsibilities

• Working in close liaison with the CEO; Head of Film and COO
• Lead an assessment of how AI could further EJF’s objectives, reviewing current and emerging tools and producing detailed, costed recommendations on systems, policy, and governance.
• In collaboration with the COO, develop and maintain EJF’s AI Use Policy, including decisions on centrally approved tools, the risk assessment framework, review cadence, and standards for transparency and disclosure to the people our work affects.
• Actively support the rapid adoption and practical implementation of agreed recommendations, integrating AI approaches into workflows across investigations, campaigns, communications, and operations.
• Scope, cost, and oversee the development of secure, air-gapped systems for EJF’s most sensitive work, protecting the identities of crew members, informants, and other at-risk individuals.
• Develop AI-enabled capability in priority areas, including: background research; in-depth analysis of crew testimony alongside AIS data; auto-translation, transcription, and logging of testimony (including the potential training of custom models); AIS analysis to understand and anticipate IUU fishing dynamics, hotspots, dark vessels, and transshipments; data triage systems that ingest incoming material and elevate actionable cases; document and financial analysis to track beneficial ownership; automated media and OSINT monitoring; and a searchable internal knowledge assistant over EJF’s reports and investigations.
• Design and deliver staff training and onboarding on responsible AI use, and act as the escalation point for questions, concerns, and grey areas.
• Embed safeguards against key risks, including hallucinations and false positives, data poisoning, data security and consent (including how AI use is reflected in release forms), and the potential devaluation of video and imagery as evidentiary resources.
• Monitor the evolving AI and regulatory landscape, including data protection law across the jurisdictions where EJF operates, and manage the organisation’s regulatory exposure.
• Manage vendor relationships, budgets, and the environmental footprint of EJF’s AI adoption.

Essential skills and experience

• Significant experience delivering AI or machine learning systems, or leading AI adoption, in real-world organisational settings.
• Strong technical understanding of current AI tools and techniques, including large language models, translation and transcription systems, and data pipelines, with the ability to critically evaluate vendors and emerging tools.
• Experience developing AI policy, governance, or risk frameworks, and translating them into practical, workable guidance for staff.
• Strong understanding of data protection, security, and consent, including experience handling highly sensitive or high-risk data.
• Proven ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences, and to design and deliver effective training.
• Experience producing costed proposals and managing projects, budgets, and vendors end to end.
• A demonstrable commitment to the ethical use of AI, with a clear-eyed view of its limitations, biases, and environmental and human costs.
• Demonstrable commitment to EJF' vision, mission and values and a determination to change the world for the better.

Desirable skills and experience

• Experience designing or operating secure or air-gapped environments for sensitive data.
• Familiarity with AIS, geospatial, or maritime data, or with fisheries and IUU fishing issues.
• Experience training or fine-tuning custom models, particularly speech-to-text or translation models for specialist vocabulary.
• Knowledge of the emerging AI regulatory landscape, such as the EU AI Act and UK data protection reform.
• Experience with OSINT tools and investigative research techniques.

We strongly encourage candidates from underrepresented backgrounds in the environmental and human rights sectors to apply. If you believe you would be a great fit but don’t meet every requirement, we would still love to hear from you.

What we offer

We offer a rewarding package designed to support your well-being, flexibility, and professional growth: 22 days’ annual leave (exclusive on bank holidays), increasing with each year of service, plus additional paid leave between Christmas and New Year. Generous pension scheme, with employer contributions increasing over time. Flexible working hours and hybrid working (typically 3 days in the office / 2 from home). A dynamic, supportive, and inclusive working environment, with genuine opportunities for professional development and career progression. The chance to contribute to an organisation delivering real-world impact for people and planet.

EJF is an equal opportunity employer, committed to diversity within the workplace. The deadline for applications is 21st August. Interview processes for different roles will vary, but is likely to include three stages: a short screening call, a panel interview with a task relevant to the role, and a final interview. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Candidates must have the legal right to work in the UK.