This is a 12 Month Fixed Term Appointment

Applications for this role close 2nd August 23:59 UK Time

About the Incubator for AI (i.AI)

The Incubator for AI (i.AI) is a fast moving, autonomous technical unit within the UK government. Our mission is to pioneer transformative applications of AI to build a better Britain.

We operate under three core principles:

Talent: We bring together the UK’s best AI talent across a range of functions. You will work alongside exceptional researchers and top government leaders, staying at the cutting edge of technology.

Innovation: We set precedents for what is possible in government. We combine the pace of a start-up with the influence of being at the digital centre of government. You will test new ideas, expand what is possible, and leverage unique government data to create novel solutions.

Impact: We are dedicated to using AI as a tool for public good - this can mean improving outcomes in schools, boosting housebuilding or providing more personalised support for those in need. With the backing of the Prime Minister, you will turn technical breakthroughs into real-world applications that affect millions of citizens.

About the job

Who we are

We are a team at the forefront of applying cutting-edge AI to transform how people experience government services.

Gov Voice is building a trusted, reusable AI voice service that makes it easier for people to access government services by phone. For millions of people, contact centres are one of the most important and highest-volume ways they interact with government. We are creating an AI-enabled voice capability that can make those interactions simpler, faster and easier to navigate.

Gov Voice is part of the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), which is working to make digital government simpler, clearer and faster for everyone. We are responsible for helping set, lead and deliver the vision for a modern digital government.

This is not innovation for its own sake. We are building a real service for real users in a high-trust, high-scrutiny environment. Our goal is to create something practical, resilient and reusable that departments across government can adopt with confidence.

This is a rare opportunity to work at the intersection of frontier AI and real-world delivery. You will be part of a multidisciplinary team bringing together product, delivery, AI, design, policy, operations and technical expertise to solve complex problems that matter. This is the kind of role that comes along rarely: a chance to shape the technical direction of an ambitious AI-enabled public service, while helping define what good looks like for modern, trustworthy AI systems in government.

If you are motivated by difficult technical problems, meaningful public impact, and the opportunity to influence how reusable AI-enabled services are built across government, this is an opportunity to make a genuine difference.

Who we are

Gov Voice is part of the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), which is working to make digital government simpler, clearer and faster for everyone.

We are a multidisciplinary team bringing together product, delivery, AI, policy, operations, service design, security and data expertise to turn emerging technology into practical public services. We’re not building prototypes for the sake of it — we’re building something real, reusable and trusted that departments across government can adopt with confidence.

This is the kind of project that comes along rarely: frontier technology, real-world delivery, meaningful public impact, and complex problems worth solving. We’re looking for people who want to help define what secure, privacy-conscious and trustworthy AI in government looks like.

What you will do

The Principal Technologist role exists to make it easier to build excellent technology in the UK public sector. This is a senior individual contributor role for a high-agency, entrepreneurial technologist who wants their work to matter at national scale.

You will lead through technical judgement, influence and clarity of vision rather than line management. You will help shape and drive the technical direction for Gov Voice, ensuring that architectural decisions are robust, pragmatic and aligned with wider government standards and long-term service outcomes.

You will work across disciplines and organisational boundaries to connect strategy with delivery, helping teams make good technical decisions in a fast-moving area shaped by rapid advances in generative AI. You will bring a strong point of view on architecture, engineering quality and responsible technology adoption, while remaining grounded in user needs, operational realities and delivery constraints.

As a Principal Technologist, you will:

• Help design and drive the technical strategy for the area you work in, ensuring alignment with broader GDS standards, organisational priorities and long-term service goals
• Hold and communicate a clear vision for technical architecture best practice, enabling the team to build resilient, reliable and maintainable government services, and translating that vision for both technical and non-technical audiences
• Bring expertise in generative AI technologies, sharing recent developments, implementation approaches and good practice, and helping the team make informed decisions in a rapidly evolving field
• Guide architectural and technical design decisions in areas of high risk, complexity and ambiguity, balancing innovation with security, resilience, operability, compliance and value for users
• Ensure technical designs meet user needs and acceptance criteria, while also working within practical time, budget and delivery constraints
• Work collaboratively in agile, multidisciplinary teams, partnering with departments and a wide range of specialists to shape coherent, scalable and responsible technology solutions
• Support and evolve technical governance and assurance, helping embed repeatable standards, proportionate controls and robust evaluation of technologies and design choices
• Challenge the status quo where needed, using sound judgement and evidence to improve how government designs, builds and adopts modern technology

This role will require you to operate strategically while staying close enough to delivery to ensure ideas can be implemented effectively. At times, you will be helping set direction across a broad and ambiguous problem space; at others, you will be working through specific technical trade-offs with teams building and operating the service.

Person specification

Essential experience

We are interested in people who have:

• Experience supporting wider organisational objectives beyond immediate delivery goals, ensuring architectural decisions are aligned with strategic priorities and long-term service outcomes
• Experience communicating with technical and non-technical stakeholders at all levels, including across organisational boundaries, using clear architectural communication techniques to build shared understanding of complex concepts
• Experience working collaboratively across multidisciplinary and technical teams, such as engineering, data science, machine learning and operations, to shape coherent, scalable and responsible technology solutions
• Experience making and guiding architectural design decisions characterised by high levels of risk, ambiguity and complexity, using strong technical judgement, trade-off analysis and first-principles thinking
• Experience using influencing and relationship-building skills to gain support from business and technical stakeholders for initiatives with significant risk, impact and complexity
• Experience defining and connecting strategies or technical visions across teams, organisations or wider government, so that solutions remain secure, compliant, interoperable and future-ready
• Experience creating technical designs across the product or service lifecycle in environments characterised by high risk, impact and complexity
• A strong interest in technology and AI, and in applying them to build user-centred services in a fast-changing environment, ensuring technical solutions deliver meaningful outcomes for users
• Experience leading or evolving architectural governance and assurance approaches, embedding repeatable standards and robust evaluation of emerging technologies

If you meet some of these criteria, but not every single one, we would still encourage you to apply.

Why join us

This is a chance to help shape a technically ambitious, high-profile service at a point where the most important technology, architecture and adoption decisions still need to be made.

You will work with talented, supportive and mission-driven colleagues across disciplines, and you will have the opportunity to influence not only the service itself but also how reusable AI-enabled technology is designed and delivered across government.

The work is complex, visible and meaningful. The technology is evolving quickly. The constraints are real. And the opportunity to create public value at scale is significant.

If you want to help build resilient, trusted and user-centred AI-enabled services for government, we would love to hear from you.

Salary explanation

Salary is paid within the grade range shown below.
As this is a GDAD role, the maximum salary includes a non-pensionable technical allowance, and successful candidates will be appointed somewhere within that range depending on assessment.

Grade 6: £74,605 + potential GDAD non pensionable technical allowance of up to £16,151. Total compensation up to £90,756 inclusive.

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.

Selection Process

Candidates will be required to submit a CV and responses to two application questions. 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 technical assessment, and a behavioural interview. For the technical assessment, candidates will be asked a scenario question by the panel and should be expected to 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.