AI Security Architect Ref. 3746

Job Description

Salary: £74,624 initial salary on confirmation of skills to achieve DDAT Group One Rate C. Additional payment of Recruitment and Retention Allowance of £6,251 on completion of a minimum term and successful achievement and validation of skills.

Flexible working: we support full time, part time, compressed hours, job share and other flexible working patterns. Due to the sensitive nature of the role, remote, hybrid or home working is not possible.

About us
We're MI6, also known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Our mission is to protect the security and economic wellbeing of the UK from overseas threats such as regional instability, terrorism, and cyber attacks. Working across the globe and in close partnership with MI5 and GCHQ, we help the Government to counter these threats through the provision of secret intelligence. A role in MI6 will see you providing vital support to this work, within a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

The role
AI is being adopted across some of the most mission critical areas at MI6, creating a rare opportunity to influence how these technologies are secured from the start. As an AI Security Architect, you’ll help shape how AI systems are designed, deployed and governed in environments where security, trust and resilience are essential.

As part of a small, specialist team, you’ll take responsibility for the technical security architecture that underpins AI solutions across the organisation. You’ll define secure AI reference architectures, patterns and controls, and guide delivery teams on how these should be implemented in practice. Operating close to delivery, you’ll influence design decisions early and ensure AI is built to be secure by default.

The role sits at the intersection of established cyber security practice and rapidly evolving AI technologies. You’ll assess the security implications of capabilities such as machine learning and large language models, considering risks related to model integrity, provenance, poisoning and misuse.

Day to day, you’ll work closely with software engineers, data scientists and ML engineers, reviewing technical designs and providing practical, actionable feedback. You’ll also support assurance and accreditation colleagues, helping them understand complex architectures and clarify how security controls meet broader objectives. While most of your time is hands on and technical, you’ll engage with senior leaders as needed to explain risks, trade offs and the value of proactive investment in AI security.

This is a rare chance to help define how AI security is approached at organisational scale. As an individual contributor, you’ll shape emerging practice, influence standards and ensure AI capabilities are introduced in a secure, responsible and sustainable way.

About you
You’re an experienced cyber or information security practitioner with a strong background in designing and assuring secure systems in complex environments. Your experience includes security architecture or senior security engineering roles, and you’re comfortable taking responsibility for technical security decisions that influence how systems are built.

You bring hands on experience working with AI enabled technologies and understand the security challenges they introduce. This may include exposure to machine learning, large language models or cloud based AI services, particularly within AWS environments. You’re familiar with risks such as model integrity, provenance, poisoning and misuse, and understand how security controls must adapt as these technologies evolve.

In an evolving technical landscape where precedent is limited and risks continue to emerge, your judgement and critical thinking are essential. You’re able to operate where standards, controls and threat models are still developing, applying sound reasoning to make defensible security decisions.

You’re confident working directly with engineers, data scientists and ML practitioners, reviewing detailed technical designs and providing clear, actionable guidance on implementing secure patterns and controls. While deeply technical, you can also explain risk, trade offs and impacts in straightforward language, helping non specialist stakeholders make informed decisions.

Above all, you’re proactive, curious and motivated to stay ahead of emerging AI security challenges, valuing continuous learning and contributing specialist expertise within a small, collaborative team.

Training and development
We’re committed to supporting your ongoing development as a specialist security architect, recognising that AI and security are fast moving areas where continuous learning is essential. On joining, you’ll receive an induction to the team, the organisation’s AI landscape and the security contexts you’ll be working within, helping you understand how your role supports wider objectives.

You’ll have protected time to stay current with emerging AI security threats, technologies and best practice. This includes access to a learning and development budget to support relevant certifications, training and professional development aligned to AI, cloud and security architecture.

Development in this role is strongly practice led. You’ll deepen your expertise through hands on work with delivery teams, reviewing live systems, shaping secure architectures and advising on complex technical decisions. Working within a small, experienced team provides regular opportunities for peer learning, technical challenge and shared problem solving.

You’ll also have opportunities to broaden your influence by engaging with assurance, architecture and leadership communities, helping bridge the gap between deep technical security considerations and wider organisational decision making. Development here focuses on sustaining technical excellence, staying ahead of change and building long term specialist capability in a rapidly evolving area.

Rewards and benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £74,624 plus other benefits including:

• 25 Days Annual Leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days public and privilege holidays
• Opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme
• Interest-free season ticket loan
• Excellent pension scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Facilities such as a gym, restaurant and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
• Paid parental and adoption leave

Equal opportunities

At MI6 diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from groups that are under-represented in our workforce such as women, those from an ethnic minority background, people with disabilities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our website.

Offer of interview

We are committed to providing equitable opportunities throughout the recruitment process to support candidates with disabilities. As part of this, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the essential minimum criteria for this position, will be offered an interview, if it is practical for us to do so. (This is known as the Offer of an Interview.) To secure an interview for this role, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:

• You’ll be required to reach the minimum pass mark for the Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which assesses your ability to problem-solve.
• You’ll be able to demonstrate experience designing or owning security architecture for complex IT or digital systems. – To be assessed at application sift.
• You’ll be able demonstrate applied experience working with AI enabled technologies. – To be assessed at application sift.
• You’ll be able demonstrate the ability to assess and apply security controls in environments where standards and threat models are still evolving. – To be assessed at application sift.
• You’ll be able to demonstrate the ability to work with technical delivery teams. – To be assessed at application sift.

There is a wide range of extra support available throughout the recruitment process to enable you to do your best, visit our how to apply page for information on reasonable adjustments we can offer.

What to expect

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:

1. An initial online application form including pre-screening questions to ensure you meet our eligibility criteria
2. Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT) rating the appropriateness of your responses to a series of short scenarios. The SJT tests criteria important for all roles in our organisation
3. Application sift looking at your skills and motivation for the role and organisation
4. An online HR and competency interview
5. In-person interview looking at your technical skills
6. If successful you will receive a conditional offer of employment

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 - 9 months to process including vetting, so we advise you continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

Before you apply

To work at MI6, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. Read about our eligibility criteria.

This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. You can find out more about the vetting process.

Please note we have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application, you can’t take any recreational drugs and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage.

Before you apply, we advise you to consider setting up a separate email address for your contact with us, to ensure your personal and application correspondence remain separate. Try to avoid having identifying features in your email address, such as your first and/or surname and date of birth. This is good practice and will help you to manage your application with us more securely.

The role is based in central London, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. An interest-free loan is available to assist with relocating into privately rented accommodation to take up the offer of employment.

We offer reasonable reimbursement of travel costs for candidates attending in-person appointments during the recruitment and vetting process. Full details will be provided with your interview or assessment invitation.

Reimbursement is discretionary and will only be made in line with the Candidate Expenses Policy, as amended from time to time. Candidates must book their own travel, using the most economical option, and provide original hardcopy receipts for reimbursement.

Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member.

Right to withdraw statement:

Please be aware that we withhold the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.