Distinguished Scientist, Sovereign Language Modelling

We are looking for a Distinguished Scientist, Sovereign Language Modelling to provide scientific and strategic leadership for this high-priority research area. The team's work aims to strengthen national resilience and support the safe and accountable deployment of AI in areas of public value. You will shape and lead an ambitious research portfolio spanning compliant data pipelines, model pre-training, reinforcement learning and post-training, advanced distillation, agentic systems and efficient deployment. Leading a multidisciplinary team of researchers and research engineers, you will take research from foundational questions through to demonstrators and deployment, while building partnerships across academia, government and industry.

About You

You will be an internationally recognised research leader in Natural Language Processing and/or Machine Learning, with deep, hands-on expertise across areas such as model training, reinforcement learning and post-training, distillation and model compression, agentic systems, efficient inference and distributed training. You will bring an outstanding and sustained record of research contributions, alongside experience setting strategic research direction, leading complex collaborations and translating research into real-world impact. We are looking for someone with proven experience leading research software and infrastructure at scale, securing significant external funding and communicating complex technical work to senior, specialist and non-specialist audiences. You will combine hands-on technical expertise with strong scientific leadership, strategic judgement and a commitment to responsible, safe and open AI research.

How You Will Make an Impact

Set the scientific direction for Sovereign Language Modelling, defining and developing an ambitious research agenda aligned with Fundamental Research priorities.
Build and lead a high-quality research portfolio, taking programmes from foundational research questions through to demonstrators and deployment.
Build, lead and mentor multidisciplinary teams of researchers and research engineers, developing technical capability as priorities and partnerships evolve.
Provide hands-on scientific leadership, working alongside technical teams and partners to tackle challenging methodological problems, maintain scientific quality and model excellent research practice.
Translate research into real-world resilience impact, applying Sovereign Language Modelling research to operational problems, data and constraints, including secure, classified or sensitive environments where required.
Develop strategic partnerships and secure resources, building collaborations across academia, government and industry and helping secure the funding, data, compute, facilities and partner commitments needed to deliver the portfolio.
Represent the Institute as a senior scientific authority for Sovereign Language Modelling, communicating evidence clearly to partners, boards and research audiences and monitoring emerging developments in the field.

About The Role

The Alan Turing Institute focuses on world-class science and innovation, generating internationally leading research and translating it into real-world impact and deployment. The Institute is developing research in key strategic mission areas in Environment, Sustainability, Defence & National Security, and Fundamental Research in AI.

Language models are becoming a matter of national importance as advanced AI systems increasingly underpin critical infrastructure, public services and economic resilience. Reliance on external models risks ceding control over strategic priorities, security, and assurance, while limiting the UK s ability to scrutinise frontier systems at the level required for robust AI safety. Developing sovereign language modelling capabilities spanning the training, adaptation, fine-tuning and distillation of models, alongside their evaluation and assurance will provide trusted capability, interpretability research and independent evaluation, strengthen national resilience and support the safe, accountable deployment of AI in areas of public value.

ROLE PURPOSE

The primary purpose of the role is to conduct internationally leading research, and the postholder will be part of the Institute s Fundamental Research team. The Distinguished Scientist will lead a collaborative, multidisciplinary team of researchers and research engineers, and will be expected to engage with internal and external stakeholders and collaborators to support delivery of an ambitious research programme.

The Distinguished Scientist will work across the Turing s Science and Innovation portfolio, including Defence and National Security, Environmental Forecasting, Sustainability, Fundamental Research and Strategic Capabilities, to embed and align the Sovereign Language Modelling mission. We are seeking a visionary research lead to direct a high-priority portfolio focused on sovereign, secure, and highly efficient AI models. You will oversee end-to-end model development from compliant data pipelines, medium-scale pre-training, and reinforcement learning to advanced distillation, agentic systems, and constrained edge deployment.

We are seeking a leader with an outstanding track record in Sovereign Language Modelling and a passion for multidisciplinary, impact-driven collaboration. Reporting to the Mission Director for Fundamental Research, the postholder will provide strategic leadership and line management for researchers and engineers. This is a standout opportunity to define the future of national research within a world-leading institute.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Please see our jobs portal for full details on how to apply and the interview process.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

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.

We are committed to making sure our recruitment process is accessible and inclusive. This includes making reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability or long-term condition. Please contact us at recruitment@turing.ac.uk to advise us how we can assist you.

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 HR@turing.ac.uk.

About Us

The Alan Turing Institute is the UK s national institute for AI and data science.

We are named in honour of Alan Turing, whose pioneering work in mathematics, engineering and computing helped shape the development of modern AI and remains an enduring example of how technical innovation can serve the national interest.

Our mission is to secure the UK s resilience for the age of AI. We do this by bringing together expertise from across the country to protect critical systems against disruption, counter AI-enabled threats and shape UK strategic AI capability.

Please find more information about us here.