Distinguished Scientist, Sovereign Lanaguage Modelling

Overview

The Alan Turing Institute is seeking a Distinguished Scientist for Sovereign Language Modelling within its Science and Innovation department. This permanent, full-time position is based on site in the United Kingdom. The role involves providing strategic and scientific leadership for a high-priority research area aimed at strengthening national resilience and supporting the safe deployment of artificial intelligence in public value sectors. Responsibilities include shaping a comprehensive research portfolio, leading multidisciplinary teams of researchers and research engineers, and translating foundational research into real-world deployments and operational settings.

Who can apply

Candidates must be internationally recognized research leaders in Natural Language Processing or Machine Learning. Applicants need to demonstrate deep, hands-on expertise in areas such as model training, reinforcement learning and post-training, model compression and distillation, agentic systems, efficient inference, and distributed training. Ideal candidates bring an established record of research contributions, experience setting strategic research directions, and a history of leading complex collaborations. Applicants should also have proven experience managing research software and infrastructure at scale, securing external funding, and communicating technical concepts to diverse audiences. Applications are also welcomed on a secondment basis at 0.8 full-time equivalent.

What you get

The position offers a full-time permanent salary range of £96,000 to £115,000 per annum, with salaries pro-rated for secondment arrangements at 0.8 full-time equivalent. Additional benefits include flexible working options and family-friendly policies.

Key dates

The closing date for applications is 2026-11-20.