Named in honour of Alan Turing, the Institute is a place for inspiring, exciting work and we need passionate, sharp, and innovative people who want to use their skills to contribute to our mission to make great leaps in data science and AI research to change the world for the better.

Please find more information about us here.

The Defence & Security programme at the Turing is looking to expand a high performing team of research engineers working on real-world problems aligned with securing the UK. Following in the footsteps of the institute’s namesake, Alan Turing, the team operates at the intersection of mathematics, engineering and computing and works in close collaboration with the Turing’s National Security partners.

As a team, we bring together cutting-edge research and motivating mission challenges, using our data science, software engineering and stakeholder management skills to create next generation capabilities for our partners. Day to day, we collaborate with technical and subject matter experts from our partner organisations as well as academics, software engineers, and data scientists from across the Turing’s research community. We present our work to a range of audiences including research colleagues, senior decision makers and non-technical stakeholders. We work with state-of-the-art cluster and cloud platforms to realise our collaborators' data science and artificial intelligence research at scale.

We are a cross-disciplinary team and encourage applications from both generalists and specialists including those who self-identify as software engineers, computer scientists, machine learning practitioners, mathematicians, statisticians or more widely as data scientists or data engineers. In particular, applicants focussed predominantly on either applied research or software engineering are most welcome as well as applicants interested in operating at the intersection.

The team practices an agile, experiment-driven approach and values a positive, supportive, and collaborative environment in which ‘radical candor’ and ‘lifelong learning’ are encouraged. We embrace failure as a learning opportunity and necessary precursor to success. We are empowered to take ownership of our work and operate with a high level of autonomy in our roles, to deliver measurable impact to our partners.

This role will be based at the hub8 working space in Cheltenham.

The ideal candidate would have a breadth of software engineer and Kubernetes experience, and who a passion for, or experience in supporting machine learning applications. Experience in some of; AWS, Kubernetes, OpenShift, Docker, Triton or vLLM are desirable but not essential. The role could suit:

• A Kubernetes Cloud Engineer keen to deploy and support cutting edge machine learning.
• A Software Engineer with a passion for productionising research data science in a scalable and performant manner.

SC security clearance is an essential requirement for this role. Eligibility criteria and further information on the process can be found on the UK Government security vetting website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels#security-check-sc.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Successful candidates will:

• Develop capabilities, which might include deploying machine learning models, building microservices, data processing/engineering systems and platforms or developing user interfaces and/or visualisations.
• Develop, implement, and adapt state-of-the-art and novel data science and artificial intelligence techniques emerging from the Institute and elsewhere to problems faced by the Turing’s partners.
• Understand the problems of the Turing’s partners and develop appropriate approaches to solving these problems.
• Present, disseminate and explain our work including Documenting capabilities, processes, and systems for effective and efficient reuse across multiple domains; Presentation at Defence and Security programme events including monthly meetups and wider Turing events; Presentation at Partner reading groups, conferences and to Partner stakeholders; Publication, support, and maintenance of research/prototype software.

In addition, for senior staff only, successful candidates may:

• Provide technical project management and leadership for research projects, ensuring successful outcomes; Liaise with clients and colleagues to understand and prioritise project goals, and balancing client value with research outputs.
• Line manages other staff within the group, supporting their career development aspirations.
• Take ownership of a particular domain challenge area or methodology for the group.
• Develop new projects in conjunction with colleagues, authoring research proposals and agreeing involvement for the group in activities across the institute.

• Undergraduate-level degree or higher in computer science, data science, mathematics, statistics, or a related-discipline.
• Professional experience in a field or sector with significant use of both computer programming and advanced algorithmic, statistical, or numerical techniques.
• Fluency in one or more modern programming languages used in data science. In particular, we predominantly work in Python, but demonstrable use of other programming languages (e.g., modern C++, Java, Scala, Julia, R, Javascript, Rust, Go) together with a facility for learning new languages.
• An understanding of the importance of good practices for producing reliable software and reproducible analyses (e.g., version control, issue tracking, automated testing, package management, literate analysis tools such as Jupyter).
• (SENIOR ONLY) Experience leading a project to a successful conclusion.
• (SENIOR ONLY) Demonstrable experience managing conflict and resolving stakeholder tensions.
• (SENIOR ONLY) Experience in making or evaluating the case for new projects (e.g., authoring or evaluating research proposals or business cases).

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

If you are interested in this opportunity, please click the apply button below. You will need to register on the applicant portal and complete the application form including your CV, covering letter and contact details for your referees. If you have questions about the role or would like to apply using a different format, please contact them on 0203 862 3340, or email [email protected].

If you are applying for more than one role at the Turing, please note that only one Cover Letter can be visible on your profile at one time. If you wish to apply for multiple roles and do not want to overwrite your existing Cover Letter, please apply for the role using the button below and forward your additional cover letter directly to [email protected] quoting the job title.

If you are an internal applicant and wish to apply, please send your CV and Cover Letter directly to [email protected] and your application will be considered.

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: Sunday 5 November 2023 at 23:59 (London, UK BST)

The successful candidate will be required to undergo a pre-screening check. This check will be carried out by HMG Defence and Security Partners. Please be advised, by submitting your application you are consenting to this check, and your personal details (full name, date of birth and home address) to be passed onto our HMG Defence and Security Partners to carry out this check.

Obtaining and holding a Security Check (SC) clearance will be an essential requirement for this role. Candidates will either hold a SC clearance at application stage or apply for SC clearance upon appointment, and secure SC clearance within 6 months of the commencement of their employment, or in such longer period as the Institute may in its absolute discretion consider reasonable to obtain such clearance. Eligibility criteria and further information on the process can be found on the UK Government security vetting website: National security vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

To obtain this clearance there are nationality requirements. Applicants should check whether they are eligible to apply for SC clearance before applying to this role.

Candidates who are not granted, or unable to hold SC clearance will be ineligible to undertake this role.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

This full-time post is offered on a permanent basis. The annual salary is £42,893 - £48,300 for the Research Engineer and £51,476 - £56,000 for the Senior Research Engineer, plus excellent benefits including flexible working and family friendly policies, https://www.turing.ac.uk/work-turing/why-work-turing/employee-benefits

Those holding SC clearance will receive a market supplement in recognition of this clearance. If you do not hold this clearance upon commencement of employment, you will receive the market supplement from the date you successfully gain SC clearance.

The Alan Turing Institute is based at the British Library, in the heart of London’s Knowledge Quarter. We expect staff to come to our office at least 4 days per month. Some roles may require more days in the office; the hiring manager will be able to confirm this during the interview.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION

The Alan Turing Institute is committed to creating an environment where diversity is valued, and everyone is treated fairly. In accordance with the Equality Act, we welcome applications from anyone who meets the specific criteria of the post regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy, and maternity, religion, or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

Reasonable adjustments to the interview process will be made for any candidates with a disability.

Please note all offers of employment are subject to obtaining and retaining the right to work in the UK and satisfactory pre-employment security screening which includes a DBS Check.

Full details on the pre-employment screening process can be requested from [email protected].