Lead Data Scientist (Safety)

The role

You will drive the scientific direction and architectural rigour of upstream AI safety and evaluation standards. You will partner with Frontier Labs to design experiment frameworks, mentor technical teams, and bridge scientific research with client strategy.

What you will do

• Directing project teams to deliver upstream AI safety solutions and evaluation standards to Frontier Labs
• Architecting core scientific experiment designs and robust software infrastructure
• Guiding and mentoring data scientists
• Partnering with commercial leads and executive stakeholders to scope technical work
• Advancing industry leadership by innovating evaluation methodologies, speaking at forums, or publishing research
• Establishing and upholding scientific methodology, rigour, and engineering best practices

Required qualifications

• Extensive leadership experience in quantitative data science, upstream AI safety research, or academic research with exemplary experiment design methodology
• Advanced Python expertise
• Deep familiarity with scientific stacks (NumPy, Pandas)
• Familiarity with AI evaluation frameworks (e.g., Inspect AI)
• Familiarity with agentic harnesses and sandboxing environments
• Passion for advancing evaluation standards across complex, specialised domains
• Ability to empower others and share technical knowledge
• Strong commercial acumen
• Ability to articulate complex scientific strategies clearly to senior clients and external partners
• Ability to drive strategic execution and scope high-impact projects to meet structured timelines

Before you apply

• Talent Team Screen
• Introduction to the team
• Take Home Technical Assessment
• Technical Interview
• Commercial Interview

About the company

Faculty was established in 2014 to transform performance through human-centric AI. They work with over 350 global customers across government, finance, retail, energy, life sciences and defence.