Team Lead- Offensive Security Unit

Operating as part of our Defence & National Security team, our work depends not just on new ideas, but on strong experimental practice, rigorous implementation, and high-quality prototyping. The Offensive Security Unit (OSU) forms part of the Government’s wider Laboratory for AI Security Research initiative, which brings together academia, industry, and government to advance UK leadership in AI security research. Without truly understanding the future of cyber attacks we are limited in our ability to defend. OSU will be a dedicated team that will identify, design and assess new AI-enabled offensive techniques. The goal of this group is to keep abreast of the “art of the possible” and pre-empt the emergence of new offensive capability under the direction of the Turing’s Director of Science and Innovation for Defence and National Security and in close collaboration with our Government partners.

We are seeking a Team Lead with strong technical fundamentals in cybersecurity and practitioner background, a deep interest in how modern AI systems behave, and a passion for solving real-world security challenges. This is a high impact role where you will lead a group of researchers and engineers and hold a deep collaborative relationship with our partners to deliver at pace.

• Drive the development of the research portfolio to identify, design and test new offensive cyber capabilities that goes beyond the state-of-the art to deliver novelty.
• Lead and manage an ambitious and high-performing team that prioritizes rapid delivery, iterative testing and an outcomes-focused approach.
• Ensure a high experimentation culture and good portfolio management, daring to explore hard and challenging problems and comfortable de-prioritising lines of enquiry.
• Maintain a close and effective working relationship with partners to understand key requirements, barriers and troubleshoot to help advance the partnership.
• Responsible for technical quality and scientific robustness of research design, experimentation strategies, evaluation and resulting outputs.
• Develop and maintain an approach to scalable infrastructure suited to the requirements and sensitivities of research and experimentation.
• Work collaboratively across Turing areas to ensure the smooth running of the group, including the Programme Management team to ensure timely delivery of outputs and reports.
• Communicate clearly with researchers, engineers, and operational stakeholders through demonstrations, documentation, and technical discussions.
• Able to communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders and across disciplines.

• Are naturally curious about how models behave and how things can go wrong under adversarial or high stress conditions.
• Enjoy collaborating with researchers to refine ideas and turn them into high-quality prototypes.
• Want your research and engineering expertise to have direct scientific impact.

Eligibility for DV clearance is an essential requirement for this role. This full-time post is offered on a two year fixed term basis. Salary range is £70,179 - £76,027 plus excellent benefits, including flexible working and family friendly policies.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

The Alan Turing Institute is committed to creating an environment where diversity is valued and everyone is treated fairly. We value diversity of background, experience, and perspective, and are proud to be an inclusive employer. We warmly encourage applications from all backgrounds, particularly from groups currently under-represented in our sector. If you feel passionate about this role but don’t meet every single requirement, please apply - we recognise that great candidates may bring strengths beyond the criteria listed.