Strategy Officer- i.AI

Job summary

About the Incubator for AI (i.AI)

The Incubator for AI (i.AI) is the government’s applied AI team, based within the Government Digital Service (GDS). We bring together specialists from strategy, policy, operations, delivery, design, user research and technical disciplines to develop and scale AI products that improve how government works and how public services are experienced by millions of people.

i.AI works on some of the most important and fast-moving challenges in government today: applying AI in practical, responsible ways to solve real problems facing the UK.

Joining i.AI means being part of a mission-driven team at the forefront of applied AI in government — helping shape, build and deploy products that can make a tangible difference across departments and, most importantly, for citizens.

Job description

About the role

This is a varied and fast-paced role at the centre of i.AI, supporting the Strategy Team across a broad mix of priorities. The role is likely to include cross-Whitehall engagement, support to governance functions across major public sector AI projects, and briefing and narrative support across the team’s portfolio of products and programmes.

You will join the Strategy Team, which sits at the heart of the Incubator. The team plays a key role in shaping the story of i.AI, building support for its work, and helping drive delivery across a complex and ambitious portfolio.

The role will also involve working closely with the Deputy Director of Strategy to help manage priorities, coordinate key engagements and ensure their time is used to maximum effect. This is a chance to gain real exposure to senior decision-making and to play an important role in helping the Strategy Team operate effectively in a high-profile and fast-moving environment.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who enjoys variety, is highly organised, and wants to work at the intersection of strategy, delivery and emerging technology in one of the most dynamic areas of government.

Person specification

Role Responsibilities

• Build and maintain strong working relationships across i.AI and wider government, including with private offices, communications teams and other departments.
• Provide high-quality support across core team processes, including briefings, correspondence, lines, FOIs and other strategic or corporate tasks, ensuring work is delivered to a high standard and often at pace.
• Support the governance and coordination functions that underpin i.AI’s major projects and products.
• Work closely with the Deputy Director of Strategy to coordinate priorities, manage key engagements and help ensure their time is focused on the highest-value activity.
• Help the Strategy Team stay organised and connected by tracking actions, coordinating meetings and maintaining momentum across a busy and evolving portfolio.
• Contribute to the team’s work in telling the story of i.AI, supporting engagement, narrative development and the organisation of key interactions with senior stakeholders.

Person specifications

Essential skills:

• Highly organised, with the ability to prioritise a changing and sometimes conflicting workload against tight deadlines, including supporting senior colleagues to manage competing demands including on their workload and time.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build effective working relationships across a wide range of stakeholders.
• Clear written and verbal communication, with strong attention to detail and a track record of producing high-quality work at pace.
• Ability to use initiative and exercise sound judgement in a fast-moving environment.

Experience of any of the following would be beneficial but not essential:

• An interest in applied AI and its use in the public sector.
• Experience of using AI tools in day-to-day workflows.

Why join us?

Why join us?

This is an opportunity to work in a team helping shape how AI is applied across government in ways that are practical, responsible and impactful.

You will be part of a multidisciplinary team working on real products and real problems, with the chance to contribute to work that improves public services and supports better outcomes for people across the country.

It is a role for someone who thrives in a fast-moving environment and wants to be close to decision-making, delivery and innovation. You will gain exposure to senior stakeholders, cross-government working and some of the most interesting strategic and operational questions in government today.

What we offer

Career-defining projects with outsized impact

• Backing from the Prime Minister and No10 to scope and build transformative AI projects.
• Unique opportunities to apply technology that could transform the public sector and impact citizens’ lives.
• Talented, supportive and mission-driven colleagues.

Resources & access

• Access to frontier models and ample compute.
• Extensive operational, engineering, strategy, design and delivery support so you can focus on shipping.
• Work with experts across national security, policy, AI research and adjacent sciences.

Growth & empowerment

• A team culture and development support that prioritises personal growth.
• Opportunities to own important products early and develop them in small empowered teams.
• 5 days off for learning and development, annual stipends for learning and development, and funding for conferences and external collaborations.

Life & family*

• Hybrid working, flexibility for occasional remote work abroad, and stipends for work-from-home equipment.
• Generous annual leave — 25 days plus one additional day for each year of service.
• Generous paid parental leave (up to 39 weeks full pay, with the option of additional unpaid time).
• On top of your salary, we contribute 28.97% of your base salary to your pension.
• Discounts and benefits for cycling to work, dental insurance, donations and retail/gyms.

*These benefits apply to direct employees. Benefits may differ for people joining through other employment arrangements such as secondments.

Technical skills

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

• For the task based assessment, candidates will be asked to give a short presentation to the panel on a relevant scenario and respond to follow-up questions. Further details will be provided in advance.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £36,735, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes

£10,642 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.
• A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

Selection Process

Candidates will be required to submit a CV and responses to a 500 word personal statement question outlining your motivations for applying to this role and how you meet the criteria. Applications will be sifted against the essential criteria, including relevant experience and motivation for the role. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a preliminary call.

Those who progress will then attend an interview, which will include questions on their application, a task based assessment, and a behavioural interview. For the task based assessment, candidates will be asked to give a short presentation to the panel on a relevant scenario and respond to follow-up questions. Further details will be provided in advance, including the opportunity for candidates to prepare for the technical interview. Candidates may use AI tools to support this preparation.

Appointment is conditional on successfully completing UK Government SC clearance. Prior clearance is not required — we will sponsor and support you. You should normally have been resident in the UK for 2 of the past 5 years. Employment is conditional on obtaining and maintaining the required clearance(s).

Due to the nature of this role, we are advertising this vacancy in London only.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. As part of the application process, we monitor statistics on D&I.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window) .

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window) .

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window) .

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retai